Tag: obesity
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Collaborating with Industry to Address Obesity Is a Mistake, Says Kelly Brownell
Yale University Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity’s Kelly Brownell has provided a “Perspective” article for PLoS Medicine’s ongoing series about “Big Food.” Titled “Thinking Forward: The Quicksand of Appeasing the Food Industry,” the July 3, 2012, article contends that public-health efforts to collaborate with the food industry to address obesity are a mistake.…
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Cancer Group Asks Surgeon General to Study Impact of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) has sent a July 3, 2012, letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, asking the U.S. Surgeon General’s Office to issue a report “that examines how the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages impacts the health of Americans.” Noting that the 2012 Cancer…
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British Report Claims Obesity a Burden on Environmental Sustainability
A recent report by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) has claimed that rising obesity rates “could have the same implications for world food energy demands as an extra half billion people living on earth.” Sarah Walpole, “The weight of nations: an estimation of adult human biomass,” BMC Public Health,…
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PLoS Medicine Kicks Off Series on “Big Food,” Calls for Investigation
The journal PLoS Medicine has published two articles and an editorial in a “major new series” on “Big Food” in this week’s issue, and will publish five additional related articles over the next two weeks. The editorial notes that the articles, focusing on “the role in health of Big Food, which we define as the…
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AMA Endorses Soda Tax to Help Fight Obesity
The American Medical Association (AMA) has reportedly championed taxes on sugar-sweetened sodas as a way to fight obesity. Although it failed to pass a policy that outright supports such a measure, the AMA recognized during its recent annual meeting that “while a number of factors contribute to the obesity epidemic, taxes on beverages with added…
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Becker-Posner Blog Tackles Bloomberg’s Proposal to Ban Super-Sized Sugary Drinks
University of Chicago Economics Professor Gary Becker and Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Justice Richard Posner have posted comments on their blog about New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposed ban on sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces. Becker concludes that “even when consumer decisions are not in their self-interest, it is questionable whether that provides sufficient…
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Childhood Obesity Allegedly Linked to Blindness
A recent study has reportedly claimed that children who are overweight or obese “are more likely to have a neurological disease known as idiopathic intracranial hypertension [IIH], a rare condition that can result in blindness.” Sonu Brara, et al., “Pediatric Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension and Extreme Childhood Obesity,” Journal of Pediatrics, May 2012. Researchers apparently analyzed…
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BPA Diglycidyl Ether Linked to Adipogenic Changes in Stem Cells
Researchers with the University of California, Irvine, have allegedly demonstrated that low doses of bisphenol A (BPA) diglycidyl ether (BADGE) can turn adult stem cells and pre-fat cells into fat cells, raising questions about the obesogenic effect of a chemical commonly used in food packaging materials. Raquel Chamorro-García, et al., “Bisphenol A Diglycidyl Ether Induces…