A new study examining the effect of diet on Alzheimer disease (AD) development has reportedly linked diets high in saturated fat to increased levels of lipid-depleted β-amyloid peptides (LD Aβ) in the brain. Angela Hanson, et al., “Effect of Apolipoprotein E Genotype and Diet on Apolipoprotein E Lipidation and Amyloid Peptides,” JAMA Neurology, June 2013. According to the study, which notes that the Aβ peptides partly responsible for AD “can be bound to lipids or to lipid carrier proteins, such as apolipoprotein E (ApoE), or be free in solution,” “levels of LD Aβ are higher in the plasma of adults with AD, but less is known about these peptides in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).” The researchers thus measured the levels of LD Aβ42, LD Aβ40 and ApoE in the CSF of 20 older adults with normal cognition and 27 older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), with randomized members of…
Category Archives Issue 488
A recent study has allegedly linked higher urinary bisphenol A (BPA) levels to a greater risk of obesity in adolescent girls, raising questions about whether BPA “could be a potential new environmental obesogen.” De-Kun Li, et al., “Urine Bisphenol-A Level in Relation to Obesity and Overweight in School-Age Children,” PLoS One, June 2012. Researchers with Kaiser Permanente apparently analyzed data from 1,325 students enrolled in grades four through 12 in Shanghai, China, to conclude that among girls ages 9-12, a urinary BPA level in excess of 2 µg/L “was associated with more than two-fold increased risk of having weight” greater than the 90th percentile of the underlying population. In addition, the study noted that the association “showed a dose-response relationship with increasing urine BPA level associated with further increased risk of overweight.” “This finding is consistent with findings in experimental animal studies where exposure to high BPA level led to…
“In what is becoming an all too familiar sight, the major food corporations recently teamed up with the First Lady’s Partnership for a Healthier America to announce their latest PR attempt to look like they are helping Americans eat healthier,” opines food activist and attorney Michele Simon in a June 19, 2013, post on the Corporations & Health Watch blog. According to Simon, the food companies that pledged in 2010 to reduce calories “in the marketplace” by 1.5 trillion have “jumped the gun” in proclaiming their success, as the official evaluation funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has not yet been released. In particular, Simon cites Bruce Bradley, “a former food industry executive turned blogger and author,” who questions the accuracy of a preliminary report issued by the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation (HWCF). “First off, measuring something like this at such a high level is recipe for bias. There…
According to Bay area journalist April Short, who apparently focuses on social justice reporting, public concerns about food health in the United States have compelled “the junk food industry” to use “disturbing deceptions . . . to keep Americans hooked on its junk.” In her June 18, 2013, AlterNet article titled “You Won’t Believe What the Food Industry Is Doing to Keep Americans Hooked on Junk,” Short claims that the deceptions include processing to make products look more “natural,” “marketing to children under the guise of charity,” and creating foods “manufactured to include just the right combination of the sugar, fat and salt our limbic brains love.” Citing Michael Moss’s book Salt Sugar Fat, Short discusses how food companies have made a science of producing foods that consumers cannot resist, including using just the right amounts of salt, sugar and fat, otherwise known as the “bliss point”; creating the “mouthfeel”…
Alcohol Concern, a U.K. charity “working on alcohol issues,” has issued a report titled “Stick to the Facts” that claims “[a]dvertisers exploit weak rules to develop content that appeals to both adults and young people. Audience thresholds limiting the percentage of minors insufficiently shield those underage. Children and young people in the UK aged 10-15 years are today exposed to significantly more alcohol adverts than adults than would be expected, given their viewership patterns.” The report also claims that self-regulation, particularly as to digital and online content, “is failing to adequately protect children and young people.” Among other matters, the charity calls on policymakers to prohibit alcohol company sponsorship of sporting, cultural and music events, including branded merchandise, restrict advertising at cinemas for all films without an 18 classification, and regulate alcohol promotion by statute, independent of the alcohol and advertising industries.
Nickelodeon and its parent company Viacom have purportedly declined to change their advertising policies after four senators penned a June 10, 2013, letter asking the network to further limit the food and beverage commercials shown during children’s TV programming. “As an entertainment company, Nickelodeon’s primary mission is to make the highest quality entertainment content in the world for kids,” the company reportedly said in its response to recent criticism. “That is our expertise. We believe strongly that we must leave the science of nutrition to the experts.” According to a recent article in The New York Times, which reported that food advertising accounts for approximately 18 percent of Nickelodeon’s annual sales, the network has also highlighted its voluntary efforts to reduce advertisements for foods and beverages with high sugar or fat content, its promotion of health and wellness messaging, and its licensing restrictions designed to prevent the use of popular…
Chipotle Mexican Grill has reportedly become the first fast-food chain to disclose the ingredients it uses that contain genetically modified (GM) organisms. The list of items containing GM ingredients is currently available only on the company’s website and includes barbacoa beef, chicken, fajita vegetables, brown and white rice, steak, and tortillas. According to its website, the company’s “goal is to eliminate [genetically modified organisms] GMOs from Chipotle’s ingredients, and we’re working hard to meet this challenge. For example, we recently switched our fryers from soybean oil to sunflower oil. Soybean oil is almost always made from genetically modified soybeans, while there is no commercially available GMO sunflower oil. Where our food contains currently unavoidable GM ingredients, it is only in the form of corn or soy.” See BloombergBusinessWeek.com, June 18, 2013; Chipotle.com.
The American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates has formally adopted three new resolutions at its 2013 Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, that aim to define obesity as a disease, prohibit the marketing of energy drinks to adolescents younger than age 18, and end the eligibility of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). According to news sources, delegates reached the decision to recognize obesity “as a disease state with multiple aspects requiring a range of interventions to advance obesity treatment and prevention” after hours of debate raised questions about how physicians and policymakers will use the declaration to counter rising obesity rates in the United States. “Recognizing obesity as a disease will help change the way the medical community tackles this complex issue that affects approximately one in three Americans,” said AMA board member Patrice Harris in a statement announcing the resolution. “The AMA is committed…
A California resident who worked at a TGI Fridays in Los Angeles has filed a putative class action on behalf of a statewide class of current and former nonexempt employees, alleging that the restaurant failed to pay them (i) when they showed up for their shifts but were told to go home due to light customer traffic, (ii) for the time they spent in mandatory meetings, and (iii) all the wages and other compensation due upon their discharge, termination or separation “either timely or fully.” Portillo v. TGI Fridays, Inc., No. BC12119 (Cal. Super. Ct., Los Angeles Cty., filed June 14, 2013). Alleging causes of action for failure to pay reporting time, waiting time damages, and unfair, unlawful or deceptive business practices, the plaintiff seeks compensatory and liquidated damages, interest, injunctive relief, attorney’s fees, and costs.
Women who worked at celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s Los Angeles restaurant, The Fat Cow, have filed a putative class action on behalf of all nonexempt employees against the restaurant and his company, alleging they were denied meal and rest breaks, were not compensated for the missed breaks, were not compensated for overtime, were not paid minimum wage, were not provided with timely and accurate wage-and-hour statements, did not promptly receive accrued wages when they left the job, and did not receive all of the gratuities contributed to a tip pool, which they claim the defendants improperly converted. Becerra v. The Fat Cow LLC, No. BC511953 (Cal. Super. Ct., Los Angeles Cty., filed June 13, 2013). The named plaintiffs include two former hostesses, a server and a barista. They seek economic damages, injunctive relief, restitution, the imposition of civil penalties, punitive damages, interest, attorney’s fees, and costs.
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