nutrition

Consumption of sugary beverages is down for the second year in a row in Mexico, suggesting "that the results of such a tax may be far more long-lasting," says the New York Times. It says a study published on the Internet by Health Affairs found a 5.5 percent decline in sales of sugary drinks in 2014, the first year of the tax, and sales in 2015 were 9.7 percent lower than in 2013, the year before the tax took effect.

Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern says he will employ six priorities as the House Agriculture Committee works on food stamps as part of the 2018 farm bill, beginning with "benefits should not be cut" and the monthly benefit of $126 "is inadequate." The lead Democrat on the nutrition subcommittee, McGovern released his list of priorities as a rebuttal to a report released in December by the committee chairman, Michael Conaway of Texas.

The drive for healthy diets has targeted over-consumption and excess fat in food. "Now, there's a fuill-on war on sugar," says Vox, laying out why the subject is more complicated than it first appears and offering "11 facts to clear up the confusion."

The Laura and John Arnold Foundation donated $500,000 to the city of Philadelphia to fight the beverage industry, which sued after voters passed a soda tax last November, says Philadelphia Business Journal.

In "the opening shot of 2017," health advocates filed suit in federal court in Oakland, Calif., accusing Coca-Cola and the trade group American Beverage Association of deceiving consumers of the health risk of sugary drinks and saying there was no link between sugar-sweetened beverages and obesity, says Quartz. Coca-Cola said the lawsuit was "legally and factually meritless."

A prominent medical journal published what the New York Times called a "scathing attack on global health advice to eat less sugar," arguing that such recommendations were based on weak evidence. Just as quickly, however, critics of the study pointed out that it was biased.

Starting in 2018, Nestlé candy products will include a newly formulated version of sugar. The innovation will allow the company to lower sugar content 40 percent, says The New York Times. Without divulging exactly how Nestlé changed the traditional sugar molecule, Dr. Stefan Catsicas, the company’s chief technology officer, explained, “It is sugar, but it is assembled differently so it can disassemble easily in your mouth with less going into your gastrointestinal tract."

It's called "Shop with Your Doc," an initiative that stations doctors and nutritionists at supermarkets in Orange County, Calif, "to answer questions and offer advice about healthy eating — all for free," says the Los Angeles Times. Health economic professor Glenn Melnick, of USC, says it's part of an evolution of the healthcare system to try to improve community health.

The Breakfast Council of "independent" nutrition experts that appeared on the website of Kellogg Co. was a paid panel given talking points by the giant food company, according to a copy of a contract and emails obtained by the Associated Press. Kellogg started the panel in 2011 and disbanded it this year, telling the AP that, as part of a review of its nutrition work, it decided not to continue the council.

The newest locality to approve a tax on sugary beverages is also the largest — Cook County, home to 5.2 million people including the city of Chicago. The Cook County Board approved the 1-cent-per-ounce tax on a 9-8 vote with board president Toni Preckwinkle breaking a tie, said the Chicago Tribune.

At least 30 medical centers across the nation have restricted the sale of soda and full-calorie energy drinks, a list that includes the Cleveland Clinic, says the New York Times. UC-San Francisco, with a health sciences center, has gone a step farther by stopping sales entirely of sugar-sweetened beverages on its campus and creating the setting to study the impact on people who formerly drank the beverages during the work day.

As several cities in the U.S. prepare to vote on soda taxes, researchers say that taxing more of our foods based on their climate impact would do a lot to help the planet and our health, says The Guardian. A 40-percent surcharge on beef, for instance, would produce a 13-percent decline in consumption, according to the study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

For decades, Nutella, the hazelnut-cocoa spread, has been classified by FDA as a dessert topping. Now, its producer, Ferrero, is petitioning the government to put it in the same class as jam, which would cut its serving size — and calorie count — in half, to one tablespoon and 100 calories, says Stat, the medical news site.

Only one in four medical students gets the recommended 25 hours of nutrition training while a medical student, says Texas Public Radio. The Baylor College of Medicine is trying to change that by putting future pediatricians into a teaching kitchen so they can pass along tips on healthful diets to their future patients.

Domestic production of olive oil, based mostly in California, is six times larger than it was 20 years ago but it amounts to less than 2 percent of the U.S.'s steadily growing consumption, forecast to be more than 400,000 metric tons this year, say USDA analysts. Drought in Europe, the major producer, drove import prices to record highs but they are projected to decline in the year ahead as production recovers.