Category: Issue 410
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Study Alleges Link Between Glucose Levels and Desire for High-Calorie Foods
A recent study has suggested that non-obese individuals are better able to regulate their cravings to consume fattening foods than those who are obese. Kathleen Page, et al., “Circulating glucose levels modulate neural control of desire for high-calorie foods in humans,” Journal of Clinical Investigation, September 19, 2011. Researchers from Yale University and the University…
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NIEHS Paper Suggests FDA Focused Too Narrowly on Synthetic Food Color Effects
A new Environmental Health Perspectives paper discusses a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee’s recent conclusion that the evidence is too inconclusive to associate children’s consumption of artificial colors in food with hyperactivity or to recommend warning labels. Titled “Synthetic Food Colors and Neurobehavioral Hazards: The View from Environmental Health Research,” the paper suggests…
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Ashby Jones, “Is Your Dinner ‘All Natural’?,” The Wall Street Journal, September 20, 2011
WSJ Reporter Ashby Jones provides an overview of the recent spate of lawsuits challenging food makers’ claims that their products are “All Natural” or “100% Natural.” Without an official Food and Drug Administration (FDA) definition of the term, determining whether such product claims constitute fraud can be difficult, according to lawyers such as Center for…
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Frances Moore Lappé, “The Food Movement: Its Power and Possibilities,” The Nation, October 3, 2011
The author of the 1971 bestseller Diet for a Small Planet has authored an essay that examines how global agriculture has changed since then. While Francis Moore Lappé notes that 1 billion people are hungry and agribusiness is concentrated in few hands—“in the United States, by 2000, just ten corporations—with boards totaling only 138 people—had…
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Law School Announces Free Public Health Webinars
The Public Health Law Center at William Mitchell College of Law has announced the launch of a series of free webinars that will address issues relating to tobacco control, obesity prevention, worksite wellness, active living, and public health legislation. Scheduled for October 5, 2011, the first webinar will feature staff attorneys presenting on “Drafting Effective…
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Breast Cancer Fund Targets BPA in Children’s Canned Food
The Breast Cancer Fund (BCF) recently issued a report alleging that six canned meal products marketed to children contain bisphenol A (BPA) at levels averaging 49 parts per billion (ppb). Researchers reportedly sent 12 items total to an independent laboratory, which pureed the can contents in “BPA-free materials” and assessed BPA levels using Gas Chromatography-Mass…
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CALPIRG Campaigns Against Subsidizing Sweeteners
The California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) has released a September 21, 2011, report claiming that federal agricultural subsidies are largely allocated to commodity crops such as soybeans and corn instead of fresh produce. Titled “Apples to Twinkies: Comparing Federal Subsidies of Fresh Produce and Junk Food,” the report alleges that, of the $260 billion…
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Dispute over Allegedly Defective Bottles Settles
While settlement terms are apparently confidential, a high-end bottled water company has reportedly settled its claims against a company that supplied bottles which reacted to the water by causing foaming and a poor taste. Penta Water Co. v. Zuckerman-Honickman, Inc., No. 09-2633 (E.D. Pa., dismissed with prejudice September 21, 2011). The water company evidently switched…