Los Angeles Times, Sharon Bernstein, June 23, 2010
Weeks after a Silicon Valley county in California became the first in the nation to ban toys from McDonald’s Happy Meals and other food promotions aimed at children, a public health watchdog group called on the fast food giant to remove the playthings from all its meal packages.
Citing toys aimed at promoting the latest “Shrek” movie, the Center for Science in the Public Interest said that the plastic promotions lure children into McDonald’s restaurants where they are then likely to order food that …

Telegraph.co.uk Rebecca Smith, June 21, 2010

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) says that unhealthy foods have wreaked a “terrible toll of ill health” on the nation and placed a “substantial” strain on the economy.

For the first time, the organisation publishes landmark guidance on how to prevent the “huge number of unnecessary deaths” from conditions such as heart disease that are linked to the consumption of ready meals and processed food.
It calls for sweeping changes to food production and government policy to encourage lifestyle changes, and to reduce significantly the amount of …

The Huffington Post, June 23, 2010
Taking a bold step forward for public health and well-being, today President Obama announced his “Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition.”
Now if that doesn’t strike you as bold or important, allow us to take you down memory lane for a moment. Remember the old patch you’d get in physical education class back in the day for doing a certain number of push-ups, sit-ups and running a mile in a certain time? Sometimes it felt like you just got it for showing up because the tests seemed so …

Teeth riddled with cavities could point to other health problems. Among children ages 2 to 5, poor nutrition may be a common thread connecting obesity and tooth decay, a new study finds.
Dental decay in young kids could point to bad nutrition and a higher BMI.
Researchers found that 28 percent of young children who required anesthesia to treat their cavities — either because of the seriousness of the decay or their lack of cooperation — had a BMI indicating they were overweight or obese.
For comparison, data gathered from the National Health …

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are due to vote on new legislation on food labelling – determining what nutritional information should be displayed on the packaging of items such as snacks, soft drinks and ready-meals. The vote has been the subject of a major lobby campaign by the food industry, opposed to mandatory information on food packaging.
The Confederation of the food and drink industries of the EU (CIAA) has spent €1 billion opposing proposals for front-of-pack ‘traffic light’ labels – which have a green symbol for healthy options …