The Urban Institute and the University of Virginia have issued a report claiming that lawmakers should study anti-tobacco campaigns as they consider taxing fattening foods and sugary drinks to curb the nation’s obesity problem. Titled “Reducing Obesity: Policy Strategies from the Tobacco Wars,” the report asserts that increased education about smoking and taxing tobacco products brought the percentage of U.S. smokers down from 42.4 percent of the population in 1965 to less than 20 percent in 2007. Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, was quoted as saying that raising taxes “brings about the quickest, most measurable, and most pronounced decline in use.” Policies suggested in the report include (i) the adoption of excise or sales taxes on “fattening food,” such as ice cream, sugary drinks and candy; (ii) the placement of “clear and simple labels,” such as traffic-light signpost labels, “conveying the health risks of fattening foods”…
Tag Archives obesity
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hosted a “Weight of the Nation” conference July 27-29, 2009, in Washington, D.C., to explore ways of tackling the nation’s escalating rates of obesity. Treating obesity-related conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and arthritis reportedly costs some $147 billion annually. Speakers at the inaugural event included CDC Director Thomas Frieden, who was quoted as saying that taxing sugary drinks at $.01 per ounce could produce $100 billion to $200 billion over the next decade. “Anything that decreases the availability and increases the cost is likely to be effective. The challenge, I think, is a political one of getting that approved,” he said. Frieden further asserted that average American adults are 23 pounds overweight, consume 250 more calories daily than 10 years ago and that about 120 of those calories are from sugary beverages. In a related development, CDC issued a report on…
“Whether anything will be done – or even can be done – to stem the global tide of obesity is, at this point, an open question,” writes New Yorker columnist Elizabeth Kolbert in her review of several “weight-gain books” that examine the causes and course of this recent phenomenon. The theories under consideration include those put forth in the following publications: (i) The Evolution of Obesity (Michael Power and Jay Schulkin), (ii) The Fattening of America (Eric Finkelstein and Laurie Zuckerman); (iii) The End of Overeating (David Kessler); (iv) Fat Land (Greg Critser); (v) Mindless Eating (Brian Wansink); (vi) The Fat Studies Reader (New York University); and (vii) Globesity (Francis Delpeuch, Benard Maire, Emmanuel Monnier, and Michelle Holdsworth). According to the article, these books each offer a unique perspective on the obesity “epidemic,” chalking up the increasing waistline to a variety of factors as divergent as evolution, corporate manipulation, cheaper calories,…
Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity has released the results of experimental studies examining the relationship between TV food advertising and consumption. Titled “Priming Effects of Television Food Advertising on Eating Behavior,” the article appears in the July edition of Health Psychology and concludes that “food advertising on television increases automatic snacking on available foods in children and adults.” Authors Jennifer Harris, John Bargh and Kelly Brownell observed elementary-school-aged children who received a snack while watching programs that featured either food advertising or advertising for other products. The authors also followed adults exposed to (i) “food advertising that promoted snacking and/or fun product benefits”; (ii) “food advertising that promoted nutrition benefits” or (iii) “no food advertising.” The adults then “tasted and evaluated a range of healthy to unhealthy snack foods.” According to the article, the children “consumed 45 percent more when exposed to food advertising,” while adults…
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has scheduled a conference for public policymakers, health leaders and others to consider “progress in the prevention and control of obesity through policy and environmental strategies.” The inaugural “Weight of the Nation Conference” will be held July 27-29, 2009, in Washington, D.C.; an interactive discussion format for speakers and participants has been planned. CDC will use information developed for and during the conference to produce its “National Road Map for Obesity Prevention and Control” guidelines. Among those who have been invited to speak are Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), and Representatives James Oberstar (D-Minn.) and Zack Wamp (R-Tenn.). Other speakers include Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Food Center for Policy and Obesity at Yale University, and Margo Wootan, director of Nutrition Policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. School nutrition, federal legislation, the…
President Barack Obama (D) has been urged by health organizations, nutrition experts and physicians to sign an executive order creating a Presidential Commission on Healthy Weights, Healthy Lives to take on the nation’s escalating rates of obesity. In a June 22, 2009, letter to the president, signatories suggested that the United Kingdom’s anti-obesity campaign could act as a model. “The increased rates of obesity will negate many of our nation’s investments in health care and could actually condemn youths to shorter life spans than their parents,” the letter stated. “Each year, obesity causes tens of thousands of premature deaths and tens of billions of dollars in avoidable medical costs. Obesity also leads to heart-wrenching psychosocial problems, such as difficulty making friends, stigmatization, and discrimination in employment.” Groups that signed the letter included the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), American Diabetes Association, American Public Health Association, National Consumers…
The American Medical Association (AMA) has reportedly voted against a policy that would describe obesity as a disability, citing concerns over patient care and litigation. In particular, some AMA members noted that a disability designation might curb the willingness of physicians to openly discuss weight issues with their patients. “If obesity is designated as a disability, physicians could be sued or reprimanded for discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act if a patient takes offense at the physician discussing obesity,” stated the resolution adopted at AMA’s recent annual meeting. See The Associated Press and ABC News, June 18, 2009. Meanwhile, the Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) has issued a statement calling for a continued discussion around this topic, urging physicians to take a proactive approach to obesity with their patients. “The determination of obesity should be based on scientific and medical factual data and not fear of litigation,” OAC said in…
The director of nutrition at the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), a non-profit “consumer education consortium,” recently wrote a letter to the editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer responding to an opinion piece authored by John Banzhaf, an anti-tobacco crusader and law school professor who in recent years has turned his attention to obesity-related issues. Banzhaf suggested on May 15, 2009, that the key to lowering the cost of health care is to “directly attack the major preventable causes” of chronic illness: “smoking and obesity.” He claimed that, at no cost to taxpayers, rates of obesity could be reduced by (i) charging the obese more for their health insurance; (ii) requiring restaurant chains to post the calorie and fat content of their offerings; (iii) mandating health warnings in fast food outlets; (iv) prohibiting deceptive food advertising, especially promotions targeted to children; (v) changing food subsidies to support “healthier…
This student-authored case note discusses the obesity-related class litigation filed in 2002 against McDonald’s Corp. involving named plaintiffs who are urban minority youths. The author contends that, while the proposed class definition includes a much broader population of New York residents, framing such litigation to connect obesity with socioeconomic status and race “could have been a valuable opportunity to reframe the obesity issue to highlight its effect on low-income urban minority youth.” According to the article, this reframing could have garnered more positive media attention, which could have spurred the environmental changes that the author believes are needed to combat obesity in this population. The article briefly discusses how “tobacco-style” lawsuits can be part of an effective public health strategy, noting “as was the case with tobacco litigation, if the public becomes convinced that urban minority youth are being misled or manipulated by the food industry, then the politics of fast…
A long-term study by the Mount Sinai Medical Center for Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research has reportedly suggested a link between childhood obesity and endocrine disruptors, including phthalates and bisphenol A. Part of a study titled “Growing Up Healthy in East Harlem,” the project followed 520 children ages 6 to 8 for five years in an effort to determine “how the area where the children lived affected diet, physical activity and risk for obesity.” Researchers apparently found that study participants had “higher levels in their urine of three endocrine disruptors – 2,5 DCP, MBP and MEHHP – than a national sample of children the same age.” According to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, approximately 43 percent of East Harlem kindergarteners were also overweight or obese for their age in 2003. “The heaviest girls have the highest levels of phthalates metabolites in their urine,”…
