Should sugar drinks be taxed? And hamburgers?

Image via Wikipedia

The New York Times takes a thoughtful look at the soda industry and obesity. The questions are should Coke and Pepsi drinks be taxed to 1) reduce obesity and 2) raise public money to fund anti-obesity programs?

I believe those taxes don't go far enough. Let's remove all government subsidies for beef and tax hamburgers as well.

What I find interesting is how the similar this battle is and the tobacco wars fought for 50 years. Remember the tobacco industry said there was no "direct" correlation between tobacco use and cancer. Then they said you can't change behavior with taxes. Then they said government shouldn't be in the business of dictating American behavior. All of these arguments were designed for just one thing: saving Philip Morris's profits.

Dr. Frieden, who promoted a soda tax when he was a health commissioner, sees further parallels between soda and tobacco: “There are aspects of the food industry that are reminiscent of tobacco — the sowing of doubt where there’s no reasonable doubt, funding of front groups, use of so-called experts, claims that new products which are safer for consumers are available, and the claim that they are not marketing to children.”

...In their critics’ eyes, producers of sugar-sweetened drinks are acting a lot like the tobacco industry of old: marketing heavily to children, claiming their products are healthy or at worst benign, and lobbying to prevent change. The industry says there are critical differences: in moderate quantities soda isn’t harmful, nor is it addictive.

16 Ways To Change Your Child’s Diet

Image by Paull Young via Flickr

Sometimes we just don't know what to do.

With obesity reaching epidemic proportions, there's very little a parent can do, except start in your own home.

Here's 16 tips to change your child's diet (and your own).

16 Ways To Change Your Child’s Diet From Habit To Healthy | Health Reform

Companies can't count calories

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Everyday I read that Americans want government out of their lives.

But what happens when there is no accounting, no rules, and no laws.

Here's a very small, almost minuscule problem that happens when there is self-regulation, only business oversight, and buyer-beware companies: they cheat.

How would you feel if everytime -- that's everytime -- you went to fill up with gas, Citgo or Mobil gave you just 72% of a gallon for a gallon you paid for? What if Shell gave you just 50% of a gallon? How would you act if the butcher charged you full price on just 75% of a pound.

I believe Americans would be outraged. But that's happening everyday in fast-food restaurants throughout the U.S.

According to new study from the American Dietetic Association, some restaurant foods contained up to 200% of stated values and, in addition, free side dishes sometimes are an average of 245% of stated values for the entrees they accompanied. And restaurants are not alone. Supermarket packaged foods under report calories.

According to the FDA, packaged foods are allowed a 20% margin of error. Therefore, a 300 calorie sandwich may contain anywhere from 270 to 330 calories. (Amazingly, there was very little over-estimating of calories.)

These findings suggest that stated energy contents of reduced-energy meals obtained from restaurants and supermarkets are not consistently accurate, and in this study averaged more than measured values, especially when free side dishes were taken into account. If widespread, this phenomenon could hamper efforts to self-monitor energy intake to control weight, and could also reduce the potential benefit of recent policy initiatives to disseminate information on food energy content at the point of purchase.

FoodNavigator.com reports: "Restaurant meals tested were even less accurate. Of 29 quick-serve and sit-down restaurant meals analyzed, calorie content averaged 18 percent more than stated. There is no FDA-regulated limit for the amount by which a restaurant meal may exceed stated calorie content, the researchers wrote."

Where's the outrage? Or are we all so cynical we know companies cheat.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Calorie labels: There's more there there (trueslant.com)
• Study: Calorie counts off at chains, frozen meals (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Joanna Dolgoff, M.D.: Restaurant Foods Contain More Calories Than They Claim (huffingtonpost.com)
• Study: Calorie Counts Often Wrong on Food Labels (time.com)

McItaly burger gives Italians heartburn

The nation of food has just sold out for the dollar menu.

"Fast food chain McDonald's has teamed up with the Italian government to cook up a hamburger with a national twist, but the unusual initiative is giving some food lovers cultural indigestion."

Leaders of the slow food movement call the McItaly burger a "monstrous act of national betrayal".

I went to McDonald's near the Spanish Steps just to see the differences from the US fast food joints. It seemed there were more choices for healthier foods even a few years ago. But a hamburger is still a hamburger: Fatty, salty, wasteful of land, grain and water.

Government officials offered this mixed message, hoping the McItaly burger will convince European youngsters "to forget about junk food and choose a healthier and better quality food."

Read more here...Italy critics trash McDonald's nationalist food bid.

Jamie Oliver’s Ideas to Reduce Obesity

Jamie Oliver -- the winner of the TEDprize -- has 4 simple ideas for reducing obesity, and they are not the typical ideas.

• Every child in the U.S. should learn to cook 10 meals before leaving high school.

• Supermarkets should appoint “food ambassadors” to explain to customers how they can prepare local, fresh and seasonal foods.

• Food companies should make education a central part of their business.

• Food labeling should be improved to accurately warn people about unhealthy food.

"I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity." -- Jamie Oliver

What do you think? and read more...Jamie Oliver’s Ideas to Reduce Obesity