Eating out would be a whole lot easier for nutrition-conscious customers in chain restaurants, if legislation introduced today by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) becomes law. The Menu Education and Labeling (MEAL) Act would require fast-food and other chain restaurants to post calories on menu boards and food display tags and calories, saturated plus trans fat, carbohydrates, and sodium on printed menus.
Stress may indeed be a direct contributor to childhood obesity. That’s according to a new Iowa State University study finding that increased levels of stress in adolescents are associated with a greater likelihood of them being overweight or obese.
A new health series following the lives of six South Asian people, and offering diet and healthy lifestyle advice, will be hitting our screens on Sunday 17 May.The programme called Simply Health is jointly sponsored by Diabetes UK, the cholesterol charity HEART UK and the Food Standard Agency (FSA).
Riders across the country will take to the streets on Friday, May 15 in celebration of National Bike to Work Day. In support of their efforts and enthusiasm, the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) offers tips for reducing the risk of bicycle-related injury through proper bike fit. See rge tips here.
People who regularly eat very well-done red meat that is burned or charred may increase their risk of pancreatic cancer by almost 60 percent, according to a study by a University of Minnesota cancer researcher.
For the study, the German researchers randomly assigned 188 children to participate in the daily exercise program or follow the school’s regular curriculum of two weekly sports lessons. A year later, the percentage of overweight and obese children in the daily exercise group had fallen from 13 percent to 9 percent while it had risen from 11 percent to 13 percent in the group that did only the standard sports programs
Food Labeling Terminology
May 16
Proposed terminology for use when discussing different food labeling schemes
Labeling scheme = Type of labeling
A labeling scheme can be specified using the following aspects
Steps on scale = Points on scale = fine-grained scale
A labeling scheme can be 2 steps (on or off like a checkmark), 3-steps (like LOW, MED and HIGH on a Traffic Light), indefinite (a continuous scale, in practice it could be a 100 step scale) or another number of steps. Number of steps contributes to the complexity of a labeling scheme.
Number of dimensions
A labeling scheme can display one or more dimensions, where a dimension could be “overall healthy ness” (like a checkmark) or the content of calories and different nutrients. A GDA label often has 5 dimensions: (1. Cal, 2. Sugars, 3. Fat, 4. Sat fat and 5. Salt). A GDA label can also show also only one dimension (Calories on a soda).
Interpretive element
This interpretive element can also be called ‘judgmental’ or the ‘guiding/helpful’ element. The interpretive element can be in the form of WORDS (Poor, Low, Mediun, High or Super), colors (red, amber, green) or a percent (like the %GDA). The nature of the interpretive element can be “Threshold(s)” or “Scoring/Scale”.
Reference unit
It could be “100 g/ 100 ml”, “100 kcal” or some “servings”
Reference values
Some labeling schemes are based on a set of intake ‘labeling reference intake values’.
Communication means
It can be any colors, numbers, text or symbols, or any combination hereof.
Complexity
This covers a function og the following dimensions: xxx, xxx
When discussing GDA-labeling the following terminology is proposed:Hent fra min mail og puds af.
US researchers surveyed 7,338 working adults about missed work time, reduced work effectiveness and impairment of daily activities. The results showed that people who were obese and had type 2 diabetes lost 11 percent to 15 percent of work time (about 5.9 hours a week) because of health problems, compared with 9 percent of work time (about 3.6 hours a week) lost by normal-weight people.
Ghent in Belgium is set to declare one day a week ‘vegetarian’, in recognition of the effect that meat-eating has on climate change.
Marion Nestle just shared her thoughts on simple food labeling schems like the smart choice check mark and the keyhole. She was invited to serve on the Board of Directors of the Smart Choices program. Enjoy reading her line of arguments as to why she chose not to accept this invitation.