Tag: WHO
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WHO Report Again Recommends Limits on Marketing “Unhealthy Products” to Children
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a report calling for “greater monitoring” of “unhealthy food products, especially those high in salt, sugar and fat.” The report asserts that “exposure of children to the online marketing of unhealthy food products” remains “commonplace”—despite the organization’s 2010 recommendations on limiting such exposure—and “urgently calls for developing and…
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NAS Report Discusses Benefits and Risks of Gene Drive Research
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NAS) has released a study examining research into man-made gene drives, a type of gene editing that allows for the spread of gene modifications “throughout a population of organisms intentionally.” Titled Gene Drives on the Horizon: Advancing Science, Navigating Uncertainty, and Aligning Research with Public Values, the…
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WHO Report Advocates “Life-Course Approach” to End Childhood Obesity
The World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity (ECHO) has issued a January 25, 2016, report that recommends, among other things, a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), context-specific dietary guidelines, and “interpretive” front-of-pack labeling. Taking “a life-course approach” that focuses on what it describes as an obesogenic environment, the report urges WHO, member…
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Alleged Links Between Cancer and Diet Target of Upcoming Harvard Webcast
“Cancer and Diet: The Latest on Processed Meats, Fats and More” is the title of a January 15, 2016, live forum hosted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Webcast faculty, including Harvard Professors Walter Willett and Frank Hu, will discuss the World Health Organization’s classification of processed meat as a “Group 1”…
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WHO Report Classifying Red and Processed Meat as “Carcinogenic” Draws Media Scrutiny
The World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has announced a monograph evaluating the alleged link between red and processed meat consumption and cancer. According to an October 26, 2015, press release, 22 experts from 10 countries reviewed more than 800 epidemiological studies about this association, with the greatest weight given…
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WHO Seeks Comments on Childhood Obesity Report
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued an interim report that seeks to identify policy options for mitigating the risk of childhood obesity. Published by WHO’s Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity, the strategy document emphasizes “the importance of a life-course approach to simultaneously address the risk factors for childhood obesity from before conception, through pregnancy…
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WHO Sets Daily Recommended Guidelines for Added Sugars
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that adults and children reduce their daily intake of added sugars to less than 10 percent of their total daily energy intake. In addition, WHO calls for consumers to limit their consumption of added sugars to less than 25 grams (6 teaspoons) for further health benefits. The new…
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Consumer Reports Touts Mandatory GMO Labeling
Citing increased demand for food and beverage products that do not contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs) as ingredients, the March 2015 issue of Consumer Reports magazine features an article intended to help consumers “sift through the facts” about the purported health and environmental effects of GMOs. The column describes recent attempts by individual states to…