HealthDay, November 1, 2011
A new report claims that the makers of sugar-laden drinks such as sodas, sports drinks, energy drinks and fruit drinks take direct aim at children, particularly black and Hispanic kids, in their marketing campaigns.
Read the report at: Report slams makers of sugary drinks for targeting kids – USATODAY.com.

September 24, 2011, New York Times, Mark Bittman
To make changes like this more widespread we need action both cultural and political. The cultural lies in celebrating real food; raising our children in homes that don’t program them for fast-produced, eaten-on-the-run, high-calorie, low-nutrition junk; giving them the gift of appreciating the pleasures of nourishing one another and enjoying that nourishment together.
Political action would mean agitating to limit the marketing of junk; forcing its makers to pay the true costs of production; recognizing that advertising for fast food is not the exercise …

BBC News, October 1, 2011
Denmark has introduced what is believed to be the world’s first fat tax – a surcharge on foods that are high in saturated fat.
Butter, milk, cheese, pizza, meat, oil and processed food are now subject to the tax if they contain more than 2.3% saturated fat.
Some consumers began hoarding to beat the price rise, while some producers call the tax a bureaucratic nightmare.
Others suggest that many Danes will simply start shopping abroad.
Read more at   BBC News – Denmark introduces world’s first food fat tax.

September 26, 2011, Elena Conis, Los Angeles Times
Imagine: You’re hungry for an afternoon snack, just a little something to hold you over until dinnertime. You head down to the vending machine, drop in your change and walk back to your desk with … yogurt, some trail mix and a piece of fresh fruit.
That’s not quite the reality in most workplaces — at least not yet. But more and more vending machine companies are swapping out cookies and candy for granola bars and rice cakes.
The switch is driven by consumer demand …

September 14, Philly.com, Karen Heller
The offer from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to fund an antiobesity program, financed by the soda industry, just fizzled like so many flat colas.
We have a monstrous obesity problem, and Philadelphia could use the money. But saying no was the obvious choice for the Nutter administration, waging a campaign for healthier diets.
The choice was also right.
“It seems to me that accepting money from the beverage industry to fight obesity would be like taking money from the NRA to fight gun violence or from the tobacco industry …

September 23, 2011, Vancouver Sun, Sara Schmidt
Coca-Cola Ltd. has reduced drastically the amount of Vitamin A in one of its fruit drinks after nutrition experts complained the elevated level could pose a health risk.
The cola giant confirmed Thursday that its Orange Mango FUZE Vitalize drink is now boosted with about onethird of the amount of vitamin A it contained just a few months ago. The company began producing the reformulated beverage in June. The product no longer contains what the government calls the “tolerable upper intake level” for adults, and …

September 10, 2011, The Independent, Clare Dwyer Hogg
The trans fats in junk food are responsible for the deaths of around 7,000 people a year in the UK – and teenagers are most at risk. Elsewhere, these toxic substances are banned. So why are they still legal in this country?
When the comedian Micky Flanagan reels out his gag about craving chicken from a local takeaway, he always gets a laugh. Desperate for food, he has to run the gauntlet of teenagers outside. “Teenagers love chicken,” he says, imitating the hunched-up shoulders, …

September 14, 2011, The Atlantic
A recent study from the Maryland School of Public Health has found a simple way to help overcome the health problems caused by antibiotic resistance: stop adding antibiotics to animal feed. The study found that when poultry and beef are produced without these antibiotics, bacterial resistance quickly declines.
Feeding antibiotics to livestock creates an ever-increasing number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including many that cause disease in humans. Yet up to now, no one has been able to say how quickly the damage can be undone by ending this …

Vending Times, Emily Jed, September 2011.
New rules that dictate what beverages can be sold or served on Boston city property will go into effect on Oct. 1. They apply to vending machines, in addition to cafeterias, concession stands, meetings and events where food is purchased with city dollars.
Mayor Thomas Menino’s executive order establishes color-coded standards for determining what beverages can be allowed on city property. Beverages coded “red” — banned from city properties — include such sugar-sweetened beverages as presweetened teas and juices with added sugars, and refrigerated coffee, energy, …

August 10, 2011, Yale University
Nutrition-related health claims on children’s cereals are often misinterpreted by parents, causing them to infer that products with health claims are more nutritious overall despite actual nutrient quality, finds a study from the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. The study, published in the journal Public Health Nutrition, shows that additional government regulation of front-of-package labeling is needed to protect consumers.
Through an online survey, researchers asked parents with children between the ages of 2 and 11 to view images of actual box …