Free Republic

Two cans of fizzy drink a day could cause long term liver damage, resulting in the need for a transplant, according to new research. Researchers are now urging parents to cut back on their children’s consumption of fizzy drinks as well as reducing fresh fruit juices substituting them for water. Liver damage is normally associated with alcohol abuse but the new study has found that non-alcoholic drinks with a high sugar content can cause a condition called fatty liver disease. Related Articles Artificial sweeteners 'do nothing to help weight loss' Scientists from Israel found that people who drank a litre...

A Berkeley store owner has agreed to stop selling candy bars and sodas to middle school students who come to his store for a morning fix in a move school officials say is a first in the city. That means students seeking Snickers, Twix or Coca-Cola will be out of luck from 8 to 9 a.m. before they start their day at Longfellow Middle School. Friendly Market owner Yaser Musid, who has five kids of his own, said he will lose up to $100 a day in the deal. But he agreed with school counselor Rosina Keren that keeping junk...

MeMe Roth, a publicist and an Upper West Side mother of two, is getting really, really mad — “and I do not mean angry,” she clarified. “I mean mad, like crazy.” Ms. Roth is being driven mad by Public School 9, where her children are in second and fourth grades, and it seems that P.S. 9, in turn, is being driven mad by Ms. Roth. Ms. Roth, who runs a group called National Action Against Obesity, has no problem with the school lunches provided at the highly regarded elementary school on Columbus Avenue and 84th Street. What sets her off...

Junk food advertisements which target children should be completely banned, an obesity expert has warned. Professor Philip James says that drastic action is needed against food firms which he says exploit consumers in the same way as tobacco companies. The nutritionist from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine told a conference in London: "We have a catastrophic obesity epidemic and the food industry has had a vast impact on society. The food industry is represented by companies like PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and Cadbury which are damaging the health of people across the world. "We want to reform [the food...

Minister calls for children to be locked in school to stop them buying junk food Last updated at 16:47pm on 06.07.08   Children's Minister Kevin Brennan has called for secondary school children to be locked inside school grounds during breaks to stop them buying unhealthy food Children should be locked inside school grounds to stop them buying unhealthy food from shops and takeaways, a minister said yesterday.The drastic proposal comes amid new evidence that the Jamie Oliver-inspired drive to ensure school canteens offer more nutritious meals is being shunned by pupils.Children's Minister Kevin Brennan said secondary school children should...

At a movie theater, a lot of the stuff you carry away from the concession counter is a horror show in its own right. And it comes with a sequel: When you debut in your bathing suit this summer, everyone will know what you did last night at the movies — you overate, so now you overflow. Not that I blame you, of course. I've been there, too. Engrossed by the big screen, too many of us fall victim to giant soda cups, popcorn buckets, and candy boxes, which are sneakily designed to keep the munchfest moving swiftly for the...

As more and more schools turn to healthy snack alternatives, a candy black market is emerging. Some students now bring candy-laden backpacks to school to sell to other students for profit. http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/candy_5497___article.html/profit_sales.html What’s truly needed to stem the candy tide are more candy-control laws. If we can limit its sale, fewer children will be the victims of cavities, hyper-activity, and parental rage. There are especially dangerous brands of candy, infused with caffeine, that should be banned altogether. We need to offer tax-payer sponsored candy buy-back programs to get dangerous candy off the streets. A 7-day waiting period before children can...

Robert Fliegel was craving a Hydrox. The 52-year-old computer consultant says he always liked the way the chocolate sandwich cookie, which he found crisper than Oreos, "stood up to the milk" when dunked. But Mr. Fliegel, who used to be able to devour an entire package of the crème-filled biscuits in a sitting, couldn't find them in any stores near his East Stroudsburg, Pa., home. Only when he went online a few months ago to try to order some did he learn the truth: Hydrox is dead. In 2003, without warning or announcement, Kellogg Co. killed off the cookie --...

Junk food will head to the junk heap in Bay State schools if a bill to be pushed by top health experts on Beacon Hill today succeeds in banning fatty and sugary foods from school vending machines, bake sales and fund-raisers. Backers of the junk food bill say it sets statewide standards, forces students to eat better and cuts down on ads kids see each day. “These are habits that last a lifetime,” said Eric Weltman, spokesman for the Massachusetts Public Health Association, one of the backers of the bill, which would also ban corporate food and soda marketing inside...

Like other political systems, constitutional monarchy has its flaws. Under ordinary circumstances, the fact that royal families are full of highly educated people with plenty of leisure time is not necessarily one of them. The Prince of Wales, for one, has often been derided unfairly as a one-dimensional buffoon; too much attention has arguably been paid to his personal troubles, and too little given to his creation of the Prince's Trust, his role as a contrarian theorist of architecture, his skill as a watercolourist and his work for countless Commonwealth charities and heritage- preservation groups. But one cannot overlook the...

You won't be able to buy a ticket for under $10 on game day at Dodger Stadium next season, but you will be able to pay $40 for a bleacher seat and an endless supply of Dodger Dogs. The Dodgers are converting the right-field pavilion into an all-you-can-eat section. They also are raising the price of the cheapest game-day ticket, in the top deck, from $6 to $10, matching the price in the left-field pavilion. A ticket to the right-field pavilion — at $35 in advance and $40 on game day — will entitle fans to an endless supply of...

Cheese is to be treated as junk food under new advertising rules for children's television. Commercials promoting it will be banned during children's TV programmes and those with a large proportion of young viewers. The rules, which come into force this month, are part of a Government drive to reduce children's exposure to foods high in fat, salt and sugar. Much to the disgust of its makers, cheese is to be regarded in the same light as crisps, sugary cereals and cheeseburgers. In fact, under the criteria used by the Food Standards Agency to determine junk foods, such products are...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - George Johnson, considered California's oldest living person at 112 and the state's last surviving World War I veteran, had experts shaking their heads over his junk food diet. "He had terrible bad habits. He had a diet largely of sausages and waffles," Dr. L. Stephen Coles, founder

More likely to smoke and eat junk food... Working long hours has a greater negative impact on women than men because it makes them more likely to smoke, drink coffee and eat unhealthy food. Both sexes consume less alcohol if they spend more time working, researchers said on Wednesday, but toiling extra hours makes women crave unhealthy snacks. “Women who work long hours eat more high-fat and high-sugar snacks, exercise less, drink more caffeine and, if smokers, smoke more than their male colleagues,” said Dr. Daryl O’Connor, a researcher at Britain’s Leeds University.

See for example this thread first. Diabetes is now on the rise It should come as no great surprise that our food and drink helps cause it. Ya think? "Just say NO!" when asked to SuperSize...

SpongeBob SquarePants, Shrek and other characters kids love should promote only healthy food, a panel of scientists recommended. In a report released Tuesday, the Institute of Medicine said television advertising strongly influences what children under 12 eat. The report said the food industry should spend its marketing dollars on nutritious food and drinks. That means SpongeBob, the popular animated star of the Nickelodeon cable TV network, and other characters should endorse only good-for-you food, the panel concluded. "The foods advertised are predominantly high in calories and low in nutrition - the sort of diet that puts children's long-term health at...

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept 15 (Reuters) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation on Thursday to ban carbonated soda in state high schools as part of an effort to stem teen obesity. "California is facing an obesity epidemic," said Schwarzenegger, a former Mr. Olympia and longtime health advocate. "Today we are taking some first steps in creating a healthy future for California." He signed the legislation at the start of a daylong summit on health and obesity in the California capital Sacramento. He said that one out of three children in California, the nation's most populous state, is obese. "Obesity-related health...

LOS ANGELES - Potato chips and french fries could soon come with a warning label if the state's top attorney prevails in a lawsuit filed Friday against nine fast food chains and snack-food makers. Attorney General Bill Lockyer asked for a court order requiring McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Frito Lay and other companies to warn consumers that their fries and chips may contain acrylamide, a chemical the state says causes cancer. "In taking this action, I am not telling people to stop eating potato chips or french fries," Lockyer said. "I know from personal experience that, while these snacks may...

Very young children who eat French fries frequently have a much higher risk of breast cancer as adults, U.S. researchers reported Wednesday. A study of American nurses found that one additional serving of fries per week at ages three to five increased breast cancer risk by 27 percent. "Researchers are finding more evidence that diet early in life could play a role in the development of diseases in women later in life," said Dr. Karin Michels, of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and Harvard Medical School, who led the study. "This study provides additional evidence that breast cancer may...

Ask Michael Jacobson how he feels when critics call the Center for Science in the Public Interest the "food police" and he answers with the bravado that has made CSPI one of the most reviled enemies of big food companies. "Depends on who says it," said Jacobson, CSPI's executive director and co-founder. "People who say it with humor, I think 'fine.' Other people mean it in a derogatory way, and I think nasty thoughts about those people. "I see it in a way as food detectives, where we try to find out what's going on and we tell the public...

  Sometimes You Feel Like A NutJuly 7, 2005 You know that liberals have: (1) surrendered to the reality that they are clueless and (2) are in the final tremors of their swan song when left-wing icons like Paul Krugman launch attacks against domestic food conspiracies.  Krugman’s investigative acumen uncovered a vast right-wing conspiracy within The Center for Consumer Freedom.  In the early stages of his Trickle Gate, he “outs” Coca-Cola, Wendy's and Tyson Foods as villains who “are blocking efforts to help America's children”. Americans, including Krugman, are getting fat and somebody (other than their gluttonous mouths) have to be blamed...and...

All across the country, our beloved junk food is under attack. Schools are pulling it off lunch menus. Offices are booting it from vending machines. Public service announcements are urging us to just say no. In Detroit, the mayor wants to slap a 2 percent surcharge (on top of the 6 percent sales tax) on anything sold in a fast-food restaurant. In New York, an assemblyman has proposed a 1 percent tax on that holy trinity of popular culture - junk food, video games and TV commercials - to fund anti-obesity programs. Here in Philadelphia, City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown...

  It Takes a Village...Of Idiots!June 9, 2005 Even Hillary Clinton realized that, “No government can love a child, and no policy can substitute for a family's care.”  Yet, that is exactly what many elected officials are trying to do in state governments across country.  With real problems drifting unaddressed, many elected state officials are playing political Mommies.  Just where is it constitutionally mandated that politicians are empowered to usurp individual liberties and make lifestyle decisions...including, but not limited to what non-alcoholic beverages your children will, and will not, be allowed to drink? Connecticut, sometimes known as The Land of Steady Habits,...

ATHENS (Reuters) - Treating obesity-related disorders costs as much or more than illnesses caused by aging, smoking and problem drinking.  It accounts for 2 percent of the national health expenditure in France and Australia, more than 3 percent in Japan and Portugal and 4 percent in the Netherlands. A review of research into the economic causes and consequences of obesity presented at the 14th European Congress on Obesity showed that in 2003 up to $96.7 billion was spent on obesity problems in the United States. "An increase in the prevalence of obesity increases the healthcare costs," Anne Wolf of the...

On the same day that Bill Clinton announced... he would head a campaign to reduce childhood obesity, a restaurant in Pennsylvania set a record by outputting a 15-pound cheeseburger.... The day the munching died is March 9, 2004, when the Journal of the American Medical Association gave its imprimatur to a study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, announcing that "obesity" had caused 400,000 deaths in 2000, a whopping 33% increase from 1990. The AP's first paragraph wrote the script for what followed: "Americans are sitting around and eating themselves to death, with obesity closing in on tobacco as...

Adverts for junk foods would not be shown on television before 2100GMT as part of a government plan to tackle obesity. Manufacturers and advertisers will be urged to agree a voluntary code of regulation, according to reports in two Sunday newspapers. The proposal is contained in the government's Public Health White Paper, to be published this week. Other measures include a new "traffic light" labelling system identifying unhealthy foods. This White Paper had been expected to back a ban on advertising junk food during children's TV hours. But Ofcom figures showing 70% of children's television viewing takes place between 6pm...

TV advertising ban on junk food Advertising junk food on television before 9pm could be banned if proposals in the Government's Public Health White Paper, to be published tomorrow, become law.Dr John Reid, the Health Secretary, had been expected to propose banning such advertising during children's programming, in response to the increasing incidence of obesity in Britain.But figures from Ofcom, the communications watchdog, showing that 70 per cent of television watched by four- to 15-year-olds is between 6pm and 9pm, mean that Dr Reid is likely to propose harsher restrictions and, unless food manufacturers agree to a voluntary code,...

Junk food adverts will be banished beyond the 9pm watershed an attempt to fight Britain’s obesity crisis, it emerged tonight. A ban during children’s TV had been widely expected when the Government produces its health White Paper next week. But Health Secretary Dr John Reid is set to go further after Ofcom figures showed 70% of viewing by children aged four to 15 takes place between 6pm and 9pm. Dr Reid will threaten food manufacturers and advertisers with legislation if they fail to agree a voluntary code. A new food labelling system, possibly using “traffic light” warnings, will also be...

SPRINGFIELD [IL] - A sales tax on junk food and certain soft drinks may be back in play as Gov. Rod Blagojevich and legislative leaders try to reach a budget compromise. A two-hour meeting in Blagojevich's office Wednesday produced progress, leaders said, including on the contentious issue of revenue increases needed to balance the budget. Among the ideas under consideration is extending the state sales tax to so-called junk food and to beverages such as fruit drinks and bottled iced tea that are not currently taxed. The idea could bring in as much as $100 million for the state. "It...

Kids in the U.K. have government looking over their shoulders – not to see if they're selling drugs, bringing weapons to school, or sticking snakes in their teachers' desks. No, at select schools in Plymouth, government officials are examining kids' lunchboxes to make sure the little moppets are munching the right morsels. Britain, like America, is increasingly worried about obesity, and the focus is on fat kids. "We need to make sure that whatever children are eating at lunchtime is nutritionally balanced, whether that's school meals or from home," said one health official. "If they're having wholemeal bread with salad,...

<p>Minnesota wants to stamp out junk food The state is seeking to ban many unhealthy selections from the federal food program.</p> <p>ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The state of Minnesota is asking federal permission to bar people from using food stamps to buy candy bars, soda and other junk food.</p>

<p>FOR THE PHOTO-OP on Tuesday, the United States became a fat farm. "We're just too darned fat, ladies and gentlemen, and we're going to do something about it," Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said.</p> <p>He said this as he released new statistics showing that obesity will probably become our number one preventable killer next year, on its way to killing 500,000 people a year. The next day on the "Today Show," Thompson vowed that his department "is going to take an all-out, aggressive, offensive effort" against the epidemic. He went so far as to claim that the pharaohs of fat were loosening their bonds on the minds of America's youth. "Kraft food has come out . . . with all healthy foods. Pepsi Cola, Coca Cola, all of these companies are starting to step up. McDonald's has just stopped super-sizing. So we're starting to have an impact."</p>

For the last year and a half, George Washington University law professor John Banzhaf, who treats the epithet "legal terrorist" as a compliment, has been bragging that fast food restaurants and other purveyors of fattening comestibles are running scared because of the obesity litigation he champions. McDonald's et al. ought to be worried, he said, because already there have been "five successful fat lawsuits."But now that Congress is considering a ban on lawsuits that blame food manufacturers or sellers for making people fat, Banzhaf is eager to contradict himself. In a press release issued the day before the House approved...

Residents may pay for unhealthy ways Proposed state taxes target lifestyle choices; it isn't government's role to legislate values, critics say By Stacey Range Lansing State Journal Lifestyle police won't be scouring the contents of your refrigerator or forcing you to do sit-ups, but state officials are looking at new taxes, laws and regulations to change your bad habits. Armed with a new study linking Michigan's lethargic economy to residents' unhealthy lifestyles, officials are pondering ways to promote healthy behavior and penalize the unhealthy. Gov. Jennifer Granholm already is trying to raise the cigarette tax in hopes of forcing more...

HELENA - Money raised through a statewide soda pop tax is needed to stave off an "extreme crisis" in health care facing Montana's growing elderly population, said Charles Aagenes, director of Helena's Rocky Mountain Development Council. The state Department of Public Health and Human Services needs to come up with millions of dollars to cover the impending health care needs of aging baby boomers, said Aagenes and other officials participating in a statewide video conference on senior health care policy Thursday. Over the next 25 years, Montana's population of residents over age 60 is expected to swell from 158,000 people...

  Press Release Source: Pennsylvania Department of Health PA Health Department Study Shows 18 Percent of 8th Graders OverweightWednesday February 4, 4:20 pm ET  HARRISBURG, Pa., Feb. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- PA Health Secretary Dr. Calvin B. Johnson today announced that 18 percent of the eighth graders who were studied in a recent assessment were overweight and another 17 percent are at risk of being overweight. The assessment was done to determine the prevalence of overweight children and youth in Pennsylvania and in recognition of the growing national problem of childhood overweight and obesity. Nationally, childhood obesity has been associated with...

Get Ready For the Twinkie Tax Mark Tatge, 02.16.04 Apparently unsatiated by their huge claims on booze and cigarettes, the tax police are planning a major snack attack. Potato chips, cookies, sodas, candy--a $30 billion-a-year business--are being targeted by more than a dozen revenue-starved states under the misguided impression that by charging a few extra cents per can or bag they can trim their budget deficits and encourage the rest of us to slim down. Fat chance. Among the assaults: NEW YORK plans a new sales tax (one-quarter of 1%) on sweets and snacks, on top of a bill to...

Soda at lunch would be out. Gym class would be in, possibly every day of the week. And all students in Maryland's public schools would have to report their weight to federal researchers. Calling obesity a national epidemic that is costing Maryland residents billions of dollars, a Montgomery County delegate yesterday touted a package of legislation aimed at improving nutritional standards in schools and promoting exercise. Del. Joan F. Stern's bills would require school districts to conduct surveys on student health, expand insurance coverage to include treatment of obesity and create an advisory council on overweight

Many local health officials believe if soda is banned in schools, it would fight problems from cavities to an obesity epidemic among young people. Back Mountain dentist Dr. Richard Coslett has long been an avid supporter of banning soda in schools since he has seen first-hand the cavities it causes. "You couldn't pick a better drink to cause cavities in your teeth," Coslett said. Coslett has seen some students who drink 20-ounce bottles of soda all day long. As they continue drinking soda, he noted acid continues to produce in their mouths, etching away at their enamel and causing cavities....

OutFront Get Ready For the Twinkie Tax Mark Tatge, 02.16.04 Apparently unsatiated by their huge claims on booze and cigarettes, the tax police are planning a major snack attack. Potato chips, cookies, sodas, candy--a $30 billion-a-year business--are being targeted by more than a dozen revenue-starved states under the misguided impression that by charging a few extra cents per can or bag they can trim their budget deficits and encourage the rest of us to slim down. Fat chance. Among the assaults: NEW YORK plans a new sales tax (one-quarter of 1%) on sweets and snacks, on top of a bill...

(CNSNews.com) - The National Restaurant Association is applauding the House Judiciary Committee for passing a bill that would protect the restaurant industry from lawsuits stemming from obesity claims. The "Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act" now goes to the full House for a vote, and the restaurant industry is urging quick passage. The legislation, H.R. 339, was sponsored by Rep. Ric Keller (R-Fla.). "We are grateful for Rep. Keller's leadership in pushing forward this important legislation that focuses on personal responsibility and the voluntary food choices all Americans make, rather than on costly litigation," said National Restaurant Association President and...

<p>Big Tobacco paid dearly for the public's choices over the years. And plaintiffs' lawyers licked their chops. The next target in the lucrative war against personal choice and individual responsibility will be Americans' growing waistlines. After all, "One of the most effective ways to get social change is to sue people."</p>

<p>LAST February, Morgan Spurlock decided to become a gastronomical guinea pig. His mission: To eat three meals a day for 30 days at McDonald's and document the impact on his health.</p> <p>Scores of cheeseburgers, hundreds of fries and dozens of chocolate shakes later, the formerly strapping 6-foot-2 New Yorker - who started out at a healthy 185 pounds - had packed on 25 pounds.</p>

<p>Pennsylvania (Reuters) -- Philadelphia officials have banned the sale of sodas throughout the public school system, a move nutrition experts said Thursday would help guard children against obesity.</p> <p>The Philadelphia School District decided late Wednesday to end the sale of carbonated sodas in vending machines and lunch rooms. Starting July 1, schools must sell fruit juice, water, milk and flavored milk drinks instead.</p>

<p>ABC anchorman Peter Jennings recently hosted a special telling us "How to get fat without really trying." The primary point was to encourage the public to view fatty foods as a public health threat on the order of cigarette smoking, and to encourage the viewpoint that government had better play a greater role as the national food police.</p>

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Potato chips, soft drinks and other junk food may disappear from Florida schools under 21 draft recommendations approved by the governor's task force on obesity. The 16-member panel headed by Miami cardiologist Zachariah P. Zachariah formulated its recommendations from more than 450 initial suggestions gathered during three daylong sessions during which researchers, dietitians, fitness professionals and others told members about issues ranging from school vending machines to the effects of stress on eating. In 2002, more than half of Florida's adults were overweight and nearly one-fifth were considered obese, according to the Department of Health. About...

There is little doubt that childhood obesity in the United States is a growing problem -- no pun intended -- and American children, in general, eat too much junk food. It might even be a good idea to remove the temptation of pop and sweets from school vending machines. But the decision to alter that menu should be left to parents and school officials. Gov. Rod Blagojevich and House Republican leader Tom Cross disagree. Father doesn't know best, according to them. They think state government should dictate whether Twinkies and Pepsi can be sold in school vending machines. Cross intends...

As the United States becomes a "litigation nation" and trial lawyers line up to sue food restaurants and food companies for causing obesity, serving Christmas cookies has become a perilous proposition. Especially to the already obese -- like, for example, Santa Claus. But the Center for Consumer Freedom has you covered in case Jolly Old St. Nick has John "Sue the Bastards" Banzhaf on his speed dial. The agreement includes a number of "clauses" designed to protect you and your family from possible liability. By signing it before he eats your cookies, Kris Kringle agrees not to sue you on...

COLLEYVILLE, Texas - (KRT) - No gingerbread house should have to endure a carrot-stick fence or a door made of celery. It's just not the way gingerbread houses are done. The kindergartners at O.C. Taylor Elementary School therefore had a sticky problem Friday. New state guidelines prohibit distibution of certain yummy snacks, jelly bean Christmas lights among them, by schools. ``Contraband candies,'' O.C. Taylor teacher Debbie Horn calls them. But for as long as anyone can remember - possibly as far back as when gum drops were gum drips - the school's kindergartners have made gingerbread houses. So teachers issued...

The World Health Organization, whose mission involves tackling the scourges of AIDS and Malaria, now spends its valuable time and resources fretting that people like to eat steak and drink soda pop. Late last week, WHO released its "draft global strategy on diet, physical activity and health." Following this development, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran a Saturday feature titled: "WHO wants 'Twinkie tax' to discourage junk foods." When Kelly Brownell first proposed the Twinkie tax, only reliable food scolds like the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) thought it was a good idea. But now "sin" taxes on foods...