Court to hear lawsuit against cola ban

A New York court will today hear a petition filed by the American Beverage Association against the city's plan to crack down on supersized sugary drinks.

In September last year, the city's Board of Health overwhelmingly voted to ban restaurants, street carts and entertainment and sports venues from selling sweetened drinks in cups or containers bigger than 16 ounces.

The size limit is set to take effect, as planned, on March 12. Violations will incur a fine of $200.

However, last week New York City announced a three-month grace period from fines for breaking the law which the city sees as a groundbreaking step in its fight against the rapid spread of obesity.

"Health officials will not seek fines for non-compliance for the first three months," said City's lawyer Mark Muschenheim in a statement.

But the American Beverage Association, in the suit, filed in the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, contends that New York City's Board of Health 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 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 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 applies to any establishment, in New York City’s five boroughs, with a food-service license, including fast-food restaurants, workplace cafeterias, delis, movie and Broadway theaters, the concession stands at Yankee Stadium and the pizzerias of Little Italy.




Do you think New York City has acted fairly in imposing the ban? Let's hear your views. Please leave your comments below.

Fast food linked to asthma

It is an established, and grudgingly acknowledged, fact that consumption of too much fast food leads to obesity – which has been called, by many health experts, as the scourge of the 21st century!

Over the past few months so much has been written about this burgeoning epidemic that today most people are aware of the hazards of rising consumption of fast food globally – on health, weight and environment.

However, a new study now says that eating fast food more than three times a week may also lead to asthma, eczema and rhinoconjunctivitis.

Researchers studying global dietary and disease patterns collected data from 500,000 children in more than 50 countries and found that poor diet may be to blame for rising levels of these allergy-related conditions.

On the other hand, eating fruits more than three times a week was found to be associated with a potential protective effect on severe asthma.

The study was Phase Three of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC).

Over the period of a year, 13- and 14-year-olds and parents of six- and seven-year-olds completed written questionnaires on the prevalence of symptoms of asthma, rhinoconjuntivitis and eczema and the frequency of food intake.

The study, which corroborated evidence that saturated fat levels in fast food lowered children’s immune systems, found that teenagers who tucked into burgers and the like three times a week or more were 39 per cent more likely to get severe asthma, eczema and rhinoconjunctivitis.

Younger children were 27 per cent more at risk.

However, three weekly portions of fruit and vegetables cut the risk by 11 per cent among the teenagers and 14 per cent in the younger group.

According to the World Health Organization, some 235 million people currently suffer from asthma and it is the most common chronic disease among children. And the number continues to grow.

In the United States, too, the number of people with asthma has been growing.

The American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology put asthma sufferers in the United States at one in 12 people (about 25 million, or 8 per cent of the population) in 2009, compared with one in 14 (about 20 million, or 7 per cent) in 2001.

Asthma costs in the US grew from about $53 billion in 2002 to about $56 billion in 2007, posting a 6 per cent increase.

Conservative estimates put sufferers of eczema at 10 per cent to 20 per cent of the world’s population.

A study in 2007 found that a substantial proportion of the US population had symptoms of eczema or eczematous conditions; 31.6 million met the empirical symptom criteria for eczema and 17.8 million met the empirical criteria for atopic dermatitis.

Although not life threatening, eczema can result in disability, skin damage and secondary infection adversely affecting the quality of life.

Coca-Cola slammed over anti-obesity advert

A frame grab taken from a new commercial from Coca-Cola

No sooner did Coca-Cola put out an advertisement on Monday night on several American cable television channels – encouraging people to come together to fight obesity – than critics were quick to pounce on its back.

Activists and health experts criticized the soft drinks giant for trying to do "damage control" to combat the widespread belief that sugary beverages contribute immensely to the scourge of the 21st century – obesity.
The two-minute video is a first of sorts for one of the world's most popular cola brands. In it, the company talks about its range of beverages and how the soft drinks industry has voluntarily changed its offerings in US schools to primarily waters, juices and low or no-calorie options.

"All calories count, no matter where they come from including Coca-Cola and everything else with calories," the advert says.

"And if you eat and drink more calories than you burn off, you'll gain weight."

However, critics are not impressed by the "public relations" gimmick. They see it as an attempt to take the heat away from the cola industry which has come under increasing fire from all directions. Legislators are proposing a tax on sugary drinks, schools are seeking alternatives to full-calorie soft drinks and New York city is on the verge of limiting the size of soft drinks that can be served in restaurants and public outlets.

"The company remains one of the major causes of obesity," says Barry Popkin, a nutrition professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and one of America's top experts on beverage consumption.
Michael Jacobson, executive director of Washington, D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest, says the new advert "is a page out of Damage Control 101, which is to try to pretend you're part of the solution rather than part of the problem".
According to latest statistics, two-thirds of adults and a third of the children in America are either obese or overweight – and, given the current lifestyles, these numbers are expected to increase in the next couple of decades.
A diet high in added sugars is linked to many poor health conditions, including obesity, high blood pressure and other risk factors for heart disease and stroke.

Researchers find treatment for obesity

When we are eating, we reach a stage where a little “voice” tells us that we’ve had enough and that we should stop eating. That “voice” is, in fact, a hormone that “tells” our body to stop eating.

Scientists have now identified a compound that imitates that hormone and are hoping to use it to treat obesity – which should be good news for one-third of the US population considered obese.

After years of painstaking research, Keqiang Ye, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Emory University, and his team have identified what they call a “magical compound” when studying a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor.

These hormones are released in the body after a person eats and tell the body to stop eating. During drug screening the researchers found a compound, which can mimic the physiological function of these hormones.

So excited are Prof Ye and his team with the findings, that they have secured a patent for the “magical compound”, according to a report.

The compound tested on mice bore positive results. For a few months, a group of mice fed high fat diets with the “magical compound” were found to be 30 to 40 per cent lighter than a group fed a high fat die without the compound.

Interestingly, the research was successful only in female mice – it had no positive impact on the male lot!

However, Prof Ye cautions that the findings of his research will not translate into a magical cure overnight. But it will not take many years, either.

The compound is non-toxic and found in tree leaves from Central and South America and in small quantities in celery, parsley and even citrus peels.

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.