The New York Times, February 12, 2010 Lesley Alderman
AS Michelle Obama reminded us this week, the forces behind childhood obesity are insidious.
Parents are busy. Fast food is cheap and easy (and children love it). Technology can help keep children sedentary. Children’s TV networks advertise junk food. Two-thirds of adults are overweight. And on and on.
As a result, one of three children in this country is overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Overweight children are at risk of developing serious and costly health problems that used to be primarily the province …

Reuters, February 9, 2010
Alarmed that nearly a third of U.S. children are obese or overweight — and likely to stay that way all their lives — President Barack Obama launched an initiative on Tuesday to roll back the numbers and put his wife in charge of promoting it.
“I have set a goal to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation so that children born today will reach adulthood at a healthy weight,” Obama said in signing the order at the White House.
He assigned his cabinet officers to meet …

Walter Willett for Newsweek, February 5, 2010
Until last year, the residents of Albert Lea, Minn., were no healthier than any other Americans. Then the city became the first American town to sign on to the AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project—the brainchild of writer Dan Buettner, whose 2008 book, The Blue Zones, detailed the health habits of the world’s longest-lived people. His goal was to bring the same benefits to middle America—not by forcing people to diet and exercise, but by changing their everyday environments in ways that encourage a healthier lifestyle.
What …

The Huffington Post, Jeffrey Levi, February 1, 2010
One of the biggest public health crises our country has ever faced is finally getting serious attention.
During the State of the Union address Wednesday night, President Obama announced that First Lady Michelle Obama was going to take on the childhood obesity epidemic. I’d say the epidemic better watch out! It now has a worthy adversary.
Mrs. Obama is stepping up to provide leadership, recognizing if we don’t take serious measures now, this generation of kids could be the first in U.S. history to live …

The Boston Globe, Karen Weintraub, February 1, 2010
Sure, a big deli pickle is salty. So is a strip of bacon or handful of chips. But who knew that a single serving of milk or yogurt has about 5 percent, or around 120 mg, of the recommended daily allowance of sodium? And a slice of bread – one slice, not a sandwich – has nearly 10 percent of the RDA.
Now, led by a New York push to cut salt consumption nationwide, health departments and advocacy groups around the country are …

Don Sapatkin, January 31, 2010, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Swati Kapoor, 25, was about to order a double chocolate cake doughnut when she noticed something new on the rack at Dunkin’ Donuts. A tag said 290 calories. In an instant, she switched to a chocolate frosted doughnut (230 calories).
“To prevent obesity,” the skinny medical student explained, munching away at a table in 30th Street Station.
Philadelphia begins phasing in enforcement of its strictest-in-the-nation menu-labeling law tomorrow. This first part, requiring chain restaurants to list calories on food tags and menu boards, is a …

William Neuman, The New York Times, February 5, 2010
Seeking a new weapon in the fight against obesity, the Food and Drug Administration wants to encourage manufacturers to post vital nutritional information, including calorie counts, on the front of food packages.
The goal is to give people a jolt of reality before they reach for another handful of chips. But the urgency of the message could be muted by a longstanding problem: official serving sizes for many packaged foods are just too small. And that means the calorie counts that go with …

Katherine Skiba, Chicago Tribune, January 19, 2010
WASHINGTON—First lady Michelle Obama, who is ratcheting up her campaign against childhood obesity, will ask the country’s mayors Wednesday to join her fight to get kids fit.
Obama, who said last week that she hopes to make combating childhood obesity her legacy, will address the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which is holding meetings here through Friday.
The address comes before the launch of a major policy initiative, her aides said.
About 220 mayors, including Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, are expected to attend, said conference spokeswoman Elena Temple.
Obama …

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 …

For overweight men ages 45 and older, the “High Five” factors of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, high
blood sugar/glucose, poor diet and low testosterone may be impacting their
energy and health, sabotaging efforts to lose weight, according to Building
Healthier America, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to reversing
the negative trends of overweight and obesity in the U.S.

Survey results of 2,000 overweight and obese men released today by Building
Healthier America found that fatigue and low energy are the most commonly
cited reasons they lack motivation to lose weight. Among these men, it was
reported that …