Brian Wansink, director of the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University, is facing criticism from a couple that owns the rights to “The Joy of Cooking,” which Wansink asserted had increased calorie counts of its recipes by an average of 44 percent since its first publication in 1936. The New Yorker reports that John Becker and his wife were “blindsided” when Wansink published “The Joy of Cooking Too Much” in the Annals of Internal Medicine in 2009, but they assumed his findings were correct. At the time, they posted a response on the cookbook's website saying that out of 4,400 recipes, Wansink had analyzed 18. Becker later saw a cartoon commissioned by Cornell to appear with Wansink’s original study, and he decided to check Wansink’s results, apparently finding numerous recipes that contradicted Wansink's findings. Becker forwarded his research to James Heathers, a behavioral scientist at Northeastern University, who reportedly found issues…
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A policy report announced by Public Health England (PHE) and the U.K. Department of Health and Social Care calls on the food industry to cut calorie content of certain foods—including pizza, ready-made meals, packaged sandwiches, meat products and savory snacks—by 20 percent before 2024. The report recommends reduction of calories through product reformulation, portion-size reduction and promotion of lower-calorie products. According to PHE data released March 6, 2018, overweight children consume up to 500 excess calories per day, while overweight adults consume up to 300 excess daily calories. Along with a continuing program of salt and sugar reduction efforts, PHE also plans to launch a campaign to educate consumers on the calorie content of meals and snacks. According to the report, the U.K. National Health Service spends more than $8 million a year treating obesity-related conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer, and the next step will be to engage…
Proposed legislation (S.B. 203) that would have required all sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) containing more than 75 calories per 12-ounce serving to carry safety warnings has failed to garner the requisite five votes needed to clear the California Senate Health Committee and move forward in the legislative process. Introduced by Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel), the Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Safety Warning Act directed manufacturers, distributors and retailers to place the following notice on sealed containers, multipacks and vending machines, as well as any premises where SSBs are sold in unsealed containers: “STATE OF CALIFORNIA SAFETY WARNING: Drinking beverages with added sugar(s) contributes to obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay.” A similar proposal (S.B. 1000) failed to receive adequate support from state lawmakers in 2014. The legislation was co-sponsored by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, which issued a statement on its website declaring that “It is unfortunate that of all places, the health committee…
The 14-member committee charged with developing the federal government’s "2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans” has issued its report containing recommendations for promoting consumption of foods and beverages that assist in maintaining a healthy weight and preventing disease. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Agriculture (USDA) are soliciting written comments about the committee’s report as well as offering the opportunity to provide oral comments at a March 24, 2015, public meeting in Bethesda, Maryland. Recommendations include following a diet low in saturated fat, added sugars and sodium, i.e., “less than 2,300 mg dietary sodium per day (or age-appropriate Dietary Reference Intake amount), less than 10 percent of total calories from saturated fat per day, and a maximum of 10 percent of total calories from added sugars per day.” The committee discourages consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. Issue 556
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has released the first phase of its report on front-of-package (FOP) rating systems and symbols for food products and recommends that the nutrients of greatest concern to consumers—calories, saturated fats, trans fat, and sodium—as well as serving size, should be highlighted, with calorie-count and serving-size information displayed prominently. According to IOM, “The inclusion of total calories is one way to emphasize the importance of calories in the diet and may help consumers identify lower calorie foods and track the number of calories consumed, . . . [while] serving size information may help consumers better visualize realistic serving sizes and put that portion into context with the other foods and beverages they are consuming.” Sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the report, titled “Examination of Front-of-Package Nutrition Rating Systems and Symbols: Phase 1 Report,” examines and compares…
The Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) recently posted a case study that discusses the process which led to the adoption of a restaurant calorie disclosure law in New York City. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Public Health Practice & Policy Solutions, the case study focuses on threats of litigation that arose throughout the law’s development and adoption, noting that public health officials considered this possibility early in the process and ultimately prevailed by adopting a broad-based law that survived legal challenge. The article relies on media coverage, legislative materials, scholarly articles, legal filings, and judicial opinions to recommend how other local authorities can prepare to support similar initiatives. While “interviews with opponents were not conducted,” the author did consult in-depth with the law’s proponents in preparing the analysis. PHAI is headed by anti-tobacco attorney and law professor Richard Daynard. It has conducted a number of conferences for lawyers,…
