Neville Rigby, April 16, The Guardian
The mere mention of trans fats – an unhealthy by-product in our industrialised diets – leaves many respectable scientists fulminating, food manufacturers shrugging and pleading that they’ve done their best, while responsible government agencies and some of their scientific advisers look the other way while the media headlines shriek about killer fat.

Yet how many of us realise that trans fats turn up in all kinds of funny places – and very frequently in the frying pan at home. Read the labels and wherever they mention …

Time Magazine, TIFFANY O’CALLAGHAN March 25, 2010
If there is any reason for hope among the data on national obesity rates in the U.S. (the numbers should be familiar by now: two-thirds of adults and nearly one-third of children are overweight or obese in the country), it is that they finally seem to be leveling off. According to the most recently published reports by epidemiologists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), long-term federal obesity data suggest that after decades of ballooning in size, American adults and children may have …

Telegraph, February 17, 2010
Cases of devastating health conditions like heart disease, diabetes and stroke will increase with the nation’s waistlines, it warns.
The latest study is an update of the Government-commissioned Foresight report, released in 2007, and reveals no basis for hope that the obesity crisis is easing.
Although recent figures have suggested that childhood obesity may be levelling off, for adults the picture is “less optimistic”, the report’s authors warn.
Within 10 years, 81 per cent of men aged between 20 and 65, will be either overweight or obese, and 41 per …

In a report that may bolster public policy efforts to get Americans to reduce the amount of salt in their diets, scientists writing in The New England Journal of Medicine conclude that lowering the amount of salt people eat by even a small amount could reduce cases of heart disease, stroke and heart attacks as much as reductions in smoking,obesity and cholesterol levels.
Go to the The New England Journal of Medicine for the full article.
If everyone consumed half a teaspoon less salt per day, there would be between 54,000 and 99,000 fewer heart attacks each year …

New York State has shelved the idea of a tax on sugary sodas and juice drinks. But New York City’s public health officials opened a new front in their struggle against high-calorie beverages on Monday, unveiling an ad campaign that depicts globs of human fat gushing from a soda bottle.
“Are you pouring on the pounds?” asks the ad, which urges viewers to consider water, seltzer or low-fat milk instead, and warns: “Don’t drink yourself fat.”
The ad — which cost about $277,000 to develop over three fiscal years, including money for creative work and focus …

The Boston Globe, Stephen Smith, August 3, 2009
Just the other day, a man weighing 470 pounds lumbered into Dr. Caroline Apovian’s office at Boston Medical Center. He was young – only 32 years old – but already, his heart had begun to fail him, a legacy of his extreme obesity.
How much sugar?
Maybe, he asked Apovian, I should have weight-loss surgery. She told him that first, he would need to alter what he eats – and drinks, especially the 2 liters of sugary soft drinks he drains every day.
“I gave him …

By RONI CARYN RABIN, The New York Times, October 8, 2009
Eating a Mediterranean-style diet — packed with fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, olive oil and fish — is good for your heart, many studies have found. Now scientists are suggesting the diet may be good for your mental health, too.
A study of over 10,000 Spaniards followed for almost four and half years on average found that those who reported eating a healthy Mediterranean diet at the beginning of the study were about half as likely to develop depression than those who …

The New York Times, August 10, 2009
A nationwide survey of obesity rates offers very little good news. More than two-thirds of Americans are now overweight or obese, and the percentage is still rising. The report is based on data for 2005 through 2009 gathered by state health departments with the help of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study defines overweight as a body mass index of 25 to 30, and obesity as a B.M.I. over 30.
The authors acknowledge some debate over the use of B.M.I. For example, …

Dining at some restaurants will be a new experience starting today, when Californiabecomes the first state to require that chain restaurants supply calorie counts for virtually everything they serve.
“Consumers should be able to make informed decisions about their health and it will raise the consciousness of how much we eat,” said John Rogers, Sacramento County environmental health division chief.
There will be no guessing – or denial – about that double Western Bacon Cheeseburger from Carl’s Jr.: 960 calories. Side of Chili Cheese Fries to go with that? 990 calories. Maybe …

(The Denver Post, August 2, 2009)
The extra medical costs that severely overweight people add to health care spending are ballooning, a new study shows.
While Congress works with President Obama to reform health care, the question of what to do about the obesity epidemic in our country should be front and center in the debate. As the study by RTI International documents, as much as $147 billion every year is spent on obesity-related ailments and conditions.
Just over 10 years ago, medical spending related to obesity was $78.5 billion. Now that’s super-sizing.
“There …