June 21, 2011, ABC News, by Dan Harris and Maggy Patrick
David Allison is a renowned scientist who runs an obesity research center at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. He has a 108-page resume and was honored at the White House.
But even though study after study have shown soda to be a significant contributor to America’s staggering obesity crisis, he says there is too little “solid evidence.”
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control last week warned teenagers to cut down on their soda consumption, citing studies that show soda contributes to …

June 15, 2011, WebMD, Denise Mann
A child’s risk for becoming overweight or obese does not seem to increase when fast food establishments and stores are located near school grounds, a new study finds.
“Unhealthful food choices are ubiquitous and consequently stores selling these food items near schools have no significant effect on student obesity,” researchers led by David E. Harris, PhD, of the University of Southern Maine in Portland say in the July/August 2011 Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.
Researchers compared the weight and height of 552 students from 11 high …

TakePart.com, Megan Bedard, February 11, 2011
They can’t erase years of creating double chins with their famous double arches, but McDonald’s CEO Mike Roberts and Chief of Operations Mike Donahue are finally doing national cuisine a favor: they’re starting ahealthy fast food restaurant chain.
To make it work, the execs are pairing up with entrepreneur Stephen Sidwell and former personal chef to Oprah Winfrey and two-time James Beard Foundation Award winner Art Smith.
The new restaurant—planned to be one of 250 within the next five years—will open in Palo Alto with the name LYFE Kitchen, an …

February 1, 2011, by Liesbeth Smit
The new USDA American Dietary Guidelines are released. While the general public and scientists were anxiously waiting which major topics would be addressed, it turns out we should all eat much less sodium and added sugar. This would mean we are not supposed to eat most breakfast cereals, and ban sugary drinks (and juices) and canned soups. They even point out that we should eat REAL FOODS, that means foods that are not procesessed, packaged and to which other nutrients are added.

One thing that is …

CSPI, November 9, 2010
The controversial practice of using toys to market unhealthy fast-food meals to children was dealt another blow today by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. By a vote of 8 to 3, the board gave final approval to a measure sponsored by Supervisor Eric Mar that requires meals sold with toys not to exceed ceilings for calories, fat, sugar, and sodium, and to contain a half a cup of fruit and at least three-quarters of a cup of vegetables.
“That’s good news for San Francisco’s parents and children,” …

The Guardian, Felicity Lawrence, November 12, 2010
It was on a Friday afternoon in May 2009 when Andrew Lansley‘s Public Health Commission met, as usual, in the newly restored 1930s splendour of Unilever House on Victoria Embankment in London. It was gathering for its final plenary session, having been tasked by Lansley, now health secretary but then in opposition, to come up with new policies for theConservatives to tackle the big public health crises of obesity, diet-related disease, and alcohol abuse.
Obesity has trebled in the last 20 years, diet-related disease is estimated …

The New York Times, Michael Barbaro and Anemona Hartocollis, November 16, 2010
By her own account, Cathleen P. Black, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s choice to be the next New York City schools chancellor, has had almost no experience with the public education system.
But for nearly 20 years, she played an influential role in a company that did: Coca-Cola.
As America awoke to a national obesity epidemic and schools tried to rid their hallways of sugary drinks, Coca-Cola emerged as the biggest and most aggressive opponent of the scientists, lawmakers and educators who …

Food and Health News, November 18, 2010
You aced that test; now it’s time for a treat.
Sometimes pride in an achievement can lead people to indulge in unhealthy choices, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.
“Across four studies in the food consumptions and spending domains, we show that pride is associated with two opposing forces; it promotes a sense of achievement, which increases indulgence, and it promotes self-awareness, which facilitates self control,” write authors Keith Wilcox (Babson College), Thomas Kramer (University of South Carolina), and Sankar Sen (Baruch …

Food and Health News, November 18, 2010
People are easily fooled when it comes to food labels, and will eat more of something if they believe it’s a “small” portion, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.
Authors Nilufer Z. Ayinoglu (Koç University, Istanbul) and Aradhna Krishna (University of Michigan) found that inconsistent portion sizes contribute to people’s uncertainty about the appropriate amount to eat. “In this context of large portion sizes and consumer uncertainty about appropriate food intake, we show that size labels chosen by food and …

The New York Times, Rob Walker, November 12, 2010
Among students of the contemporary metropolis, “food deserts” have become a widely known problem. The term is generally used to describe urban neighborhoods where there are few grocers selling fresh produce, but a cornucopia of fast-food places and convenience stores selling salty snacks (though, strictly speaking, the term can be applied to rural or suburban areas, too). Often the problem afflicts low-income areas abandoned or shunned by food businesses that focus on better-off consumers; the residents of food deserts, apparently, are not …