The great cola ban war begins!

As expected, the big guns have, indeed, come out blazing!

Soda manufacturers, restaurateurs and other businesses have sued New York City over its plan to restrict the sales of super-sized calorie-filled, sugary drinks in its efforts to check runaway rates of obesity.

Exactly a month ago, the city’s Board of Health approved a motion to limit the size of sweetened beverages to 16 ounces or less at restaurants, street carts and entertainment and sports venues.

The suit, filed in the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, contends that the board did not have the authority to ratify the rules unilaterally.

It also claims “the Board of Health’s decision … usurps the role of the City Council, violating core principles of democratic government and ignoring the rights of the people of New York City to make their own choices”.

The American Beverage Association's 61-page filing says, among other things, that the Board of Health adopted the ban, first proposed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, completely ignoring the public objection of 17 members of the City Council, the legislative body elected by the people.

Michael Bloomberg: A modern-day Don Quixote?

However, the mayor’s office dismissed the lawsuit as “baseless”, maintaining that the Board of Health “absolutely has the authority to regulate matters affecting health, and the obesity crisis killing nearly 6,000 New Yorkers a year”.

Runaway obesity rates are threatening not just New York.

A report, titled F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2012, says that the number of obese adults will increase dramatically in every state in the country over the next two decades – and along with it related disease rates and health care costs.

Which means, by 2030 more than half the population in the United States will be obese – if corrective measures are not taken, starting now.

Obesity in the U.S.: A Burgeoning Crisis.

Obesity increases the risk of heart diseases, diabetes, hypertension and other chronic illnesses.

Obesity is defined as having a Body Mass Index above 30, while overweight means a Body Mass Index of between 25 and 29.9.

Calculate your body mass index.

The ban, scheduled to take effect in March 2013, applies to any establishment, in New York City’s five boroughs, with a food-service license, including fast-restaurants, workplace cafeterias, delis, movie and Broadway theaters, the concession stands at Yankee Stadium and the pizzerias of Little Italy.

Violations would incur a fine of $200.

Interestingly, the lawsuit’s preliminary statement starts thus:

“This case is not about obesity in New York City or the motives of the Board of Health in adopting the rule being challenged.”

Further on it says, “The ban at issue in this case burdens consumers and unfairly harms small businesses at a time when we can ill afford it.”

The bottom line here seems to be that the soft drinks industry would stand to lose a considerable sum of money should Bloomberg’s ban come to fruition.

Besides, if everybody agrees that obesity rates need to be brought down, shouldn’t they welcome any, or all, steps taken to achieve that?

In related news:

Controversial designer Karl Lagerfeld says Obesity is more dangerous than being overweight.

A study shows that nearly 50 per cent of students at Sultan Qaboos University are either overweight or obese.

Obesity is on the rise in children as well as adults in Vietnam, says a report.

Do you think the soft drinks industry is right in challenging New York City’s ban on super-sized sugary beverages? Please leave your comments below.

Obesity raising risk of strokes in young adults

When someone uses the word ‘stroke’, what is the first thing that crosses your mind?

‘Older people’, right?

And you won’t be too far wrong. That is because for many years we have tended to believe that only elderly people are prone to strokes.

In fact, according to some statistics, 83 per cent of strokes occur in people who are aged 59 and above, with the most first strokes occurring in people in their 60’s and 70’s.

However, over the years rapid changes in lifestyles have meant that younger people have now also become more susceptible to strokes.

The risk factors in these cases include obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure.

Two studies in the US, reported in the journal Neurology, have found that the rate of strokes in younger adults, aged between 20 and 54, increased between 1999 and 2005.

The studies were conducted in the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky region and stroke data were studied between July 1, 1993 and June 30, 1994 and in 1999 and 2005.

Researchers found that the mean age at stroke significantly decreased from 71.2 years in 1993-1994 to 69.2 years in 2005 and the proportion of all strokes under age 55 increased from 12.9 per cent in 1993-1994 to 18.6 per cent in 2005.

In the 20-54 years age group, incident stroke increased from 26 per 100,000 in 1993-1994 to 48 in 2005 among white patients, and 83 in 1993-1994 to 128 in 2005 among African-American patients.

Firstly, is it possible that younger adults have been prone to strokes all along, only that with the advances in technology it has been more easier for doctors to detect strokes in young people more often?

“I really don’t think that's the major reason,” said lead researcher Brett Kissela, of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

“We’re definitely seeing a higher incidence of risk factors for stroke now.”

Secondly, can studies conducted in just two states apply to the entire United States?

An editorial accompanying the findings thinks so.

“The estimates in the (current study) are comparable to contemporary estimates from other countries and other parts of the United States,” it said.
A few weeks ago, a report, titled F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2012, said that the number of obese adults will increase dramatically in every state in the United States over the next two decades – and along with it related disease rates and health care costs.

The report suggested that the doomsday scenario could be avoided 

if only the states could reduce the average Body Mass Index of their residents by just 5 per cent by 2030.

“The study shows us two futures for America’s health,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which had commissioned the study.

“At every level, we must pursue policies that prevent health, prevent disease and reduce health care costs.

“Nothing less is acceptable.”

Trust for America’s health executive director Jeff Levi said increasing physical activity times in schools and making fresh fruits and vegetables more affordable can help make healthier choices easier.

“Small changes can add up to a big difference,” he says.

“Policy changes can help make healthier choices easier for Americans in their daily lives.”

Those suffering from hypertension and atherosclerosis are the most likely candidates for a stroke, though smoking and high cholesterol levels are also significant contributing factors.

Add obesity to the equation and you are looking at a disaster in the making.

However, the important point here is that the findings of the stroke study suggest increased efforts towards stroke awareness and education to reduce stroke incidence in young adults, particularly in minority communities.

The need for a healthy lifestyle also cannot be emphasized enough here because while a person who suffers from a small stroke may recover with minor disabilities, a major stroke can cause permanent disability or even death. 

sportEX journals / Free Photos

Photo credit: sportEX journals / Foter / CC BY-ND

New York hospitals face junk food ban

Nearly two weeks after getting the nod for a ban on sugary, super-sized colas in almost all public eateries, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has set his sights on banning sugary and fatty foods from both private and public hospitals in the city.

“If there’s any place that should not allow smoking and try to make you eat healthy, you would think it’d be the hospitals,” he said, while announcing the initiative.

Hospitals, which have already signed up to the Healthy Hospital Food initiative, said it would be hypocritical of them to serve unhealthy food to patients who are often suffering from obesity and other health problems.

But sadly enough, the fact remains that most people, who visit hospitals, are already in such a distressed state that they easily fall prey to “emotional eating”, which usually involves “comfort” or junk foods.

It is an established fact that emotions, most often, dictate our diet with the result that depression, anxiety, frustration and stress can often result in overeating and unwanted weight gain.

Gorging on junk food seems to be some form of a coping mechanism, according to an Australian study.

For instance, when you are happy, you tend to opt for steak or pizza; when you are sad, your choice could be ice cream or cookies and when you are bored, you could reach out for potato chips.

Not healthy choices, by a long chance!

And, as New York’s health department’s director of nutrition strategy Christine Curtis, pointed out: “People sometimes don’t have healthy options. So you are there at 2 in the morning and maybe your only choice is soda and chips.”

A report recently said that, if the current rates of obesity rise continue, by 2030 more than half the population of the United States will be obese.

The new crackdown in hospitals will:

• Ban deep fryers;
• Make leafy green salads a mandatory option;
• Allow only healthy snacks to be stocked near the cafeteria entrance and at cash registers;
• Ensure half of all sandwiches and salads are made or served with whole grains;
• Ensure that half-size sandwich portions are available.

The move, though voluntary, has its critics.

For instance, Brooklyn Hospital Centre president and CEO Richard B. Becker said that visitors to the emergency room of his hospital prefer the junk food-filled vending machines to healthy snacks.

In times of crisis, he reasoned, most people prefer something “delicious” like junk food rather than some nutritious alternatives.

Other critics have pointed to Bloomberg’s new measure as another evidence of his intention of turning New York into a “nanny state”.

Most hospital have, however, overhauled their vending machines by allowing only two types of 12-ounce high-calories beverages at each vending machine – and they must be featured on the lowest rack. Most vending machines have also phased out most baked good for snacks like granola bars and nuts.

Healthy weight can cut cancer risk

Being obese or overweight raises the risk of cancers of the breast, bowel, pancreas, kidney, womb, oesophagus and gall bladder.

Researchers in the United Kingdom maintain that excess fat is the second biggest cause of cancer – next to, of course, smoking.

Researchers from the World Cancer Research Fund said that an alarming 63 per cent of the population in the United Kingdom is either obese or overweight – one of the highest levels in Europe.

However, they also claimed that 18 per cent of the 123,000 weight-related cases of cancer in the United Kingdom could be prevented every year if only people maintained a healthy weight.

They also claim that 22,000 Britons suffer from cancer every year because they are too fat, according to a report in the Daily Mail newspaper.

Anyone with a Body Mass Index of 30 and above is classified as obese while 25 and above falls in the overweight category.
Calculate your body mass index.

Professor Alan Jackson, chairman of the fund’s continuous update project panel and professor of human nutrition at the University of Southampton, said: “A significant number of cancer cases could be prevented by people maintaining a healthy body weight.”

The fund is carrying out a study of existing research to determine how many cancers are caused by people’s lifestyles.

“Through keeping levels of body fat low, a lot of people will avoid getting cancer in the first place – forestalling the pain and anguish associated with the disease.”

It would be nice to hear your views. Please leave your comments below.

Sugary drinks linked to obesity

Health experts the world over have long believed that the dramatic rise in the consumption of sugary drinks during the past few decades has paralleled the equally dramatic rise in obesity.

A new study in the U.S. now reinforces that notion, giving public health officials the much-needed evidence to consider clamping down on the consumption of sodas and other sweetened beverages that are high in calories but provide next to nil nutrition.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, follows research involving more than 33,000 American men and women, which proved that sweetened drinks raise the genetic risk of obesity, as they interact with genes that affect weight.

The researchers selected 32 variations of genes that are known to be associated with Body Mass Index to establish a genetic profile of the participants. They also determined the participants’ eating habits, their consumption of sweetened beverages and exercise habits.

Calculate your body mass index.

The decades-long research involved three long-running studies that separately and collectively reached the same conclusions.

In all the three studies, “the combined genetic effects on Body Mass Index and obesity risk among persons consuming one or more servings of sugar-sweetened beverages per day were approximately twice as large as those among persons consuming less than one serving per month”, the researchers said.

Obesity has today become a major threat to people’s health all over the world. So great is the threat that it has been classified as an epidemic.

Obesity and overweight are the fifth leading risk for global deaths. They are linked to more deaths than underweight.

The World Health Organisation defines obesity and overweight as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health.

The good news is that these conditions are preventable.

Experts believe that changes to our diet and lifestyle in the past three decades have contributed to the obesity epidemic.

Consumption of junk food and calorie-laded sugary drinks, a sedentary lifestyle and lack of physical activity are the three main causes of people piling on the pounds.

Of the three, the largest blame goes to sugar-sweetened beverages that are high in calories but low in nutrition but whose consumption has increased dramatically in the past few years.

In the U.S. diet, sugary drinks are the single biggest source of calories. They are blamed for the fact that a third of the U.S. children and teens and more than two-thirds of adults are obese or overweight.

A new damning report says that if the current trend continues then by 2030 more than half the population of the U.S. will be obese!

Obesity in the U.S.: A Burgeoning Crisis.

The new study vindicates what New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is trying to do in his city. In a trend-setting move, the city’s Board of Health has passed legislation banning the sale of super-sized colas in most public outlets.

Michael Bloomberg: A modern-day Don Quixote?

The ban does not come into effect until March 2013 but whether this limited clamp will have the desired result of reducing the consumption of colas and thereby bringing down the obesity rate remains to be seen but it seems a well-intentioned measure.

At least, well worth adopting in other cities in the U.S. and around the world where cola consumption is high.

Obesity in the US: A Burgeoning Crisis

It makes for frightening reading, really.

In the past few years, obesity has been rising rapidly in the United States with the result that today it has reached epidemic proportions.

To make matters worse, a new damning report says that if the current trend continues then by 2030 more than half the population of the United States will be obese!

The report, aptly titled F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2012, says that the number of obese adults will increase dramatically in every state in the country over the next two decades – and along with it related disease rates and health care costs.

The report follows analyses of state-by-state data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention commissioned by Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and conducted by the National Heart Forum.

Obesity is defined as having a Body Mass Index above 30, while overweight means a Body Mass Index of between 25 and 29.9.

Calculate your body mass index.

Obesity increases the risk of heart diseases, diabetes, hypertension and other chronic illnesses.

Key findings of the study:

• If the obesity rise continues on its current path, 13 states could have adult obesity rates above 60 per cent, 39 states about 50 per cent, and all 50 states could have rates above 44 per cent by 2030.
• By 2030, Mississippi could become the fattest state in the United States with an obesity rate of 66 per cent with Colorado at the bottom of the ladder with 44.8 per cent – in 2011, the rates were 34.9 per cent and 20.7 per cent, respectively.
• There could be a 10-fold increase in new cases of Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke, hypertension and arthritis between 2010 and 2020 – and double that by 2030.
• Obesity could contribute to more than 6 million case of Type 2 diabetes, 5 million cases of coronary heart disease and stroke, and more than 400,000 cases of cancer in the next two decades. Currently, more than 25 million Americans have Type 2 diabetes, 27 million have chronic heart disease, 69 million have hypertension and 50 million have arthritis. Besides, 795,000 Americans suffer a stroke each year and nearly a third of the cancer deaths are related to obesity, poor nutrition and lack of physical activity.
• Medical costs associated with treating preventable obesity-related diseases are estimated to increase by $48 billion to $66 billion per year.
• Loss in economic productivity could be between $390 billion and $580 billion annually.
• Nine states could see their obesity-related health care costs shoot up by more than 20 per cent with New Jersey seeing the highest increase of 34.5 per cent.

A grim picture, no doubt. However, all is not lost.

The report suggests that the doomsday scenario can be avoided if only the states could reduce the average Body Mass Index of their residents by just 5 per cent by 2030.

“The study shows us two futures for America’s health,” says Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“At every level, we must pursue policies that prevent health, prevent disease and reduce health care costs.

“Nothing less is acceptable.”

Trust for America’s health executive director Jeff Levi says increasing physical activity times in schools and making fresh fruits and vegetables more affordable can help make healthier choices easier.

“Small changes can add up to a big difference,” he says.

“Policy changes can help make healthier choices easier for Americans in their daily lives.”

Not a tall order, surely. But there needs to be a national commitment and will.

What more do you think Americans should do to tackle the obesity crisis? Please, leave your comments below.

Michael Bloomberg: A modern-day Don Quixote?

Love him or hate him, you just can't ignore him!

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been vilified and pilloried for steamrolling through legislation that clamps down on the sale of super-sized colas and sugary drinks in many large outlets in the city’s five boroughs.

His justification?

More than half of adult New Yorkers are obese or overweight and annually nearly 6,000 New Yorkers lose their lives to the burgeoning epidemic of obesity.

Bloomberg has made curbing obesity a top goal of his administration. Obesity increases the risk of heart diseases, diabetes, hypertension and other chronic illnesses.

"We cannot continue to have our kids come down with diabetes at age 6."

Rising obesity among children is of specific concern as it puts them at greater risk of serious health problems as they age. Doctors believe that children who are extremely obese may continue to be extremely obese as adults.

Despite his good, some call it misguided, intention Bloomberg is being seen in some quarters as a modern-day Don Quixote tilting at windmills represented, in this case, by large fast-food chain restaurants!

Up in arms are those who will be badly hit by the 16-ounce limit on sodas and other sugary drinks at restaurants, delis and theaters – the soft drinks and restaurant industries and the large movie chains.

Backing them are 60 per cent of New Yorkers who oppose the restrictions, according to a New York Times poll.

They believe the measure is:

• An assault on personal liberty. At the best of times New Yorkers don’t like to be told what to do. Bloomberg has been accused of being overbearing, over-reacting and turning New York into a 'nanny’ state.
• Self-defeating. According to the ban refills are permitted. Even by Bloomberg's admission "restaurant customers can still buy as much soda as they want, as long as they are willing to carry it in multiple containers".
• The regulation has its limits. The restrictions do not apply to supermarkets or most convenience stores since they are not subject to New York City Board of Health regulations.

However, let’s count the calories.

A 20-ounce Coke has 24o calories and a 16-ounce Coke 200 calories.

If you drink a Coke a day, choosing a 16-ounce bottle over the 20-ounce would say you 14,600 calories over a year. That is enough to add about 1.8 kilograms of fat to your body!

New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley believes that if New Yorkers reduced their cola consumption from 20 ounces to 16 ounces every other week, it would help them avoid gaining some 2.3 million pounds a year.

Bloomberg has been instrumental in introducing a number of health measures in New York, including:

• A ban on smoking in public places;
• Forcing chain restaurants to post calories on their menus;
• A ban on artificial trans fats in french fries and other restaurant food;
• Promoting breast-feeding over formula.

Though the ban on super-sized cola does not take effect until March 2013, the big corporations have already declared their intention to fight the regulation.

"This is a political solution and not a health solution," said Eliot Hoff, a spokesman for an industry-sponsored group called New Yorkers for Beverage Choices, which claims to have gathered more than 250,000 signatures on petitions against the plan.

“This is not the end,” said Eliot Hoff, a spokesman for the group, after the vote. “We are exploring legal options, and all other avenues available to us.”

Only time will tell whether the initiative will bear the desired results and help New Yorkers lead healthier lives.

For sure, city officials, health experts around the nation, and beverage and restaurant industries will be closely how this pans out.

Do you think Michael Bloomberg is on the right track? Please leave your comments below.