Obesity Prediction Not So Ridiculous, Thanks to Food Corporations
Justin Stoneman recently published an essay titled “America: A Big, Fat, Stupid Nation,” in which he expressed astonishment at what he characterizes as the ridiculous prediction that by the year 2020, three out of four Americans will be overweight or obese. Where did the number come from? Stoneman got this figure from the Organization for […]
Stop Federal Corn Subsidies to Decrease Childhood Obesity
The childhood obesity epidemic can be reversed, but nobody ever said it would be easy. Here is the question posed by journalist Mike Lillis on The Hill: Why, when faced with a childhood obesity epidemic, would the federal government continue to subsidize corn-based sweeteners suspected of contributing to the problem? Why indeed? This question was […]
Yale Childhood Obesity Study Explained by Dr. Ayala
When a big load of research comes to fruition and becomes a published study, there is nothing finer than an articulate professional who can break it down for you. Dr. Ayala Laufer-Cahana is splendid at doing just that. The controversial new report is from the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, located at Yale […]
Childhood Obesity and Corporate Accountability
Nobody wants to see the U.S. or any other country turn into a nation of blimps. Everyone agrees on that. But when it comes to the means of achieving a reversal of the childhood obesity epidemic trend, people start to have different ideas, and there is ambivalence. BNET’s Melanie Warner regards Childhood Obesity Awareness Month […]
An Interview With Raj Patel
Raj Patel is the author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System. Sadly, this interview with Patel was conducted not by us, but by Onnesha Roychoudhuri. Her work appears via Alternet, publisher of this piece, and in Salon, Mother Jones, and many other major publications. Patel’s book intends to stir […]
Hospitals and Fast Food
Dr. Davis Liu is a family physician with the Permanente Medical Group and the author of Stay Healthy, Live Longer, Spend Wisely, which is about making intelligent choices in the healthcare system of America as we currently know it. In the piece we’re looking at today, he says, The real question is whether our corporations […]
Fast Food, Hospitals, and Cravings
Fast food and hospitals are the two concepts that should not be found together in the same sentence. And yet, their relationship grows cozier all the time. It was with some dismay that Dr. Pretlow recently noticed a TV commercial for the Blizzard Children’s Miracle Network. Actually, the word that came to mind was “disgusted.” […]
Music as Message: Creativity for a Cause
We previously wrote about how much we regret the tendency of corporations to use such attractive aesthetic trimmings as riotous colors, animated cartoons, and music to entice children into demanding junk food. Of course, that will never change. As long as there are products to sell, some hardworking agency will be writing jingles about those products. […]
Television Advertising and Childhood Obesity, Part 1
Some people in Scotland think that junk food advertising now needs to be completely eliminated from television. Since 2007, such ads have been banned from appearing during children’s programs, but now, […] health campaigners say kids are still susceptible to seeing adverts during adult shows before the 9pm watershed and have called for a total […]