In this week’s nutrition news: Check out how airline food stacks up, some hot food trends for 2010 and why that caffeine chaser may not sober you up.

Next Year’s Hot Foods
Advertising agency J. Walter Thompson has compiled the top five food trends for 2010. On the list: bacon, sardines and wine cocktails. The bacon isn’t so suprising — these days, you’ll now find bacon-infused alcohol, bacon-flavored ice cream and, when I visited New York City’s Per Se for an unbelievable eight-course tasting menu, they served homemade bacon-flavored chocolate. Bacon and sardines aside, I’m looking forward to seeing some fun wine cocktails on restaurant menus for my Saturday date night.

Shop Smarter With Supermarket Tours
Supermarkets can make your head spin — especially the mega-sized ones where you just want to put everything in your cart. If you live around Decatur, Illinois, take advantage of the Supermarket Tours that a local wellness center is offering. Lead by a registered dietitian, the tour gives healthy tips — for example, stick to the perimeter. That’s where fruits, veggies, meats and dairy products (the unprocessed foods) live. She also helps decipher some of those tricky food labels that sport various health claims.

Gross Anti-Soda Advertising
Folks have been talking a lot about a recent ad from New York City’s Health Department that shows a tall glass of gloppy fat instead of soda. Now a new video is stirring up even more controversy (WARNING: The video is gross). The idea is to make folks opt for low- and non-calorie beverages over soda, but is going for the gross-out factor the right way to send this message?

Alcohol and Caffeine Don’t Mix
With holiday parties in full swing, this new study couldn’t have been published at a better time. Scientists examined the behavior of mice that were given various doses of alcohol and caffeine; they found that caffeine made mice more alert but didn’t “sober them up.” The takeaway: Although mixing liquors with caffeinated beverages or downing a mug of coffee may wake people up, it may make them believe they’re “sober enough” to drive or do something else that might put themselves (and others) in harm’s way.

Nutrition Ratings for Airline Grub
Because many folks are flying to family or vacation spots during the winter holiday, we thought you may want to find out how your airline’s food rates. According to Dietdetective.com, Continental scored the highest, and American Airlines came in second. Take a peek at the list before your flight, and you’ll get a better idea if you’ll need to pack some extra food. (If you do, here are some of our healthy flying tips.)