CDC: High obesity rates in 23 states
New population data show that in 23 of the 50 states, at least 35 percent of adults are obese, a startling increase in a decade, said the Centers for Disease Control. Before 2013, adult obesity did not reach these rates in a single state.
For the first time, administration sets limits on added sugars in school meals
Updated nutrition standards for school meals include the first-ever limit on added sugars in foods and beverages, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, calling the move "an important step forward in improving nutrition for our youngsters." The new regulations, which also call for less sodium in meals, were released on Wednesday.
Four rural districts win USDA school food awards
Rural school districts in Alaska, Iowa, Maine, and Ohio are winners of Healthy Meal Initiatives awards for improving the nutritional quality of meals served to students, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday. Vilsack announced the awards during a speech to school food directors in which he said healthy school meals could combat the rising U.S. child obesity rate.
Food sovereignty pilot should be expanded in next farm bill
In the final piece of The Farm Bill Fight, a series by FERN and Mother Jones on the changing nature of America's most important agricultural law, Bridget Huber makes the case for expanding a pilot program that gives Native Americans more control over their food supply.
Study of five cities finds soda taxes cut consumption by one-third
Residents of five U.S. cities reduced their consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) by an average 33 percent following imposition of so-called soda taxes, said researchers who studied years of sales data.
House votes to make whole milk part of school lunches
The House passed, on an overwhelming 330-99 roll call on Wednesday, a bill that overrides USDA regulations to allow schools to serve whole milk as part of the school lunch program. “Let’s end the war on milk,” said Rep. Virginia Foxx, chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee.
How food became a weapon in America’s culture war
As the conversation around food got bigger in the ’90s, the stakes also got higher. Mounting evidence that the American way of eating was causing serious health problems spurred talk of reform. Rather than engage with reformers, however, the right simply broadened its culture war around food, politicizing the debate in ways that had significant consequences, not only for public health but, eventually, for the nation’s response to climate change.(No paywall)
White house sets hunger conference for Sept. 28
The Biden administration on Monday set a date of Sept. 28 for the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in Washington, D.C. The conference will be the first of its kind in more than 50 years.
U.S. to look at alcohol, sustainability separately from Dietary Guidelines
In a first step toward a new edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the government proposed a list of questions for experts to consider, addressing such issues as obesity, the consumption of ultra-processed foods, and strategies for diet quality and weight management. Two hot-button issues — alcoholic beverages and sustainable food production — will be considered separately, it said.
Do soda taxes change minds?
Taxes on sugary drinks are often credited with reducing soda consumption by making the sweet beverages more expensive. The taxes may actually have a much smaller impact on how consumers view the sodas, say the authors of a study on the "non-pecuniary (non-price) effects of sugar-sweetened beverage policies."
Pandemic paradox: As food poverty rises, so does obesity
The Covid-19 pandemic has limited trips to the grocery store, shut down neighborhood markets and generally made it harder for people struggling financially to find affordable healthy food, reports Bloomberg. As a result, more people are relying on cheaper and more easily accessible fast and ultra-processed food, driving up rates of obesity around the world.
Trump plan lowers quality of school meals, say former ag secretaries
With nearly one in five American youths suffering obesity, schools should provide optimal nutrition in the meals served daily to 29.5 million students a day, said former agriculture secretaries Ann Veneman and Dan Glickman. The co-chairs of a prevention initiative at the Bipartisan Policy Center, Veneman and Glickman said the Trump administration proposals announced last week "would reduce the nutritional quality of foods served to children in both school breakfast and lunch programs."
In CDC report on ‘fast food,’ Sweetgreen and McDonald’s are treated as equals
A much-publicized report from the Centers for Disease Control released earlier this month found that more than a third of Americans eat fast food daily. But what wasn't included in the media coverage was that the study’s definition of "fast food" includes fast-casual restaurants, such as the custom-salad chain Sweetgreen, as well as coffee, bagel, and even ice cream shops. Such a broad definition, well beyond the burger-centric drive-through that the term "fast food" calls to mind, raises questions about how much the CDC data actually reveal about American eating habits.
Big Soda pours $20 million into fight against local soda taxes
In June 2017, the Seattle City Council approved a tax of 1.75 cents per ounce on sugary beverages. Now the soda industry has donated almost every dollar of the $20.2 million raised to support a statewide referendum on Nov. 6 that would prevent other cities and counties in Washington State from following Seattle’s lead.
Three things that go together: Young adults, affluence and fast food
Roughly 37 percent of U.S. adults eat fast food daily, says a CDC analysis of dietary data, but the rate is much higher for men and women aged 20-39 and for higher-income people. "Fast food consumption has been associated with increased intake of calories, fat, and sodium," says the CDC, which estimates adult Americans get 11 percent of their calories from fast food.
Global glut of palm oil adds to India’s health woes
Rates of obesity, diabetes and other diet-related diseases have soared in India and other developing countries in recent years, coinciding with a flood of cheap palm oil that is used in everything from processed snacks and fast food to traditional foods like samosas and poori, according to the latest story from FERN, published with The Nation. No paywall
A new bulge in America’s obesity epidemic
Two more states, Iowa and Oklahoma, joined the list of states where adult obesity rates are 35 percent or higher, said the annual State of Obesity report on Wednesday.
A contract is rebid, and 40 percent of SNAP sales at farmers markets are up in the air
Earlier this year, when the USDA changed the vendor that runs its program that allows farmers markets to take SNAP benefits, it set off a chain reaction that could soon prevent thousands of poor people from using those benefits at the markets, reports FERN’s latest piece, published with The Washington Post. No paywall