A recent report by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) has claimed that rising obesity rates “could have the same implications for world food energy demands as an extra half billion people living on earth.” Sarah Walpole, “The weight of nations: an estimation of adult human biomass,” BMC Public Health, June 2012. After analyzing data from the United Nations and World Health Organization on body mass index (BMI) and height distribution to estimate the average adult body mass, the study’s authors calculated total biomass per continent and country “as the product of population size and average body mass.” Based on these results, the researchers concluded that “[i]f all countries had the BMI distribution of the USA, the increase in human biomass of 58 million tons would be equivalent in mass to an extra 958 million people of average body mass, and have energy requirements equivalent…
Category Archives Issue 444
Two groups of scientists at Inner Mongolia University in Huhhot, China, have reportedly created two genetically modified (GM) calves capable of producing either low-lactose milk or milk high in omega-3 fatty acids. According to media sources, the group involved with low-lactose milk production hopes to create herds of GM cows that would supply a range of dairy products for lactose-intolerant consumers within five to 10 years. “Ordinary milk contains lactose, while milk produced by our modified cow will have relatively low content of lactose, or even have no lactose,” one scientist told The Telegraph. “Most people suffer the lactose intolerance in varying degrees. We are attempting to breed a dairy cow that produce low lactose milk for supplying the market. We hope to commercialize it in the future.” The second research team apparently modified cow embryos with genes from roundworms to produce milk with four times the level of omega-3…
A recent study has reportedly concluded that a diet high in sodium is associated “with increases in biomarkers of endothelial dysfunction, specifically serum uric acid (SUA) and urine albumin excretion (UAE),” leading to hypertension. John Forman, et al., “Association between Sodium Intake and Change in Uric Acid, Urine Albumin Excretion, and the Risk of Developing Hypertension,” Circulation, June 2012. Using data from the Prevention of Renal and Vascular End Stage Disease (PREVEND) cohort, researchers apparently analyzed SUA levels in 4,062 non-hypertensive participants and UAE levels in 4,146 participants. The results evidently showed that not only are high sodium diets associated with greater increases in SUA and UAE, but that over the long term they may lead “to endothelial dysfunction and vascular damage, generating a biological state in which continuance of the high sodium diet may produce hypertension (a sodium amplification loop).” In particular, the study’s authors found that participants who consumed…
The journal PLoS Medicine has published two articles and an editorial in a “major new series” on “Big Food” in this week’s issue, and will publish five additional related articles over the next two weeks. The editorial notes that the articles, focusing on “the role in health of Big Food, which we define as the multinational food and beverage industry with huge and concentrated market power,” were selected under the guidance of guest editors Marion Nestle of New York University and David Stuckler of Cambridge University. Contending that Big Food has “an undeniably influential presence on the global health stage,” the editorial introduces the other articles and observes, “We decided not to provide a forum for the industry to offer a perspective on their role in global health, since this point of view has been covered many times before and fails to acknowledge their role in subverting the public health agenda,…
The director of Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity recently authored an article in The Atlantic arguing in favor of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s (DOHMH) proposal to limit the size of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) sold in restaurants and other food service establishments. According to Kelly Brownell, industry opposition to the measure is rooted in concern over profits, which “increase as people buy bigger portions” since “the cost for the soda companies and restaurants to serve larger sizes may be mere cents for a larger cup and the extra liquid.” As a result, he says, soda manufacturers have banded together to voice their opposition to the measure, a campaign that Brownell anticipates will include lawsuits as well as “new industry-funded studies that will show, contrary to the large number of existing studies, that portion size does not have an effect on eating or…
A group of national pizza chains has reportedly formed a new coalition to combat proposed menu labeling regulations that would require companies with 20 or more food outlets to post calorie information on menus and menu boards. Mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, the Food and Drug Administration’s April 2011 draft rules call on restaurants to display calories ranges for all customizable menu options as well as the overall calorie count for each item. The American Pizza Community (TAPC), however, has opposed the measure as unfair to those enterprises with highly variable offerings that are unlikely to be consumed by one person. “A light bulb goes on when people hear about all the combinations for pizza,” said TAPC Chair Lynn Liddle. “They start to realize how difficult it would be to make a one-size-fits-all approach.” TAPC members have also argued that not only are 90…
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has issued its “2012 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce,” updating “pesticide loads” on 45 conventional fruits and vegetables. EWG’s contamination rankings were derived from the organization’s review of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food and Drug Administration data from 2000 and 2010 that detailed the amounts and types of pesticides detected on sampled produce washed and peeled before testing. Providing “Dirty Dozen™” and “Clean 15™” lists, the guide once again singles out apples as the “worst offender,” reporting that 98 percent of the fruit tested contained pesticide residues. Although they did not make the criteria as worst offenders, green beans and leafy greens such as kale and collard greens were named in EWG’s “Dirty Dozen Plus™” list because they are “commonly contaminated with highly toxic organophosphate insecticides,” according to EWG. “These insecticides are toxic to the nervous system and have been largely removed…
The New York City Police Department has reportedly noted an uptick in the number of bee swarms scouring the five boroughs in search of a new home, a phenomenon which experts have attributed to unusually warm weather as well as an increase in residential apiaries. According to a June 18, 2012, New York Times article, the department’s “unofficial beekeeper in residence” has already handled 31 swarms since mid-March, more than twice the number reported last season. As the Times explained, “Officer [Anthony Planakis] said the bees he had collected were wild, but some beekeepers believe they were fleeing the poorly managed hives that have proliferated on rooftops, in backyards and on balconies since the city lifted a decade-long ban on raising Apis mellifera—the common, nonaggressive honeybee—in March 2010.” With 182 hives registered with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and perhaps as many as 400 total, expert beekeepers have…
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and Berkeley Media Studies Group have asked Nestlé CEO Brad Alford to stop marketing limited-edition Crunch® candy bars with three Girl Scout cookie flavors. Their June 18, 2012, letter contends that the co-branding initiative “violates your pledge not to target children with marketing for candy.” The products apparently feature the Girl Scout logo, and the groups assert that this tie-in and logo “will attract the attention of and appeal to children” because Girl Scouts are children, with some “2.3 million girls, in Kindergarten through 12th grade,” participating in scout activities nationwide. “Even if the candy bar advertising is targeted towards adults, the Girl Scout’s theme is inherently appealing to children and so constitutes marketing to children,” according to the letter. The groups close with, “Marketing thematically geared towards children is marketing to children. We look forward to discussing this further with…
The American Medical Association (AMA) has reportedly championed taxes on sugar-sweetened sodas as a way to fight obesity. Although it failed to pass a policy that outright supports such a measure, the AMA recognized during its recent annual meeting that “while a number of factors contribute to the obesity epidemic, taxes on beverages with added sweeteners are one way to finance consumer education campaigns and other obesity-related programs.” To that end, the physicians group voted to adopt a policy supporting obesity-prevention education for children and teens in public schools that encourages doctors to volunteer to teach classes on causes, consequences and prevention. “I can’t tell you the number of 40-pound 1 year-olds I see every day,” pediatrician Melissa Garretson was quoted as saying. See AMA Press Release, June 20, 2012; Associated Press, June 21, 2012.
12
