The New York Times, Duff Wilson, July 27, 2010
When the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation decided in 1991 to take on Joe Camel, it became the nation’s largest private funding source for fighting smoking. The foundation spent $700 million to help knock the cartoon character out of advertisements, finance research and advocacy for higher cigarette taxes and smoke-free air laws and, ultimately, to aid in reducing the nation’s smoking rate almost by half.
But a few years ago, the Johnson foundation, based in Princeton, N.J., added another target to its mission, pledging …

NPR, Patti Neighmond, July 28, 2010
The health effects of being overweight or obese are well documented. Extra pounds add extra risk for diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers, even among children. But new research also documents significant social and economic consequences of being overweight since high school.
A group of teenagers take a morning jog at the Wellspring Academy in Reedley, Calif., in 2009. The school specializes in helping teens and college students lose weight. A new study shows teens who remain obese risk a lifetime of chronic health problems and …

Chicago Tribune, Monica Eng, July 21, 2010
Every five years the American public gets a newly tweaked directive on what we’re supposed to be eating.
And every five years the American public largely ignores it.
For example, the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend we eat 2 1/2 cups of vegetables and 2 cups of fruit a day. But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only about 14 percent of adults are even coming close.
Special interest groups, however, watch the guidelines closely and are speaking out. Just last week, nearly …

Los Angeles Times, Stanton Peele, July 21, 2010
As California contemplates legalizing the sale of marijuana, the real war over intoxicants in this country is, as always, over alcohol.
Since Prohibition ended in 1933 with the 21st Amendment to the Constitution — which repealed the 18th Amendment authorizing the ban on alcohol — states, counties and municipalities have see-sawed back and forth over alcohol sales. States are still passing laws on the sale of alcohol on Sundays, and municipalities and counties are still voting on whether to permit local alcohol purchases.
But as …

Chicago Tribune, Monica Eng, July 20, 2010
The evening’s menu featured grass-fed, antibiotic-free beef over pasta, fresh seasonal vegetables and fresh organic peaches — items right at home in the city’s finest restaurants.
Instead, the dishes were prepared for visitors, staff and bed-bound patients at Swedish Covenant Hospital.
The Northwest Side hospital is one of 300 across the nation that have pledged to improve the quality and sustainability of the food they serve, not just for the health of their patients but, they say, the health of the environment and the U.S. population.
For …

The Huffington Post, John Whyte, July 19, 2010
It’s always somebody else’s problem. Even when it comes to our own health, we always think the latest risks never apply to us. Most patients know that being overweight predisposes them to diabetes. But nine times out of 10, when I tell my patients with diabetes that if they lost weight, they might be able to improve their diabetes control, the response back to me is “Dr. Whyte, I’ve been overweight for 20 years… and I’ve only been diabetic for a year.” …

CSPI, July 15, 2010
Scientists Question Whether Federal Nutrition Assistance Funds Should Be Used to Buy Obesity-Promoting Sugar-Sweetened Beverages

WASHINGTON—The soft drink industry receives a $4 billion subsidy from taxpayers each year, according to aneditorial published today in the American Journal of Public Health.
According to the paper, that’s about how much carbonated soda is purchased with money from the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), the program formerly known as Food Stamps. And that total doesn’t include non-carbonated soft drinks. Considering that the overconsumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is helping fuel an epidemic of obesity that …

The Huffington Post, Michelle Locke, July 15, 2010
It’s not hard to figure out that stocking school vending machines with sugary sodas and salty, fatty snacks is a bad idea. Replacing those culinary culprits with something more nutritious is tougher.
But a growing number of school districts around the country are trying anyway.
“I can’t say enough for what it does for the kids to have the junk out of the machines,” says Patricia Gray, who as former principal of San Francisco’s Balboa High School oversaw a switch to healthier snacks.
“It was …

Los Angeles Times, Chris Woolston, July 12, 2010
Uncertainty about milk aside, the USDA’s recommendations are clear-cut.
In 2005, the agency in charge of the food pyramid started recommending three cups of dairy products a day for anyone over 8, a full cup more than before. By the USDA’s standards, one cup of yogurt, one and a half ounces of hard cheese, one-third cup of shredded cheese or two cups of cottage cheese counts as a cup of dairy. So, of course, does a cup of milk.
The USDA actively promotes dairy products …

Associated Press, July 1, 2010
The Danish government has increased taxes on cigarettes, ice-creams, sweets and other products in an effort to make Danes healthier.
The tax reform came into effect Thursday and also means taxes have increased on soft drinks and flavored alcoholic beverages, so-called alcopops.
The tax per liter of ice-cream was increased to 4.25 kroner ($0.67) from 3.40 kroner ($0.56) previously, while the tax on cigarettes was raised by 2 kroner ($0.33) per pack.
The World Health Organization has called taxation one of the most effective interventions to fight alcohol-related harm, …