Category: Issue 346
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Health Researchers Claim Insurance Cos. Hold $1.88 Billion in Fast Food Stocks
Cambridge Health Alliance researchers studying the investments of health and life insurance companies have apparently concluded that the companies own some $1.88 billion, or 2.2 percent, of the stock issued by the five leading fast-food companies. Arun Mohan, et al., “Life and Health Insurance Industry Investments in Fast Food,” American Journal of Public Health, April…
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Study Links Sugar to Elevated Risk of Cardiovascular Disease
A recent study has apparently found a “statistically significant association” between added dietary sugars and increased blood lipid levels in U.S. adults. Jean Welsh, et al., “Caloric Sweetener Consumption and Dyslipidemia Among US Adults,” Journal of the American Medical Association, April 2010. Researchers analyzed blood lipid levels and other nutritional data obtained from more than 6,000…
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Bolivian President Blames Baldness, “Deviance” on Hormones in Poultry
Bolivian President Evo Morales attracted international media attention when he publicly linked “deviances in being men” on hormones once used to raise chickens. Speaking at the World People’s Summit on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, Morales reportedly claimed that “the chicken we eat is loaded with female hormones. So, when men eat…
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Marc Ambinder, “Beating Obesity,” The Atlantic, May 2010
“If we are to solve the many problems that obesity is creating for American society, we must first move beyond the stale ‘willpower versus the food-industrial complex’ debate,” contends politics editor Marc Ambinder in the May 2010 edition of The Atlantic. Examining the powerful interest groups arrayed against each other in this fight, Ambinder claims that…
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Retired Military Leaders Say American Youth “Too Fat to Fight”
Mission: Readiness, a non-profit organization of senior retired military leaders, has issued a report claiming that “at least nine million 17- to 24-year-olds in the United States are too fat to serve in the military.” According to an April 20, 2010, press release, weight problems “have become the leading medical reason why recruits are rejected…
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Froot Loops® Packaging and Name Alleged to Be Deceptive
A putative class action has been filed against Kellogg USA alleging that, by calling its cereal “Froot” Loops® and including “pictures of brightly colored cereal made to resemble fruit” and actual fruit on product packaging, the company is deceiving the reasonable consumer who is led to believe the cereal contains fruit. Werbel v. Kellogg USA, No.…
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Louisiana Senate Committee Rejects Bill to Ban Energy Drinks to Youth Younger Than 16
The Louisiana Senate Commerce Committee has reportedly rejected a bill (S.B. 128) that would have prohibited the sale of certain high caffeine beverages to youth younger than age 16. Introduced by State Senator Robert Adley (R-Benton), the bill defined an energy drink as “any drink, except coffee, that contains at least five milligrams of caffeine…