The Food Standards Agency Board in the UK agreed its advice to Ministers on the Agency’s nutrient profiling (NP) model. The Board agreed that the model was working effectively. In particular it concluded that the protein cap, which prevents foods containing high levels of fat, salt or sugar being classed as ‘healthier’ by the model by virtue of their protein ontent, should be retained.
Archive for category Nutrition and obesity
Coca-Cola in Autralia ran this advert on October 11th 2008.
Coke claimed that it was a “myth” that Coke made children fat or caused their teeth to rot using celebrity endorsements.
And they soon after gave wrong data regarding Cokes content of caffeine.
The powerful Australian Competition and Consumer Commission on Thursday ordered Coke to correct its claims.
Coke agreed to make corrective advertizing. See the corrective advertizing here.
The company for a period of 3 years, will also ensure that it will not make the claims that:
- that consumption of Coca-Cola cannot contribute to weight gain unless that claim can be substantiated;
- that consumption of Coca-Cola cannot contribute to tooth decay or that tooth decay is declining globally, unless the particular claim made can be substantiated;
- that 250ml of the Coca-Cola Product bearing the brand name “Diet Coca-Cola” contains only one half of the amount of caffeine as that contained in a cup of tea, without further qualification, unless that claim can be substantiated.
This case was commented in an editorial of The Lancet. And Watchdog orders Coca-Cola to correct ‘teeth-rotting myth’ advert in The Telegraph and Food industry ‘denying links to health problems’ says The Lancet. And the official ruling from ACCC
Danish Consumer Council reported 8 products to the authorities (Food Administration) for misleading portion sizes. See the products and read the complaints in English. You may also want to make legal complaints in your country. Use these complaints as inspiration.
This 58 page report summarizes state legislation proposed and passed in two broad policy categories (a) Healthy Eating and Physical Activity and (b) Healthy Community Design and Access to Healthy Food. The first category addresses policy approaches aimed primarily at nutrition and physical education in schools. The second category focuses on the built environment: land use, transportation and agriculture options. Enjoy reading.
A new study from Boston has found that rapid weight gain during the first six months of life may place a child at risk for obesity by age 3.
Having more than a couple of drinks a day can double the risk of developing involuntary tremor, a neurological disorder that affects about 5 million people over the age of 60 in the United States. Researchers compared lifetime alcohol consumption and neurological symptoms in almost 3,300 people, aged 65 and older, in three areas of central Spain.
Several multivitamins tested by ConsumerLab.com including three for children, exceeded tolerable upper limits established by the Institute of Medicine for ingredients such as vitamin A, folic acid, niacin and zinc, according toa new report
The Mediterranean Diet Pyramid was resently updated by our friends at Oldways in Boston.
Kelly Brownell of the Yale Rudd Center and Tom Friedan of the New York City Health Department wrote this paper about taxes on sodas – a sensible a way to get people to consume less of them in the April 30 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
On May 20th The Times ran a great article to followup on Kelly and Toms article. Please notice the graphs which will be useful in any presentation on public health nutrition. Enjoy!
This new paper describe and discuss several well-developed approaches for categorising foods using nutrient profiling, primarily in the area of food labelling and also with respect to advertising controls. The best approach should be able to summarise and synthesise key nutritional dimensions (such as sugar, fat and salt content, energy density and portion size) in a manner that is easily applied across a variety of products, is understandable to users and can be strictly defined for regulatory purposes.