The New York City Health Department has launched a “hard-hitting” ad campaign encouraging subway riders to cut their portions of food and sugary drinks to reduce the health risks associated with obesity. One poster, for example, depicts a diabetic man with an amputated leg with the tagline, “Cut Your Portions, Cut Your Risk.” “The portion sizes that are marketed are often much more than humans need,” Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said. “We are warning people about the risks of super-size portions so they can make more informed choices about what they eat. Consuming too many calories can lead to weight gain, which greatly increases the risk of type 2 diabetes.” The American Beverage Association (ABA) has reportedly criticized the campaign, claiming that it inaccurately depicts the health impacts of soft drink consumption. “Instead of utilizing scare tactics, the beverage industry is offering real solutions like smaller portioned containers and new…
Tag Archives obesity
The Constitutional Council of France recently approved a tax on sweetened soft drinks to combat the healthcare-related costs of obesity. Effective January 1, 2012, the tax adds 1 euro cent per can and is expected to generate €120 million ($156 million) in state revenue to fund lower Social Security contributions by farm workers. “Obesity is rising as swiftly in France as it is in other EU countries and action must be taken before it gets any more serious,” a French health ministry spokesperson was quoted as saying. See France 24, December 28, 2011; Daily Mail, December 29, 2011.
A Cleveland judge has reportedly decided that an obese third grader who was removed from his mother’s custody after she was apparently unable to control his weight can now be removed from foster care. County child welfare officials had convinced the court in October 2011 that the 218-pound child was in imminent danger; they had been working with the family for more than a year after the boy was taken to a hospital with breathing problems. According to a news source, the court found that the boy had lost about 25 pounds during his two months in foster care. He ordered the honor student to live with his uncle following a hearing that took place on the child’s ninth birthday. See The Slatest, November 29, 2011; msnbc.com, December 14, 2011.
Denying an employer’s motions for summary judgment in an employment discrimination suit, a federal court in Louisiana has determined that severe obesity, regardless of its basis, qualifies as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. EEOC v. Res. for Human Dev., Inc., No. 10-03322 (E.D. La., decided December 7, 2011). The court did not decide whether the employer had terminated the obese employee’s employment because she was regarded as disabled, finding that the matter presented a genuine issue of fact to be decided by a jury. The employee, now deceased, weighed more than 400 pounds when she was hired by the defendant, which owned and operated a long-term residential treatment facility for chemically dependent women and their children. Some eight years later, the employee was terminated from her position; at the time, she weighed 527 pounds. She filed a discrimination claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging…
During a recent discussion about family and childhood nutrition sponsored by the Brussels-based think-tank Friends of Europe, the World Health Organization’s representative to the European Union reportedly called for imposing steep taxes on salty and sugary foods to address excessive eating. Roberto Bertollini apparently claimed that the campaign against tobacco, including high taxes and government regulation of tobacco use and advertising, provides a model to address increasing rates of obesity. He also called for restrictions on junk-food advertising and government efforts to promote healthy eating habits and exercise. Others participating in the forum reportedly suggested that parents and schools play a role in getting children to adopt healthier lifestyles. See EurActiv, December 6, 2011.
According to Bloomberg reporters Robert Langreth and Duane Stanford, as researchers publish more studies suggesting that processed foods and sugary drinks have drug-like effects on the brain, “the science of addiction could become a game changer for the $1 trillion food and beverage industries.” In their November 2, 2011, article “Fatty Foods Addictive Like Cocaine in Growing Body of Scientific Research,” the authors contend that if these types of foods and beverages “are proven to be addictive, food companies may face the most drawn-out consumer safety battle since the anti-smoking movement took on the tobacco industry a generation ago.” While industry executives and lobbyists apparently refute these claims, insisting that people do not rob banks “to get the money to buy a candy bar or ice cream or pop,” they are facing a growing body of studies suggesting that foods high in fat and sugar affect brain reward circuits in…
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health $16 million “to establish a global center of excellence to address the childhood obesity epidemic.” According to a Johns-Hopkins news release, the initiative will involve more than 40 investigators from 15 U.S. and international institutions to integrate basic science, epidemiology, nutrition, medicine, engineering, and environmental and social policy research, among other disciplines. Johns Hopkins University and other institutions will contribute an additional $4 million to the enterprise. Founding Director Youfa Wang said, “The new Center will address many needs in the prevention and study of childhood obesity. This initiative will help create research and training opportunities that go beyond traditional methods, and on an unprecedented global scale.” The center’s focus will be on “studying the drivers of the childhood obesity epidemic and environmental and policy interventions,” as well as providing “rapid-response grants to investigators…
Wall Street Journal reporters Ashby Jones and Shirley Wang consider in “Obesity Fuels Custody Fights” how family courts have increasingly been asked to determine whether nutrition or obesity should be controlling factors in child-custody lawsuits. According to the article, the issue arises in several guises: sometimes the child is obese; other times a junk food diet is at issue; and in other cases, the parent who seeks custody alleges that the other parent is too overweight to properly care for the child. Noting that in most states the legal standard is the “best interest of the child,” the authors report that some states have recently adopted as criteria the child’s physical and emotional well-being. Family court practitioners reportedly suggest that the obesity issue is typically part of a larger picture and would have to be extreme to overcome rights to maintain close parent-child relationships and to raise a child as…
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has unveiled the latest installment of its “Pouring on the Pounds” campaign that describes “how drinking just one 20-ounce soda a day translates to eating 50 pounds of sugar a year.” According to an October 24, 2011, press release, the 30-second TV commercial aims to serve as “a stark reminder to New Yorkers about how sugary drinks can lead to obesity, which can cause diabetes, heart disease, stroke, arthritis and some cancers.” It will be supplemented by bilingual subway ads demonstrating how far a 160-pound person would need to walk at 3.5 miles per hour to burn off the calories from one sugary beverage. “The majority of New York City adults are now overweight or obese, as are 4 in 10 elementary school children and the health consequences are staggering,” said New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Farley. “Sugary drinks…
The Institute of Medicine’s (IOM’s) Food and Nutrition Board has announced an October 20, 2011, public workshop in Washington, D.C., titled “Alliances for Obesity Prevention: Finding Common Ground.” Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and hosted by IOM’s Standing Committee on Childhood Obesity, the event will include discussion of ways to engender dialogue and develop new alliances among obesity-prevention allies. Speakers will include Susan Linn of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.
