The City University of New York Campaign Against Diabetes and the Public Health Association of New York City (PHANYC) have published a report, titled Reversing Obesity in New York City: An Action Plan for Reducing the Promotion and Accessibility of Unhealthy Food, that aims to educate policy makers, advocates and health professionals about food policy issues. Focused on lowering obesity rates in New York City, the report asks local government to: (i) “create local healthy food zones” in schools, churches, health centers, and other public institutions; (ii) “use zoning laws to reduce density of unhealthy food outlets”; (iii) “strengthen oversight of deceptive health claims in food advertising”; (iv) “discourage racial/ethnic targeting of unhealthy food advertisements”; (v) “tax unhealthy food such as sweetened soda and other beverages”; (vi) “support counter-advertising campaigns against unhealthy foods”; and (vii) “restrict advertising and promotion of unhealthy food.” In addition, CUNY Campaign Against Diabetes and PHANYC…
Tag Archives obesity
A recent study explores the claim that rats fed a high-fat diet (HFD) during pregnancy produce offspring predisposed to overeating and obesity. Guo-Qing Chang, et al., “Maternal High-Fat Diet and Fetal Programming: Increased Proliferation of Hypothalamic Peptide-Producing Neurons That Increase Risk for Overeating and Obesity,” Journal of Neuroscience, November 2008. The Rockefeller University researchers examined the possibility that an HFD “alters the development” in utero of “hypothalamic peptides involved in controlling food intake and body weight.” Compared with the progeny of mothers fed a balanced diet, fetuses exposed to an HFD showed alterations in their hypothalamic peptide-producing neurons that could lead to the “long-term behavioral land physiological changes observed in offspring after weaning, including an increase in food intake, preference for fat, hyperlipidemia, and higher body weight.” While some scientists warned that the animal study involved an unnatural diet, others thought the evidence lent credence to the belief that maternal diets…
According to news sources, scientists attending the American Heart Association conference in New Orleans released the results of several studies including one showing that the artery walls of children who are obese or have high cholesterol are as thick as those of adults who are 30 years older. Led by Geetha Raghuveer, a cardiologist and associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, this small study of 70 children used ultrasound to measure artery wall thickness. While no one apparently knows how thick a 10-year-old’s blood vessels should be, the researchers reportedly used tables for 45-year-olds and found the thickness comparable. Other research presented during the conference showed that 991 obese Australian children had a greater enlargement of their hearts and that 150 Australian children with a higher body-mass index had left ventricles that were slower to untwist in the heart pumping process, thus impairing the…
Nielsen’s Consumer Insight Magazine reports that rising rates of obesity in the United States can be attributed not only to increasing calorie consumption and less exercise, but also to “pure demographics.” According to the report, “The population is older than ever before and Americans tend to be fatter when older. Women are heavier, and because they live longer than men, they make up a higher share of the older population. Lastly, Hispanics—the fastest growing immigrant group in the U.S.—tend to have higher obesity rates.” The report, titled “A Widening Market: The Obese Consumer in the U.S.,” also notes that the average American consumes 15-20 more pounds of fat each year than he did 100 years ago. As to assessing responsibility for weight gain, more than 80 percent of consumers admit they are to blame, about the same as those agreeing in 2006 that weight gain is attributable to eating too…
In an article appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, David Ludwig, M.D., and Marion Nestle, Ph.D, discuss the voluntary efforts that food corporations have undertaken to address the rising rates of obesity in the United States and then detail the counterproductive activities in which they allegedly continue to engage. David Ludwig & Marion Nestle, “Can the Food Industry Play a Constructive Role in the Obesity Epidemic?,” JAMA, October 14, 2008. According to the authors, food companies lobby against obesity-related public health campaigns and continue to market food of little nutritional quality to children. The article also cites research purportedly showing that the industry “has an especially insidious influence on the conduct of research and development of public health policy,” where industry-funded studies tend to reach industry favorable conclusions. While they recognize that the companies have an obligation to maximize their profits for the benefit of shareholders, Nestle and…
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who gained renown with his cooking show “The Naked Chef,” has apparently launched an initiative designed to teach people how to cook in an effort to reduce the incidence of obesity in Great Britain. Starting in a city of 250,000 in northern England with one of the highest rates of obesity in the nation, Oliver’s “Pass it On” campaign will teach eight cooks 10 recipes; they must promise to teach two people who will teach two people and so on, until, in less than six months, the entire city will, in theory, be able to cook. Although the show is being aired only in the UK, a YouTube® clip of the first ten minutes of his opening television show about his new “Ministry of Food” is available for viewing. Oliver is apparently hoping that people who learn to cook easy, nutritious meals will be less likely…
Researchers at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have reportedly concluded that obesity may increase the risk of developing adult-onset dementia. Beydoun, M. A., Beydoun, H. A. & Wang, Y., “Obesity and central obesity as risk factors for incident dementia and its subtypes: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” Obesity Reviews, May 2008. The authors conducted a meta-analysis of 10 previously published studies examining the relationship between dementia or its subtypes and various measures of body fat. A pooled analysis from seven of these studies indicated that baseline obesity increased the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by 80 percent on average, according to the Bloomberg School of Public Health. In addition, researchers found that underweight participants were also at a greater risk of dementia or related conditions. “Our analysis of the data shows a clear association between obesity and an increased risk for dementia and several clinical subtypes of the disease,”…
Energy intake from the consumption of soft drinks in the United States increased some 135 percent between 1977 and 2001, according to a new study published in the October issue of the American Journal of Preventive Health. Data from the study were derived from three food surveys of more than 73,000 Americans that included age groups ranging from 2-year-olds to senior citizens. The study found that daily calories from soft drinks and fruit drinks nearly tripled between 1977 and 2001, rising from 2.8 percent to 7 percent of the total caloric intake in the daily diet. Overall, this amounted to a 278-calorie average daily increase. Young adults aged 19-39 reportedly drank the most soft drinks, boosting consumption from about 4 to almost 10 percent. Milk consumption over the same period, however, dropped. Overall, Americans derived 38 percent less of their daily calories from milk. The authors, researchers from the University of…
This article discusses obesity-related litigation that has been instituted since the U.S. surgeon general declared in December 2001 that obesity and overweight are responsible for some 300,000 deaths annually. Tobacco-control activists John Banzhaf and Richard Daynard, who are quoted in the article, apparently did not think much of such litigation when the idea first surfaced. They now expect, however, that media attention will give rise to increasing attorney interest and the filing of other cases. Plaintiffs’ lawyer John Coale, described as “a veteran of tobacco and gun litigation,” evidently believes that the food industry’s Achilles’ heel is the targeting of children through Saturday morning television commercials, contracts to serve fast food and soft drinks in schools, and promotional initiatives involving toys. Tort reform advocate and Shook Partner Victor Schwartz reportedly predicts that it will take about five years of discovery in obesity-related litigation for plaintiffs’ lawyers to find “documents that, if…
New York attorney Samuel Hirsch has filed lawsuits against fast food companies on behalf of two classes of plaintiffs who are allegedly obese and have developed diabetes, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol intake, and other adverse health effects from consuming defendants’ products. Barber v. McDonald’s Corp., No. 23145/2002 (N.Y., Super. Ct., filed July 24, 2002); Pelman v. McDonald’s Corp., No. 24809/2002 (N.Y. Super. Ct., filed August 22, 2002). The cases involve a class of adult plaintiffs and a class of children. The complaints are being brought on theories of (i) unfair and deceptive practices, (ii) failure to warn, and (iii) negligence in selling products high in fat, salt, sugar, and cholesterol, and in marketing to children, in marketing addictive products, and in enticing plaintiffs to consume larger portions in “value meals” and “meal combos.” According to news sources, the named adult plaintiff, Caesar Barber, 56, did not realize that consumption…
