Features

Salt Houses

Hala Alyan

New York: Mariner Books, 2018, 310 pp

In “Salt Houses”, Palestinian-American author Hala Alyan follows four generations of the Yacoub family, as they are pushed from Haifa to Nablus to Kuwait to Amman and Beirut, with interludes in Paris and Boston for the third and fourth generations. 

The book is a novel but it has the feeling of a memoir. And perhaps it is to some extent, for Alyan dedicates the book to “my family, who gave me stories to tell”. Being inspired by real stories may be what makes the narrative seem so authentic. In recounting multiple displacements, it mirrors the lives of many, if not most, Palestinian families, making it a sort of collective memoir, though fictionalised.

It is not, however, a simple allegory for the Palestinian experience. What makes the story so special is how Alyan crafts each character’s individuality and their interactions. While their multiple displacements are caused by war, the book does not dwell on these events but on how they impact the family members’ emotional lives and relationships. 

Alyan is a clinical psychologist specialising in the treatment of stress and trauma, and she brings this insight into her character development. Before writing this novel, she had published four volumes of poetry and her prose gives evidence of her lyrical skills.

For the first two generations, memory and longing are major elements in the characters’ emotional make-up, accentuated by the novel’s structure as it weaves back and forth in time and place. This is especially true for Salma and Hussam, who were forced to flee Jaffa during the Nakba. Hussam never recovers from their expulsion and dies a bitter man in Nablus. “Nostalgia is an affliction… Like a fever or a cancer, the longing for what had vanished wasting a person away.” (pp. 74-5)

In contrast, Salma soldiers on, creating a new life for their three children. Of the three, “Only Alia mentioned Jaffa after they arrived in Nablus, with the tactlessness of the very young… It would become the girl’s most endearing and exasperating quality, how she could become enamored of things already gone… But Salma was cheered when her daughter mentioned Jaffa… Salma missed her home with a tenacity that never quite abated. She spent the first years in Nablus dreaming of returning”. (pp. 6-7)

Still, Salma focuses on the present, upholding traditions when possible, but showing remarkable flexibility when needed. She is a survivor as is her outspoken and unconventional daughter, Alia, who continues the line of strong women and functions as the family matriarch after Salma’s passing. Alia’s memory loss in old age serves to set the importance of memory in relief. Also setting the psychological effects of displacement and loss in relief is the fact that the family is not poor; they do not have to struggle economically. Yet, though they set up comfortable homes in various places of exile, nostalgia persists.

It is as if Alia wants to defy their displacement with her daring, sometimes outlandish, behaviour; in most cases, speaking of what went before, what has been lost, is too painful: “Palestine was something raw in the family, a wound never completely scabbed over.” (p. 281) 

Alia’s husband, Atef, reacts differently, becoming more introverted. He serves as the family’s most sympathetic listener, and the vessel of their memories. Before Nablus was occupied, he and Alia’s charismatic brother, Mustafa, were drawn into the circle of an imam who preached resistance to Israel, and the two were arrested in 1967 when the Israeli army rolled in. Only Atef was released, and only he has an inkling of Mustafa’s fate which haunts the family for years. 

Atef struggles with the psychological aftereffects: “It’s like a shadow life… Like there’s another me, and that me is still stuck, like a skipping record”. (p. 79) Later on, as a form of therapy, Atef writes “letters” to Mustafa which his grandchildren eventually discover and read, trying to piece together the past their parents had spoken so little about. To them, Palestine is a meaningful motif, though they know little about it.

The novel’s title stems from Atef’s memories of all the houses they have lived in: “They glitter whitely in his mind, like structures made of salt, before a tidal wave comes and sweeps them away.” (p. 273) Salt is an apt metaphor for framing the family’s lives: It is savoury yet bitter, a necessity of life, a seemingly hard substance but one that crumbles under pressure.

Most family members marry and have children, and all struggle with the contradiction of wanting their children to know who they are as Palestinians yet wanting to protect them from the wars and separations that mark their lives. 

Besides war, they must also navigate the pitfalls of Westernisation, political Islam, and situations common to all, such as divorce, sickness, death from natural causes, parenthood and raising teenagers, etc.

Having herself once felt she belonged nowhere and everywhere, Alyan poignantly and precisely describes the Palestinian experience of displacement in this nuanced, evocative and elegantly written novel.

Clinical Dietician

Body shape categorisation (apple, pear and so on) has left many of us focused on our body shape. Our body shape is important when we want to shop for the outfit that best suits our body, but understanding our body type can make it easier for us to achieve our long-term health goals.

Your body type can provide information about how you respond to food intake and your hormonal and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) characteristics. Body characteristics can thus be linked to metabolic differences between individuals. Once you establish your body type, you can then adjust your food to maximise your body composition and health related goals. Knowing your body type will help you understand the type of exercises and nutrition you will need to help shape or change your body composition (muscle over fat ratio).

Body types

Ectomorph

• Smaller bone structure

• Typically lean and tall with thin limbs

• Have difficulty building muscle

• Have a very fast metabolic rate

• Very active and alert due to their high amounts of sympathetic nervous system hormones, which explains the higher carbohydrate needs of their body

Dietary recommendations

• Higher in carbohydrates, especially from fruit and carbohydrate-rich vegetable sources

• Low fat as a high fat intake can easily supress their appetite 

• Omega 3 fat rich foods such as oily fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel or sardines) to help control sleep and enrich their thyroid with iodine. Studies indicate that omega 3 food sources can ease sleep

Mesomorphs

• Medium body frame size

• Tend to be lean

• Body can produce higher amounts of growth hormones and testosterone (the male hormone)

• Build muscles with low body fat

Dietary recommendations

• Balanced in general with all food groups, carbohydrates, protein and fat with a variation of fruits and vegetables

• Are at higher need of Vitamin C and Calcium as the body tends to be more acidic due to higher muscle mass

• Alkaline the body by sipping anise tea at night or drinking carbonated water, especially during workouts

Endomorph

• Larger bone  structure

• Usually accumulate weight easily

• Muscles can tolerate heavy weight lifting

• Tend to be less active and their body is not effective in burning fat

Dietary recommendations

• Reduce carbohydrate intake

• Food intake should be mainly from fibrous dark green leafy vegetables

• Moderate amounts of fruit (three — four fruits a day) due to their high needs of B Vitamin complex, zinc and iodine which will help enhance body metabolism

• Moderation in protein intake, especially from legume or fish sources, rather than red or white meat

• Focus on good fat sources that are low in saturated fat

• Yoghurt aids in reducing the absorption of fat and enriches the intestine with the microflora that is an essential source of B Vitamin

Despite what it might feel like at times, you’re not completely bound to one category or the other. Your lifestyle, genetics, history and training style all play a part in how you look and you can definitely change it over time. Do not give up and try to choose the most appropriate diet that suits your body type. I guarantee that by eating right for your body type, you will be on the fast track to achieving your wellness goals.

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

WASHINGTON — It has turned into a brutal reality check for Facebook.

The social network star — which had weathered storms over privacy and data protection — is now looking ahead at a cloudier financial future that threatens to end its years-long breakneck growth pace.

Shares in Facebook plummeted 19 per cent to $175.30 in early trade on Thursday, wiping out some $100 billion — believed to be the worst single-day evaporation of market value for any company.

The plunge came one day after the company missed revenue forecasts for the second quarter and warned that growth would be far weaker than previously estimated.

Chief Financial Officer David Wehner warned on Wednesday in an earnings call with analysts that revenue growth had already “decelerated” in the second quarter and would drop “by high single digit percentages” in coming quarters.

At one point during the call, Facebook shares were trading down as much as 24 per cent, an unprecedented drop for a large firm.

On the call, Jefferies & Co. analyst Brent Thill said that “many investors are having a hard time reconciling that deceleration... It just seems like the magnitude is beyond anything we’ve seen”.

Facebook said the slowdown will come in part from a new approach to privacy and security, but also appeared to acknowledge the limits of growth in advertising, which accounts for virtually all its revenue.

More humans needed

Richard Windsor, a technology analyst who writes the Radio Free Mobile blog, said the new outlook should not be surprising.

“This is a direct result of scale as it becomes increasingly difficult to grow at such high rates when a company hits this size,” Windsor wrote.

Windsor added that Facebook is forced to hire more people to handle tasks such as filtering inappropriate content after discovering the limits of artificial intelligence.

“Weaknesses in AI are forcing [Facebook] to keep hiring humans to do the jobs that the machines are incapable of,” he said.

Brian Wieser at Pivotal Research Group said the company appears to have hit a “wall” on growth in advertising.

In a research note, he said Facebook’s outlook “suggests that while the company is still growing at a fast clip, the days of 30 per cent-plus growth are numbered”.

Has social media peaked?

Until Wednesday, Facebook shares had been at record highs as investors seemed to shrug off fears about data protection and probes into the hijacking of private information by the political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

For the second quarter, profit was up 31 per cent at $5.1 billion; revenues rose 42 per cent to $13.2 billion, only slightly below most forecasts.

Facebook reported its user base was still growing but not as fast as some expected. Monthly active users rose 11 per cent to 2.23 billion, below most estimates of 2.25 billion.

Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook has invested heavily in “safety, security and privacy” after being rocked by concerns of manipulation of the platform to spread misinformation, warning of an “impact” on profitability.

Ross Gerber, an analyst at Gerber Kawasaki, said the latest figures suggest that the tide may be turning for Facebook and other social networks.

“Social Media has peaked,” Gerber said on Twitter. “We told you last qtr and now we’re seeing it.”

Not so fast

Some analysts however said it was too soon to write off Facebook or its growth prospects, and that the company may have simply been warning of the worst-case scenario.

“The company has a track record of resetting revenue growth and expense expectations only to turn around and exceed those expectations the following quarter,” said Gene Munster of Loup Ventures.

“We suspect Facebook is sticking with its historical playbook and will, in fact, beat these lower numbers.”

Richard Greenfield of BTIG Research said he remained upbeat on Facebook despite the abrupt forecast shift.

“Facebook is actively choosing to make less money, deprioritising near-term monetisation to drive engagement to even higher levels,” Greenfield said in a note to clients.

Greenfield said he could “sense the fear/panic in investors’ voices” after the Facebook analyst call but that he has maintained his outlook.

“Mobile is eating the world and Facebook is a core holding to benefit from that shift,” he said.

Athletes and dietary supplement users can use a new infographic from the International Olympic Committee to help them decide whether to take or avoid a supplement. 

The committee’s Medical and Scientific Commission developed the infographic and a consensus statement around dietary supplements for high-performance athletes. 

“In many parts of the world, half of the population takes a dietary supplement, and people who are consuming supplements without getting the benefits are wasting their money,” said lead author Dr Ron Maughan of St Andrews University in the UK. 

Supplements include a wide range of products that incorporate added nutrients (such as protein shakes, sports drinks and fortified foods), essential nutrients in concentrated forms (such as vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids and amino acids), herbals and botanicals, and products that promise health and performance optimisation. 

“Many times, those who take them probably don’t need them but those who need them don’t take them,” Maughan told Reuters Health by phone. “Those who are concerned about their health often get what they need through the foods they eat.” 

Maughan and 25 experts on the commission met in Lausanne, Switzerland, in May 2017 to review the scientific evidence on the benefits and risks of supplement use. After three days of discussion, they concluded that dietary supplements are a legitimate part of a high-performance athlete’s preparation, especially when used appropriately. 

The infographic, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, walks users through a decision tree of questions to understand whether they should take a specific supplement or not. For example, is there scientific support for the supplement instead of anecdotal or “conventional” wisdom from a few sources? Are the adverse reactions, medication interactions, and dose requirements of the supplement known? Are there any prohibited substances in the supplement label? Finally, the infographic suggests checking whether the manufacturer is well-known and has a good history and a quality assurance programme. 

If the supplement passes all the requirements laid out in the infographic, the commission recommends using it on a trial basis and then practicing vigilant use of the supplement. Ultimately, dietary supplements should be a small part of a person’s nutrition strategy and used sparingly when food-based options are not available, the commission wrote. 

“Make a small investment in speaking to a good dietician,” Maughan urges. “Know more than the basics about supplements and look beyond what you see on the shelf.” 

If you would like to give your computer a serious speed booster, the one single element that today is recommended to go to is a Solid State Drive (SSD) drive to store your data. Unless you happen to be lucky and already have one inside your new laptop, naturally.

Increasing the performance of a computer can be achieved in many a way. Moreover, depending on your specific needs and the programmes you use, what you may need could be increasing your Internet speed, or adding memory to the computer, etc. However, and in general, a faster drive is the best move forward you can make.

If you think that this is not what you need, think twice. How many times you have felt frustration at a slow machine restart, or even at a plain, fresh start, or when copying larges files, or when saving big Photoshop or Illustrator projects? For one and same given computer, moving up from a traditional hard disk drive (HDD) to an SSD is like moving from a bicycle to a motorcycle.

So why do not all computers — laptops and desktops — come with an SSD? It is the same old story: money. SSDs are more expensive than HDDs. There is, however, more about it.

Today most high-end laptops come with a combination of a smaller capacity SSD and a larger capacity HDD. This is a reasonable compromise, since the operating system (Windows, Apple OS), would reside on the SSD for faster overall response, and the combination keeps price affordable. In addition, in some cases, and with some brands, consumers now have the option to choose the size of the SSD, depending on their budgets.

As for those who have an “older” laptop, they still can replace any eventually existing HDD with an SSD. The operation involves minor technical surgery and takes a few minutes to do.

Whereas the price difference between HDD and SSD was huge until about last year, now for the same storage capacity, SSDs are two-and-a-half times more expensive than HDDs. So if 1TB HDD is JD60, a similar capacity SSD would be JD150. By any measure, the expenditure is worth the gain in performance.

Another SSD limitation that the industry overcame recently is the reliability of these drives. These fast beasts have a limited lifetime — but we are talking of tens of years here! Until about 2015 there was uncertainty regarding this important aspect of the technology. Users would worry that an SSD would fail too early or would not retain data in a secured manner. These days are gone.

In theory an SSD is supposed to last more than 100 years. In practice most manufacturers, like Western Digital, Samsung, Crucial, Seagate or Toshiba, give a 10-year warranty. Which translates into about 20 years of safe usage. By then you would have certainly replaced your entire computer and perhaps new storage technologies would have emerged.

Despite all these guarantees, the same usual recommendation applies: always make extra copies of your data on different, external drives, for additional safety and peace of mind, whether using HDD, SSD or other! 

Last but not least, it is worth remembering, for those who have never used them, that SSDs are completely silent and consume less power than HDDs —not a minor point, more like icing on the cake.

FRANKFURT AM MAIN — On German streets plied by hulking SUVs and roaring combustion engines, the small, toy-like electric vehicles driven by postmen stand out by their silence and their bright yellow livery.

But even more surprising to many in the car-loving nation is the Deutsche Post horn logo on the prows of the so-called “Streetscooters” — vans that are not much bigger than the iconic Volkswagen Golf.

To some analysts, the former state-owned logistics firm is showing up auto industry giants like Volkswagen, BMW or Daimler by shifting gears towards vehicle electrification even faster.

More than 6,000 Streetscooters number among the 49,300 vehicles Deutsche Post uses for local deliveries, and the company recently opened a second factory to up production to 40 per day.

When the traditional carmakers were slow to respond to its search for a low-carbon, low-cost van, bosses snapped up a small start-up firm to build its own.

Industry expert Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer of the Center for Automotive Research calls the move “a starting gun” for electric mobility in Germany, where headlines are more often dominated by a seemingly endless diesel emissions scandal.

For 20-year veteran of the Frankfurt post office Miroslav Arapovic, the new vehicle just means he is “less noisy and better integrated into the environment” as he makes his rounds.

“I’ve already had compliments from passers-by, like for the fact there aren’t any oil marks on the street,” he says.

Keep it simple

Deutsche Post designed its Streetscooter from scratch as a delivery vehicle for inner cities.

Its battery offers a range of just 80 kilometres, massively slashing the costs of production.

Given such “very specific” requirements it was unsurprising that the major manufacturers focused on mass-market models were unable to rise to the challenge, explains Stefan Reindl, director of the Institute for the Automobile Economy.

Firms like Volkswagen have inflexible production chains, discouraging them from producing at small scale, and they “tend to overengineer” vehicles rather than pursuing minimalism.

For its part, Deutsche Post “does not want to become a carmaker”, seeking only to optimise the “last kilometre” of its deliveries, Streetscooter chief Achim Kampker says.

The “last mile”, a term adopted from the telecoms industry, is a top question for delivery firms, city authorities and environmentalists, especially in crowded, polluted German city centres.

It refers to the question of how to efficiently move goods from central hubs on to their final destination in densely populated urban areas.

Numbers of delivery vehicles making the rounds have ballooned, as booming e-commerce sets ever-more packages on their way to households’ front doors.

A British study found in 2017 that light van traffic in London had increased 30 per cent over 1993 levels, unlike car and taxi traffic which has been sinking since the early 2000s.

Meanwhile, German cities are scrambling to clean up their air after a court decision ruled that diesel vehicles could be banned as a measure of last resort.

Hamburg and Stuttgart are among the first local authorities to shut off parts of their territory to older cars powered by the fuel.

Stirring giants

Despite Kampker’s claims of limited ambitions, Streetscooter has gradually become a key player in this growing market, offering its product to outside customers for the past year at a cost of around 40,000 euros ($46,400) each.

In late May, it announced a sale of 200 vans to a British milk delivery firm, while a subsidiary of energy firm Innogy ordered 300 in early July.

Streetscooter is also working on a larger, more powerful model with US-based Ford, which will supply the new van’s chassis.

Such early wins are no guarantee of lasting success in an ultra-competitive industry, where traditional carmakers are increasingly switching their focus to electric mobility.

In 2017, Daimler announced a partnership with delivery firm Hermes to develop and produce some 1,500 vans by 2020.

One analyst asks whether Deutsche Post can “remain competitive over the long term” in a market where the likes of BMW and Volkswagen are beginning to throw their massive weight around.

Industry expert Reindl is “certain” that there will be a broad range of offers from the household names in the near future.

“Perhaps it’s the moment for them to adapt and to think about whether their products need to be so complex every time,” he suggests.

Deutsche Post CEO Frank Appel said in June that he aims to keep Streetscooter within the group “at least for the next two years”, although in the long term it may get a separate stock market listing or be bought out by a major carmaker.

Fathers of young children may be almost as likely as new mothers to experience symptoms of depression, a US study suggests. 

Researchers examined results from depression screenings done for parents during more than 9,500 visits to paediatrics clinics with their children. Overall, 4.4 per cent of fathers and five per cent of mothers screened positive for depression. 

“The fact that so many new dads are experiencing this is significant because depression can have serious consequences if left untreated,” said lead study author Erika Cheng, a paediatrics researcher at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. 

“We know that dads who are depressed are less engaged with their kids, which can lead to cognitive and behavioural problems,” Cheng said by e-mail. “Dads who experience symptoms of depression — which include sadness, irritability, agitation, and anger — should not hide their feelings, because professional help is available.” 

Roughly one in four mothers experience depression at some point during pregnancy or while their children are young, Cheng and colleagues note in JAMA Paediatrics. While many women may be screened during prenatal visits or checkups after birth, men may not necessarily have the same access to screening. 

Because parental depression can have lasting physical and mental health affects for young children, the American Academy of Paediatrics recommends that all parents — both mothers and fathers — get screened for depression during well-baby and well-child checkups. 

As the study highlights, one problem with this approach is that fathers often are not the parent taking kids to the doctor. 

Fathers were present at more than 2,900 visits, or about 31 per cent of the time, the study found. They were less likely to come to these checkups when children were older, black or poor. 

Out of 806 visits when fathers completed depression screening questionnaires, 36 men screened positive for depression. This was roughly equivalent to the proportion of mothers who screened positive. 

But out of all the parents evaluated, fathers comprised just 12 per cent of the people who screened positive for depression. 

This suggests that many fathers are going undiagnosed and untreated for depression, the study authors conclude. 

One limitation of the study is that it was done at just five pediatrics clinics in Indianapolis, and it is possible screening results might be different elsewhere. 

It is also possible that not all people who screened positive for symptoms of depression would ultimately be diagnosed with the mental health disorder, said Karen Wynter, a researcher in nursing and midwifery at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. Fathers also might not report the same symptoms as mothers, Wynter, who was not involved in the study, said by e-mail. 

“Men may be less likely than women to report tearfulness, for example, but more likely to report irritability, anger, risky alcohol use or changed work habits,” Wynter said. “These may be indicators that men are not coping so well with the adjustment to a new life with a baby.” 

Still, the results suggest that screening parents during children’s checkups may help spot symptoms of depression in fathers who otherwise might not get assessed or treated, said Dr Craig Garfield, a paediatrics researcher at Northwestern University and Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. 

“Children thrive when parents thrive,” Garfield, who was not involved in the study, said by e-mail. 

“Almost all new parents are tired, but if a dad [or a mom] is continually feeling blue, unable to enjoy the things they usually enjoy or are feeling abnormally stressed, they can start by talking to their child’s doctor,” Garfield advised. “By letting the doctor know how they are feeling, that new dad may find the help and resources to get him through the transition to parenthood, and be the best dad he can be for his child.”

My father would have been eighty-three years old this week but true to his habit; he would have forgotten his birthday. Once again, that is. In the short span of thirty odd years that he was my dad (and also the two decades after his demise) I never met a person, who was as forgetful about his own date of birth, as him.

We had to remind him each time and the reward was worth the effort. His entire face would light up with a smile so delightful and contagious that all of us felt blessed just looking at the cheerful man. He beamed at whoever wished him happy birthday with such joy and laughter that we kept repeating the greeting every few hours. The positive vibes his persona radiated had us enthralled and we wanted to be in that magical spell forever. 

“The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother,” said Theodoure Hesburgh, an American clergyman.

My papa had never met this wise man but these words could as well be describing him. He loved our mother and displayed a gentle tenderness towards her, which was a life lesson for both my siblings and me, on how to treat our future spouses. 

Personally, he was the single most important influence in my life. He never lectured me but lead by example. So if he was soft spoken, I learnt to tone down the loud intonation in my voice, when he was humble I picked up his subtle nuances of humility, being polite, just, kind, curious and confident were all the other qualities that I absorbed from him. 

Fathers and daughters have a special bond, which was accurate in my case as well. When my brothers and I had a squabble, I knew they would be scolded more than me. If they wanted a favour from our dad, the offer would invariably be channelled through me because whenever I requested for anything from our father, it would always be granted. What was additionally understood was the fact that if he asked me to undertake a task, I would move mountains and seas to accomplish it too.

Our mother was beautiful but I ended up resembling my father. Along with his straight hair and nose I also inherited his sense of humour and found comedy in the strangest of situations. We both would burst out in identical peals of laughter if anything triggered our hilarity. The other members of my family rolled their eyes at us while we wiped tears of mirth from ours.

What I regret to this day is that I was not able to say goodbye to him before he died. I do not know how I would have done that, maybe I would have sung for him. Strangely, his favourite song was “Abhi toh mein jawan hoon” by Malika Pukhraj, a Pakistani singer, who was born in India but migrated to the neighbouring country after its partition, in 1947. The accurate translation of the opening lines of this classical ditty means, “Right now I am still young”. 

“What would you gift nana on his birthday?” asked my daughter on the phone.

“If he were still alive,” she continued.

“I would wish him,” I answered. 

“And wait for his surprised laughter,” I added.

“Sing his beloved song?” she prompted. 

“Which one?” I was curious.

“Abhi toh mein jawan hoon,” she hummed. 

“Abhi toh mein jawan hoon,” I joined.

Children’s foods that are promoted as gluten-free tend to be lacking in nutritional value and loaded with sugar just like other packaged kids’ products on grocery store shelves, a US study suggests. 

Four in five children’s snacks and treats had at least 10 per cent of calories from sugars — gluten-free or not — the study found. 

And 88 per cent of gluten-free packaged foods for kids had poor nutritional quality because they contained too much sugar, salt, total fat, saturated fat and trans-fatty acids — as did 97 per cent of items that made no claims about lacking gluten. 

“The problem is not the gluten free label per se, it is the processed foods aimed at children,” said study author Charlene Elliott, a food marketing and children’s health researcher at the University of Calgary in Canada. 

In fact, when researchers compared gluten-free products to similar items containing gluten, the nutritional content was similarly poor, Elliott said. Gluten-free versions of boxed macaroni and cheese, for example, had sky-high levels of sugars and unhealthy fats just like the box without a gluten-free label. 

“Some parents opt for a gluten-free diet as they believe it will be healthier for their children,” Elliott said by e-mail. “But when you look at the nutritional profile of packaged gluten-free foods, this is not the case.” 

About one in 100 children and adults have celiac disease, in which consumption of gluten triggers an autoimmune response that damages the small intestine and interferes with the absorption of nutrients. Avoiding foods that contain gluten from grains such as barley, malt, rye and wheat, or their derivatives, can ease symptoms and help minimize the risk of complications like malnutrition and brittle bones. 

A growing number of families are going gluten-free even when nobody in the household has celiac disease or gluten intolerance out of a mistaken belief that this is a healthier way to eat, researchers note in Paediatrics. 

For the study, researchers examined the nutritional content of 66 packaged children’s foods labelled as gluten free and 308 processed products that did not make this claim. 

Where possible, they made apples-to-apples comparisons to match similar products like instant oatmeal, ice cream, granola bars, peanut butter and applesauce or fruit snacks. 

The study was not a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how gluten-free products might be healthier than other processed foods. Another limitation is that researchers only looked at items available for sale at two large grocery chains. 

And the study didn’t look at what should be the staples of a gluten-free diet: vegetables, fruits, lean protein and other whole foods that are naturally lacking in gluten. 

“There are many very nutrient dense, whole, gluten-free grains such as amaranth, millet, quinoa, buckwheat,” said Marion Groetch, a nutrition and food allergy expert at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. 

“But most gluten-free products are made from rice, corn or potato starch and therefore are even less nutritious than processed products containing wheat,” Groetch, who was not involved in the study, said by e-mail. “These products hence are lower in fibre, micronutrients, and typically higher in fat and sugar.” 

There’s also a difference between kids having an occasional snack of packaged gluten-free foods and eating these items three meals a day, said Steve Taylor, a food allergy researcher at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who was not involved in the study. 

“In my view, you need to look at the overall diet to get a good picture of the healthiness of the child’s diet,” Taylor said by email. “Many kids eat high-sugar foods on occasion but burn off that energy and also eat an overall healthy diet.” 

No matter what type of diet families follow, parents should still try to avoid packaged or processed items as much as possible, said Samantha Heller, a nutritionist at New York University Langone Medical Centre who was not involved in the study. 

“Grocery store shelves are now overflowing with gluten-free foods that are just as junky as their gluten containing counterparts,” Heller said by email. “Parents should focus on more whole, home made and home cooked foods whether gluten-free or not.”

LOS ANGELES — In a twist ending straight out of a movie, “The Equaliser 2” shot past “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” to steal the box office crown.

Going into the weekend, it looked like “Mamma Mia! 2” would easily debut at No. 1. Weekend estimates show Sony’s “The Equaliser” sequel opened above estimates with $35.8 million when it launched in 3,388 locations, while Universal’s highly anticipated follow-up to “Mamma Mia!” debuted with $34.4 million from 3,317 screens.

“Equaliser 2”, the first sequel of Denzel Washington’s nearly four-decade long career, launched ahead of its predecessor. 2014’s “The Equalizer” opened with $35 million and went on to generate $192 million worldwide, including $101 million domestically.

Antoine Fuqua returned to direct “The Equalizer 2,” which also stars Pedro Pascal, Ashton Sanders, Melissa Leo, and Bill Pullman. Though it got a head start on the original film, reception has been less enthusiastic for the sequel, which currently holds a tepid 50 per cent average on Rotten Tomatoes.

Though “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” could not dance its way to the top of the domestic box office, its $34 million opening is still a win. The original “Mamma Mia!” hit theatres a decade ago with $27 million. It became a box office hit, amassing $615 million worldwide on a $52 million budget. Much like the first film, the sequel will likely be a smash overseas, where Swedish pop group ABBA has a huge following.

Much of the star-studded cast — including Amanda Seyfried, Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard, Colin Firth, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters and Dominic Cooper — returned for the second film. Lily James made her debut as a the younger version of Meryl Streep’s charming and carefree Donna, while living legend Cher also joined the cast. Ol Parker, the screenwriter behind “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”, took over directing duties and penned the script.

The final wide release of the weekend, BH Tilt’s “Unfriended: Dark Web”, got off to a scary start. The low-budget horror film debuted way below projections with $3.5 million from 1,546 locations. That might not matter, considering the Blumhouse title carries a $1 million price tag. “Dark Web” is a standalone sequel to 2015’s “Unfriended”. That film became a cash cow, opening with $15 million and going on to earn $64 million from a $41 million budget.

“The Grudge” and “Texas Chainsaw 3D” writer Stephen Susco made his directorial debut with “Dark Web”, which features Colin Woodell, Rebecca Rittenhouse, Betty Gabriel, and Andrew Lees.

Among holdovers, “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation” nabbed third place during its second outing. Sony’s animated sequel picked up another $23 million from 4,267 locations, bringing its domestic tally to $91 million.

In fourth, Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp” pocketed $16 million from 3,778 screens in its third frame. In total, the Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lily-led superhero blockbuster has made $165 million.

Disney-Pixar’s “Incredibles 2” rounded out the top five with $11.3 million. In six weeks, the animated sequel has earned a massive $557 million in North America.

Meanwhile, Dwayne Johnson’s “Skyscraper” continues to struggle in North America. Universal’s action adventure dropped 56 per cent in its sophomore weekend, collecting $11 million in 3,822 locations. The studio is hoping for massive returns internationally, where it opens this weekend in China.

At the specialty box office, Lionsgate’s “Blindspotting” bowed with $332,500 when it opened in 14 theatres. That’s a solid per-screen-average of $23,750. Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal co-wrote and star in “Blindspotting”, which debuted to raves at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Bleecker Street’s “McQueen”, a documentary chronicling the life of iconic fashion designer Alexander McQueen, landed the top theatre average of the weekend with $24,232. It scored $96,928 when it opened in four theatres.

Amazon Studios’ “Generation Wealth”, bowed on four screens with $33,602 for a per-theatre-average of $8,401.