Government’s Role in Childhood Obesity
Government on every level can do a lot of things, no question about it. The hot discussion should be over what the government should do. Whatever the government is already doing, is it having any effect? Should more of it be done, or less? What unintended consequences have resulted from government’s efforts so far? When […]
Childhood Obesity Addressed by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act
Here is the goal, as stated by President Barack Obama: [… W]hen our kids walk into the lunch room, we want to be sure that they’re getting balanced, nutritious meals that they need to succeed in the classroom. Obviously, children who are malnourished and hungry can’t make the most of their classroom experience because they […]
Sarah Palin Unfazed by Childhood Obesity
Sarah Palin has been accused of being an addictive substance, in such headlines as (the following links in headlines are ours): “Why is Sarah Palin the crack cocaine addiction of the liberal party?” and “America’s addiction: Sarah Palin,” in which writer EL Marr says, “Sarah Palin is the *Movie Star* of American politics”– and we […]
Childhood Obesity Awareness Month Retrospective
Last month, September 2010, was Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, and there are a few details we haven’t discussed yet. For instance, “Why is McDonald’s listed as a resource for Childhood Obesity Awareness Month?” This question is posed by Michele Simon, a public health specialist who has taught health policy at UCLA. As a lawyer, she […]
National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month
Our guest columnist today is President Barack Obama… Just kidding. Actually, what we have here is a quotation from the Presidential Proclamation that was issued on the first day of this month, to announce the first National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, September 2010: Our history shows that when we are united in our convictions, we […]
Solutions: Families and Communities
Health writer Amanda Gardner recently wrote about a report completed by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Trust for America’s Health. As Gardner reminds us in Business Week, Obesity is one of the biggest public health crises in the country. Rising rates of obesity over past decades is one of the major factors behind […]
Television Advertising and Childhood Obesity, Part 2
Childhood obesity is a worldwide problem. Not long ago, Stephanie Nebehay reported for Reuters on the latest World Health Organization guidelines. A WHO spokesperson, Timothy Armstrong, is quoted as saying, The rate of increase in the developing world is greatest because of a rapid change in diet and physical activity patterns. Nebehay passes along the information […]
Food Addiction Takes Center Stage
Everything you know is wrong, including the fact that everything you know is wrong. It used to be said that advertisers should be able to get by, spending only half as much, because 50 percent of all advertising is wasted. Only problem — nobody knew which was the wasted half. (This was before the exquisite […]
Let There Be Dancing – and Fit, Right-Sized Kids
The childhood obesity epidemic is a problem that looms so threateningly that a large variety of methods must be sought to deal with it. That’s why Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” initiative came up with 70 recommendations. A great many of them, of course, mention physical activity. One of the physical activities most likely to attract […]
Labels, Food Addiction, and the FDA
Here’s an insightful piece by Adi Narayan, who habitually writes about science and medicine for Time. Called “Building a Better Label,” it is, not surprisingly, all about the rules set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the nutritional information required on food packaging. I, for one, learned something from it: The recently passed […]