Coke markets VitaminWater as a healthful alternative to soda by labeling its several flavors with such health buzz words as “defense”, “rescue”, “energy”, and “endurance”. CSPI says they are deceptive and unsubstantiated claims. And hence CPSI sued Coke.
Archive for category Nutrition and obesity
In an experiment, researchers offered 131 four- to five-year-olds a plate of cookies after they had eaten a meal. They found that the children who ate more cookies were more likely to have certain variations of a gene linked to larger body size. So when it comes to cookies, some children really can’t help themselves.
A new spreadsheet can be used by physicians and weight-management professionals to predict if weight-loss will be temporarily or permanent.
SUPERVALU’s family of grocery stores nationwide, including Acme, Albertsons, bigg’s, Cub Foods, Farm Fresh, Hornbacher’s, Jewel-Osco, Lucky, Shaw’s/Star Market, Shop ‘n Sav®, and Shoppers Food & Pharmacy will start using a new in-store nutrition program to help consumers identify better-for-you foods while they shop. It’s the ‘œnutrition iQ’ program developed and implemented in collaboration with Joslin Clinic over the next six months.
In 2008 research by Mathews, Johnson & Neil implied that children of women who eat breakfast cereal are more likely to be boys than girls. Young, Bang & Oktay assert that the result of the study is easily explained as chance. Young, Bang & Oktay examined the data sets from the original study and noted that 132 food items were tested for two time periods, totaling 264 statistical tests. With this many tests, it is quite likely that some apparent statistical significance will occur simply by chance. At the standard significance level of 5% (that is, there is 5% chance that the data will show an effect even when there is none), the 264 tests will yield approximately 13 false positives unless the analysis is adjusted to account for multiple testing. Young, Bang & Oktay argue that this is precisely what happened. So keep eating cereals if you like to have girls babies!
Today, over 90% of children begin watching TV regularly before the age of 2 years in spite of recommendations to the contrary. This article reviews what is known about the effects of infant TV viewing on multiple domains of child development including language, cognition and attentional capacity as well as directions for future research. No studies to date have demonstrated benefits associated with early infant TV viewing. The preponderance of existing evidence suggests the potential for harm. Parents should exercise due caution in exposing infants to excessive media.
Researchers determined mean nutrient intakes and physiological values between bean consumers and non-consumers. Bean consumers had better overall nutrient intake levels, better body weights and waist circumferences, and lower systolic blood pressure in comparison to non-consumers.
Published in the January issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the research found that people are now drinking about 300 calories daily coming from sweetened beverages. See also http://www.fooducate.com/blog/2009/01/10/soft-drink-math-50-extra-calories-a-day-5-extra-lbs-a-year/
A new campaign suggestion includes a regulatory package of programs designed to stem the problem. The cornerstone of the campaign requires restaurant chains that operate at least 15 stores in the state to post calorie counts as prominently as prices on menu boards. A second component of the campaign requires public schools to measure the body mass index of students in first, fourth, seventh and 10th grades. Parents of students who are found to be overweight or obese will be notified and provided with information on proper nutrition and activity levels for their child.
Care must be taken not to increase stigmatization of obese people, particularly of children. There are only few guidelines for public health managers and practitioners who are attempting to design and implement obesity prevention programs that minimize stigma. Researchers give suggestions for designing non-stigmatizing obesity prevention public health programs.