Food is worse than crack

More kids were fat in 2004

This article describes increasing obesity in kids.

Also, never serve large portions, admonished Cornell University researchers, whose study, published in the October issue of the Journal of Nutrition, revealed piling up goodies led college students to overeat by nearly 40 percent.

Other research showed restaurant servings swelled by 20 percent to 60 percent over the past 20 years, that half of all meals were consumed outside the home and that Americans expended far less energy in physical activity but consumed some 200 more calories a day than they did in the 1970s.

Diet soda vs. regular

This article points out that diet soda is gaining a bigger share of total soda sales.

"There's no such thing as a no-calorie hamburger. There's no such thing as a no-calorie doughnut," said John Sicher, editor of Beverage Digest. "But the soft drink industry already has these huge powerful brands" of diet drinks.

Some think that diet soda may eventually outsell regular.

Low-carb fad slowing

This article discusses how the low-carb biz has fallen off.

Just eight months ago, the five-outlet Castus chain was gearing up for expansion. Selling products made by low-carb specialists including Keto Foods and Atkins Nutritionals, Castus forecast 200 stores across the nation by the end of this year, including 25 in the Bay Area.

They didn't see the triple whammy of a fall-off in low-carb fever, a flood of low-carb items launched by mainstream food manufacturers and rough competition as big grocers and discounters began carrying low-carb foods.

It's surprising to read that they didn't see those three things happening. All of them seem very predictable.

Holiday weight gain is forever

This article discusses a study about those few extra holiday pounds.

Researchers have found that few people who gain a Christmas bulge manage to lose it in the new year. Call it the slow creep of holiday heft, and it can add up to serious weight problems over the years.

And there's this fascinating anecdotal tidbit:

Need more proof that we're overdoing it? Even Santa is getting fatter.

In 1996, the largest St. Nick outfit sold at Santasuits.com was double-X, and sales of oversized suits accounted for just 12 percent of business. Today, the company offers a quadruple-X, and plus-sized outfits are a third of business.

New Americans get fat

A new study discusses people who gain weight after immigrating to the United States.

Only 8 percent of immigrants who had lived in the United States for less than a year were obese, but that jumped to 19 percent among those who had been here for at least 15 years. That compared with 22 percent of U.S.-born residents surveyed.

Plenty of available calories and a lack of exercise are to blame.

Paying for life insurance

This article discusses how getting healthy can lower the cost of your life insurance -- and sometimes the standards are very tight.

Until recently, applicants could qualify for the best rates with a cholesterol count of up to 220 and a 5.0 ratio of total-to-good cholesterol. Many companies have tightened those standards to 210 and a 4.5 ratio - and some require a cholesterol count no higher than 205 or even 200.

Overweight and Medicare

This article says that Medicare costs are higher for overweight and obese people.

For men the total average annual Medicare charges for those not overweight were $7,205, for the overweight $8,390, for the obese $10,128 and for the severely obese $13,674.

The total average annual charges for women in the same four categories were, respectively, $6,224, $7,653, $9,612, and $12,342.

How people use nutrition labels

This article takes a look at how people use nutrition labels.

Sometime, possibly before the year is out, the Food and Drug Administration, which is responsible for the label, plans to suggest new ways to make it more useful. The changes are based on recommendations made by the obesity report from the Institute of Medicine and the agency's own working group on obesity.

The FDA said it wants to initiate a consumer education campaign, focusing on a "calories count" message. After years of promoting a low-fat diet, it is ready to emphasize a new, but actually very old and immutable scientific message: Those who consume more calories than they expend in energy will gain weight. There is no getting around the laws of thermodynamics.

My suggestion: the label should state, in large type, the total calories in the package. "Serving size" on the label is fiction: the real serving size is the whole box, bag, or can.

Alaska Natives and unhealthy diets

This article discusses diet-related health problems in Alaska Natives.

"Prior to contact with Europeans, Alaska Natives were primarily healthy and relatively well nourished," the NCI study states. "The change to a diet low in vegetables and fruit and high in fat and sugar has contributed to the increased rate of many diseases formerly rare among Alaska Natives."

One indicator of the continuing change in health status caused by changes in diet and exercise comes in looking at weight. In 1995, about 18 percent of Alaska Native adults were considered obese, defined as having a body mass index--a measurement of body fat based on height and weight--of 30 or greater. Five years later, 30 percent of adult Alaska Natives were found to be obese, according to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services.

It's a key observation because obesity has been linked--in Alaska Natives and other races--to breast, uterine, colon, gallbladder and kidney cancers, according to a 2003 state report. The National Cancer Institute adds that obesity is responsible for 25 to 30 percent of colon, postmenopausal breast, endometrial, kidney and esophagus cancers, many of which have high rates among Alaska Natives.

Culture can overcome genetics.

People think their diet is healthy

This story describes a study in the UK that asked people whether they think their diet is healthy.

IGD’s Consumer Watch Nutrition and Health survey found that many people do not accept that current health advice applies to them because they believe they are eating a healthy diet already. Almost two-thirds (61%) believe their diet is always healthy and only 11% think they are not eating healthily.

Most people believe that a healthy lifestyle is not just about diet and should encompass a range of different activities, but they also believe that as long as they choose to implement some of them it will be enough to be healthy. Half of the people IGD spoke to believe that the major factor determining diet is eating five portions of fruit and vegetables each day. However, many also believe that if they eat five-a-day they are eating a healthy diet, no matter how much additional fat, sugar or salt they eat. Only 11% think balance is important and 12% simply do not think about the nutritional value of the food they buy.