The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently issued a report assessing the scientific evidence behind government recommendations that adults in the general population reduce dietary sodium intake to less than 2,300 milligrams per day and that certain groups of people at a greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) reduce their salt consumption to 1,500 mg per day. At the request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the IOM committee responsible for the report focused on new studies examining sodium’s direct effect on health outcomes as opposed to previous research that used high blood pressure as “a widely accepted biological predictor of risk for CVD and stroke.” Based on this new research, the IOM report concludes that while the latest science still supports salt reduction recommendations for the general population, there is little or no new evidence to back the 1,500 mg/day recommendation for specific population subgroups, which include…
Category Archives Other Developments
A perspective article published in the May 9, 2013, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) urges local governments to consider supplementing the federal Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) menu-labeling provisions with their own laws designed to improve consumer responsiveness to the calorie listings and increase overall compliance among businesses. Sara Bleich and Lainie Rutkow, “Improving Obesity Prevention at the Local Level—Emerging Opportunities,” NEJM, May 2013. Noting that many local governments “have already begun engaging in innovative regulatory activity related to obesity prevention (e.g., pre-ACA local menu-labeling laws) and will continue to do so,” the authors propose several strategies for influencing consumer behavior through more robust menu-labeling requirements, such as “presenting consumers with calorie information in the form of a physical-activity equivalent (e.g., minutes of running required to burn off a particular food)” instead of a straight calorie count; “replacing the default fries and soda in a child’s meal with apple…
New York University Nutrition Professor Marion Nestle has co-authored a rebuttal to claims that U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) made about a bill (H.R. 1572) which would prohibit the use of federal money “for print, radio, television or any other media advertisement, campaign, or form of publicity against the use of a food or non-alcoholic beverage that is lawfully marketed under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.” Schock introduced the measure, titled the “Stopping Taxpayer Outlays for Propaganda Act” or “STOP Act,” on April 15, 2013. In a Politico essay two days later, Schock claimed, “Using taxpayer dollars to attack the beverage and food industry might seem like a good idea to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, but it’s this exact type of harmful government spending that we can ill afford and serves no purpose in the overall wellness debate—other than to be critical of domestic companies that employ…
According to a new Consumer Reports study that analyzed ground turkey purchased at retail store nationwide, more than one-half of the 257 samples tested were contaminated with fecal bacteria and “almost all” of the diseasecausing organisms “proved resistant to one or more of the antibiotics commonly used to fight them.” The magazine tested both conventional meat and meat from birds that were not fed antibiotics, and, although all were reportedly found to be equally likely to contain the bacteria the magazine considered in its study, bacteria on the antibiotic-free ground turkey “were much less likely to be antibiotic-resistant.” “Turkeys are given antibiotics to treat acute illness,” the report stated, “but healthy animals may also get drugs daily in their food and water to boost their rate of weight gain and to prevent disease.” This practice “is speeding the growth of drug-resistant superbugs, a serious health concern. People sickened by those…
University of Arkansas School of Law Professor Susan Schneider has authored a post on the Agricultural Law Blog agreeing with a Federation of Southern Cooperatives post refuting claims by a New York Times reporter of fraud linked to the recovery of settlement proceeds (the Pigford settlement) in litigation alleging U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) loan program discrimination against African-American, Hispanic, Native American, and women farmers. Schneider states that on reading the April 25, 2013, New York Times article, titled “U.S. Opens Spigot After Farmers Claim Discrimination,” “I was alarmed to see errors, omissions, and misleading references . . . [and] I am very disappointed that the author appeared more interested in producing a salacious story than in treating the issue with the respect and depth that it deserved.” She includes a number of details overlooked in the newspaper article and concludes, “casting the story in the cynical tone of political…
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has issued its 2013 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce, which “ranks pesticide contamination on 48 popular fruits and vegetables, based on an analysis of more than 28,000 samples tested by the U.S. Department of Agriculture [USDA] and federal [Food and Drug Administration].” This year’s “Clean Fifteen™” list—fruits and vegetables with the least pesticide load—includes corn, onions, pineapples, avocados, cabbage, frozen sweet peas, papayas, mangoes, asparagus, eggplant, kiwi, grapefruit, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, and mushrooms. Topping the “Dirty Dozen™” list of the “most pesticide-contaminated produce” are apples, followed by strawberries, grapes and celery. According to EWG, this is the second year in a row that the group “has expanded the Dirty Dozen™ with a Plus category to highlight two crops— domestically-grown summer squash and leafy greens, specifically kale and collards.” Evidently, these crops “did not meet traditional Dirty Dozen™ criteria but were commonly contaminated with pesticides…
The Hispanic Institute has published a report advocating regulation of sugary drinks and processed foods to “help reduce alarmingly high rates of obesity among Hispanics.” Titled “Obesity: Hispanic America’s Big Challenge,” the report claims that 40.4 percent of Mexican Americans and 39.1 percent of Hispanics overall are obese, raising concerns about the rising health care costs associated with diabetes, heart and kidney disease, stroke, and other obesity-related conditions. In particular, The Hispanic Institute blames rising obesity rates on the “intentional actions” of food and beverage manufacturers, citing Michael Moss’s Salt Sugar Fat (2013) to support its argument that industry seeks “to ‘optimize’ the flavors and textures of foods and beverages in order to make them irresistible to consumers.” Comparing the current opposition to food and beverage regulation to that which initially stymied anti-smoking efforts, the report also faults marketing efforts that allegedly target “young people, Hispanics and African Americans especially,” as…
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently released the results of its preliminary investigation into a new strain of avian influenza A (H7N9), which WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Security Keiji Fukuda reportedly described as “one of the most lethal influenza viruses we have seen so far.” First identified in China and linked to live poultry markets, the disease has sickened more than 100 people to date and caused at least 20 deaths, according to the latest WHO reports. Additional details about the global response to H7N9 appear in Issue 479 of this Update. Speaking on behalf of the research team assessing the outbreak, Fukuda told reporters that WHO experts will continue to work closely with Chinese health officials to monitor the virus’s spread and to determine whether human-to-human transmission has occurred. To this end, the assistant director-general has urged continued surveillance in both human and animal populations throughout China as…
A recent Pediatrics “Perspectives” article warns physicians and parents about the increasing number of children and adolescents who have attempted the “Cinnamon Challenge,” an impossible prank made popular on the Internet that apparently entails “swallowing a tablespoon of ground cinnamon in 60 seconds without drinking fluids.” Amelia Grant-Alfieri, et al., “Ingesting and Aspirating Dry Cinnamon by Children and Adolescents: The ‘Cinnamon Challenge,’” Pediatrics, April 2013. According to the authors, the challenge has already led “to dozens of calls to poison centers, emergency department visits, and even hospitalizations for adolescents requiring ventilator support for collapsed lungs.” In particular, the article reports that the American Association of Poison Control Centers fielded 178 calls related to the “Cinnamon Challenge” during the first six months of 2012 and that “[a]t least 30 participants nationwide have required medical attention.” Based on these incidents as well as animal studies involving pulmonary exposure to cinnamon, the authors caution…
New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has reached agreements with several Fortune 500 companies, including Dr. Pepper Snapple group, to disclose their corporate political spending. The agreements apparently resolve shareholder resolutions that DiNapoli filed on behalf of the state’s pension fund, which holds more than 600,000 shares of Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, valued at some $26.1 million. DiNapoli stated, “Shareholders have a right to know how companies are using corporate money for political purposes. To date, eighteen companies have reached agreements with the New York State Common Retirement Fund to disclose their political spending—it’s time for more good corporate citizens to follow their lead.” Among the other companies that have reached similar agreements in past years are Yum! Brands Inc. and PepsiCo. Inc. See NYS Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli News Release, April 9, 2013.
