USNews, Hanna Dubansky, November 24, 2010
The thrust and details of the 2010 guidelines won’t be known until they are released, a change from before, when the government simply adopted the recommendations of an advisory panel. This time DOA and HHS are hammering out the final version behind the curtains, with a 13-member advisory panel providing input rather than dictating the content. But the report and recommendations released by the panel in June are bound to carry heavy weight. If the panel’s input foreshadows the shape and scope of the guidelines …

Fooducate, November 18, 2010
Yesterday we participated in a conference call hosted by Produce for Better Health Foundation, discussing how America has progressed in produce consumption over the past decade. A distinguished panel presented quite a grim picture:

America’s  fruit and vegetable consumption remains far below recommended levels
Only 8% of us reach our fruit goals.
Only 6% reach the veggie goals.
While we eat a third of our food away from home, those meals account for only 11% of fruit & veggie consumption.
Eight of the states with the lowest fruit and vegetable consumption are …

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 Huffington Post, November 18, 2010
Research is medicine’s field of dreams from which we harvest new findings about the causes, treatment and prevention of disease. During the 20th century, the triumph of public health and medical interventions as a result of investments in research significantly improved the health and well being of people living in our country. In 1900, the average life expectancy for Americans was just 48 years and the major causes of death then were infectious diseases and, for women, also complications of childbirth. Since then, food …

The Province, November 12, 2010
Overweight children may be more stressed than those of normal weight, a new report suggests.
Among 1,136 kids and teens ages 8-17 surveyed online in August, those of above-normal weight reported more health problems in the previous month. Such problems, experts say, signal stress. Among them:
■ Sleep problems, 48 per cent (compared with 33 per cent of normal-weight kids).
■ Headaches, 43 per cent (vs. 28 per cent).
■ Anger and fighting, 22 per cent (vs. 13 per cent).
“There are some good data out there that show connections between …

BBC News, November 15, 2010
People who are overweight have a greater sense of smell for food, a study has found.
Researchers from the University of Portsmouth say their early findings may go towards explaining why some people struggle to stay slim.
Experts already know that part of the brain that processes information about odour is also connected to the feeding centres of the brain.
The latest research is published in the journal Chemical Senses.
In the UK, a quarter of adults are obese and doctors fear that the incidence will only rise in the …

The Atlantic, By Kelly Brownell, Professor of Public Health at Yale University, November , 2010
Food companies have been in a headlong rush to prevent government from enacting policies that would affect sales of items such as sugar-sweetened beverages and fast food. One of their tactics is for the companies to issue pledges to protect children, saying in so many words, “You can trust us to police ourselves so government can back down.”
The marketing of junk food has been the focus of many such pledges. In the U.S., the pledges are …