“Fed Up,” a new documentary produced and narrated by Katie Couric, with appearances by food experts Marion Nestle, Michael Pollan and Michele Simon, among others, chronicles the struggle of obese children who have purportedly become addicted to food. While the film claims that unethical advertising, snack ubiquity, enabling parents, and poor school environments have contributed to America’s obesity epidemic, it primarily places the blame on this nation’s obsession with sugar and the government’s alleged capitulation to the food industry and its lobbyists, referring to them as pushers of “the new tobacco.” The film also features scientists Robert Lustig and David Ludwig, as well as real-food advocate Mark Bittman. See NPR The Salt, May 19, 2014. Issue 524
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A federal court in New York has dismissed an amended complaint filed against high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) manufacturers, alleging that the HFCS in foods and beverages, such as McDonald’s hamburger buns and Pepsi, was a substantial factor in causing a 14-year-old girl to develop Type 2 diabetes. S.F. v. Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., No. 13-634, decided April 21, 2014). The plaintiff alleged market-share liability under the tort doctrines of strict liability, negligence and failure to warn. The court agreed with the defendants that Type 2 diabetes is a multifactorial disease, stating “[n]o expert opinion is required to arrive at this conclusion.” And even accepting the allegations as true, the court said, “[T]here is little in it to suggest that Plaintiff could prove that her consumption of some foods containing HFCS over the course of her life was a substantial factor in causing Type 2 diabetes. . . . [A]side from idly listing various…
A federal court in California has denied the motion to dismiss putative class claims that Mott’s LLP deceives consumers by placing “No Sugar Added” on its 100% Apple Juice label. Rahman v. Mott’s LLP, No. 13-3482 (N.D. Cal., order entered April 8, 2014). Information about the court’s prior decision dismissing without prejudice most of the claims in the plaintiff’s first amended complaint appears in Issue 511 of this Update. As to the plaintiff’s second amended complaint, the court disagreed with the defendant’s argument that an ongoing U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rulemaking pertaining to Nutrition Facts label disclosures about the presence or absence of added sugars required dismissal of the action under the primary jurisdiction doctrine. While the court agreed that food regulation is within FDA’s purview, it stated, “plaintiff’s claims do not concern statements made on the apple juice’s Nutrition Facts label; rather, plaintiff’s claims relate to nutrient…
The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a public consultation on its draft guidance for sugar intake that aims to help countries limit sugar consumption and address public health issues such as obesity and tooth decay. The action follows increasing concern that consumption of free sugars, particularly in the form of sugar-sweetened beverages, “may result in both reduced intake of foods containing more nutritionally adequate calories and an increase in total caloric intake, leading to an unhealthy diet, weight gain and increased risk of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).” The organization also cites concern about the role free sugars play in the development of dental disease, noting that they are the most prevalent NCDs globally despite the treatment and prevention improvements of the last decade. WHO estimates that the cost to treat dental disease—5 to 10 percent of the health budgets in many industrialized countries—would exceed the financial resources available for all…
A recent article published in The Lancet: Diabetes & Endocrinology has questioned current nutritional guidelines that permit the substitution of fruit juice for one daily fruit serving, arguing that some fruit juices contain as many calories as other sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). Jason Gill and Naveed Sattar, “Fruit juice: just another sugary drink?,” The Lancet: Diabetes & Endocrinology, February 2014. After surveying approximately 2,000 adults “to assess knowledge of sugar content of a range of SSBs, fruit juices, and smoothies,” researchers with the University of Glasgow’s Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences reported that participants underestimated the sugar content of fruit juices and smoothies by 48 percent on average while overestimating the sugar content of carbonated drinks by 12 percent on average. The article suggests that many people perceive fruit juices and smoothies to be “low-sugar alternatives” to soda, even though the micronutrient content of these beverages “might not be sufficient…
A recent study has purportedly concluded that adults who consumed more than 21 percent of their daily calories from added sugars (those found in sweetened beverages, grain-based desserts, fruit drinks, dairy desserts, candy, and other processed foods) doubled their risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality. Quanhe Ye et al., “Added Sugar Intake and Cardiovascular Diseases Mortality Among US Adults,” JAMA Internal Medicine, February 2014. Led by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the study relied on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 1998-1994, 1999-2004 and 2005-2010, which showed that more than 70 percent of adults receive at least 10 percent of their caloric intake from added sugars. The results also allegedly found that, compared to participants who consumed less than 8 percent of calories from added sugar, those who consumed approximately 17-21 percent of calories from added sugar had a 38 percent higher risk of…
Among the tens of thousands of documents reportedly made public in advance of a hearing in litigation pitting the sugar industry against companies that make high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) are emails that purportedly show some HFCS company executives were concerned about rebranding and advertising the substance as “natural” and “nutritionally the same as sugar.” Some apparently suggested that it made the industry appear disingenuous and could invite litigation. According to an attorney representing the HFCS manufacturers, the emails simply reflect a healthy debate. He reportedly said, “What the emails clearly show is the corn refiners engaged in a rigorous internal discussion about the public relations aspects of what HFCS is called, while never wavering in their core belief that high fructose corn syrup is both natural and nutritionally equivalent to sugar.” Another email authored in April 2009 by the then-president of the Corn Refiners Association reportedly defended the campaign but…
York University researchers have published a qualitative study examining “how obese women with and without binge eating disorder (BED) experience overeating in relation to the DSM-5 [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual] symptoms of addiction.” Claire Curtis & Caroline Davis, “A Qualitative Study of Binge Eating and Obesity From an Addiction Perspective,” Eating Disorders, January 2014. According to the study, the recently-published DSM-5 includes a new category for “Addiction and Related Disorders” that addresses “both substance use disorders (SUDs) and non-substance addictions” in addition to providing new diagnostic guidelines. Using these expanded criteria, the authors interviewed 12 obese women with BED and 12 without BED, concluding that “both groups of women endorsed DSM-5 SUD criteria (in relation to food) in their narratives,” although there were “visible qualitative differences in how the women experienced these symptoms.” More specifically, Curtis and Davis reported that while both groups expressed a desire to reduce their food…
A group of international health experts has launched a new campaign intended to reduce the amount of sugar in processed foods and beverages sold in the United Kingdom (U.K.). Modeled after the Consensus Action on Salt and Health and chaired by Queen Mary University of London Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine Graham MacGregor, Action on Sugar includes a number of U.K. scientists and academics as well as National Obesity Forum Chair David Haslam and University of California, San Francisco, Professor of Clinical Pediatrics Robert Lustig. The campaigners aim to set gradual sugar reduction targets for the food industry similar to those established for salt content, warning that failure to meet such targets would prompt the group to pursue legislation or a sugar tax. They also seek to (i) educate the public about “the impact of sugar on their health,” (ii) identify children as “a particularly vulnerable group whose health is more…
A federal court in California has dismissed with prejudice the second amended complaint in a putative class action alleging that Wrigley Sales Co.’s chewing gum and candy products are misbranded because the labels state that they are “sugar free.” Gustavson v. Wrigley Sales Co., No. 12-1861 (N.D. Cal., decided January 7, 2014). The court determined that the product labels do not violate federal regulations, the plaintiff failed to adequately plead her alleged regulatory violations, and the plaintiff “is attempting to impose a labeling requirement that is ‘not identical to’ federal requirements.” Thus the court ruled that the “sugar free” component of the complaint was preempted and any further amendment of the complaint would be futile. The court dismissed the remainder the complaint relating to the defendant’s alleged failure to disclose that the products “are sweetened with nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners or to detail the percentage of the product that nonnutritive…
