Tag: children’s obesity

Label Added Sugars, Urges Coalition of Health Organizations Such as the Environmental Working Group and the American Heart Association

Exciting news for those of us who monitor our sugar intake — and urge you to do so, too — for the sake of your health, weight, and moods!
A coalition of health organizations, including the Environmental Working Group, the American Association for Health Education, the American Heart Association, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and Defeat Diabetes Foundation are calling on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to clearly label added sugars on ingredients lists of packaged foods so that American shoopers find it easier to eat healthier.
“By showing ‘added sugars’ on the ingredients lists of foods, consumers will be better able to evaluate the foods they purchase,” the organizations wrote in a letter dated Feb. 23, 2012 to the Honorable Margaret Hamburg, M.D., FDA Commissioner.
“To ensure consumers have this important information, we feel that the term ‘added sugars’ should be listed as a single food ingredient with a paranthetical list of the specific ingredients that account for those sugars,” the letter contends.
The groups then go on to suggest that “added sugars should be listed by descending weight, in line with current regulations. The combined weight of the added sugars should be used to determine where added sugars rank on the food ingredients label.”
I cannot emphasize how great this would be!
Your life would be so much easier when you buy packaged foods. You’d find it easier to monitor your intake of sugar, which can cause you to age quickly, get heart disease, become depressed, and many other ailments. (You can read about sugar harms you in my first book, Sugar Shock.)
In short, if food labeling such as this went into effect, you wouldn’t be so easily deceived and duped by all those added sugars!
The welcome letter to the FDA Commissioner also cited the American Heart Association’s valuable national survey data that “overconsumption of added sugars contributes to obesity” and that the average American consumes 22.2 teaspoons of added sugars per day or the equivalent of 355 calories. (I believe for many, they consume far more than this.) The AHA recommends that women get only 100 daily calories from added sugars and men only 150 calories.
In addition, the letter states that while “a healthy, well-balanced diet contains naturally occurring sugars, the `empty calories’ from added sugars like high fructose corn syrup, sucrose and corn sweetener have a detrimental effect on our diets.”
Make sure to tell these organizations such as the Environmental Working Group, the American Heart Association, The American Association for Health Education, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), and Corporate Accountability International how much you appreciate their hard work on behalf of your health.
Read the complete letter here.
Then go to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Facebook page and show your support for labeling added sugars.
And tell us what you think, too.

Healthy Vending Machines on the Rise

Note from Connie: Today, the Sugar Shock Blog presents a guest post from fellow writer/health coach/IIN grad Suzanne Boothby about new vending machines that healthier foods than you usually find. Full Disclosure: Suzanne is a spokesperson for HUMAN Healthy Vending, the company about which she is writing. In this instance, HUMAN stands for Helping Unite Man and Nutrition.
Human_machine_jofemar Snacking Made Easy & Healthier
By Suzanne Boothby
There’s been a lot of buzz recently about school nutrition and, in particular, the problem with junk-filled vending machines in schools.
“Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years,” writes Dr. Oz Garcia in The Huffington Post. “Statistics show that nearly one in three American children are either overweight or obese.”
Dr. Garcia points out that while parents play the most important role in teaching children healthy habits, the U.S. school system plays a very central part in developing a child’s eating habits.
Another article on BusinessWeek, “School Vending Machines Undermine Student Nutrition,” referenced a report from the Journal of Adolescent Health, showing the negative impact vending machine foods had on the purchasing choices of students at about 150 different U.S. schools.
More than 80% of the schools studied carried vending machines offering foods with minimal nutritional value, including chips, soda and candy bars.
Enter Sean Kelly and Andy Mackensen, co-founders of HUMAN Healthy Vending machines, which offer healthier fare in the 30-billion vending machine industry.
HUMAN Healthy Vending Machines offer foods that cater to various dietary needs, including those that look for foods that are 100% organic, no-sugar-added, gluten-free, allergen-free, low-fat and carb.
Some of the vending machine’s bestselling snacks include PopChips!, TERRA Chips, Larabars, and BARE FRUIT snacks. Drinks include Fiji water, Poland Spring water, Perrier, Horizon Organic Milk and Vita Coco water.
The new digitally interactive, eco-friendly Healthy Vending machines have some unique features. They display all ingredients via LCD before you purchase it. What this means is that you can select a product from a touch screen keypad, and then before you make your purchase, the machine shows you the nutritional info on that same touch-screen. Therefore, you don’t have to lose change by buying snacks that don’t work for your particular diet.
In addition to providing healthier choices, HUMAN Healthy Vending machines include an eco-component with remote monitoring systems to ensure eco-friendly refilling. Plus, they contain LED lighting and energy-efficient refrigeration units to save power. In addition, the company donates 10% of proceeds to charitable causes that fight childhood obesity and malnutrition.
You can find these HUMAN Healthy Vending machines in schools, offices, hotels and hospitals, as well as health clubs, gyms and spas. In New York City, you can find these machines at the Aveda New York Institute, Mt. Sinai Medical Center and in the new offshoot of Equinox, Blink.
Suzanne Boothby is currently a spokesperson for HUMAN Healthy Vending, as wells as a Brooklyn-based wellness author and writing coach who dabbles in social media and marketing. She is a proud graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and The Institute for Integrative Nutrition.
Note from Connie: What a welcome development! These machines do seem to contain something for everyone. Please note, however, that while these snacks are far healthier than what you find in traditional vending machines, not all of these foods are healthy by everyone’s standards. So just follow your doctor’s guidelines and eat what works for you. By the way, I’m thrilled with the feature that you can save yourself time and money by being able to check out the ingredients first via LCD screen. What a unique, cutting-edge feature!

Sugar & Its Dangers Hit the News, Thanks to Dr. Robert Lustig’s YouTube Video & Nightline

Sugar and its dangers are in the news again, thanks to ABC’s popular show, Nightline, which, last night, aired a compelling story spotlighting sugar’s role in the obesity crisis.
In his “Sugar Wars” piece, correspondent John Donovan offers a fascinating look at the views of esteemed pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Robert Lustig, whose YouTube video, “Sugar: The Bitter Truth,” has garnered more than a quarter of a million hits to date.
In this Nightline segment — which you can watch below — Donovan calls Dr. Lustig “a man at war with sugar,” because he argues that too much fructose and not enough fiber are to blame for our obesity crisis.
“Fructose is the cause of the current epidemic,” says Dr. Lustig, director of UCSF’s Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health (WATCH) Clinic and UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology.
Nightline correspondent Donovan also includes quotes from the the pediatric endocrinologist about leptin’s role in obesity; fructose’s role in metabolic syndrome; and the fact that low-fat foods such as SnackWells cookies and fruit-flavored yogurt are filled with sugar.
In the Nightline piece, Donovan made an effort to make his piece unbiased by allowing Dr. Lustig’s ideas to be criticized by three pro-sugar advocates — one from the American Beverage Association (formerly called the National Soft Drink Association) and two from the Corn Refiners Association, including a cardiologist, who has done studies funded by PepsiCo, the manufacturer of sugar-filled soft drinks.
Understandably, correspondent John Donovan seems to be like millions of Americans, who have a sweet tooth. In fact, the reporter readily admits that strolling with Dr. Lustig at San Francisco’s Pier 30 (a hot spot filled with sugary foods) can be “at times, well, a bit of of a downer. Because we love sugar, don’t we, most of us?”
Donovan is absolutely correct in his assessment. Most Americans — and people around the world — are so keen on sugar that they imbibe it to their detriment. Unfortunately, the Nightline reporter did not mention that obesity is only part of the sugar story.
The average American’s sugar consumption — about 170 pounds per year per person — also has been linked with heart disease, cancer, severe PMS, memory loss, depression, fatigue, headaches, infertility, low libido, polycystic ovary syndrome and many other ailments.
In addition, regretfully, the Nightline piece did not point out that Dr. Lustig is in very good company. His views are shared by many of us concerned health advocates. For instance, esteemed pediatric endocrinologist Dr. David Ludwig — who was previously interviewed along with me for a “CBS News Sunday Morning” segment, “Is America Too Sweet on Sugar” — is among those frightened by the massive consumption of sugar, particularly high fructose corn syrup, in this country and around the world.
Others sounding the sugar alarm include:
* Dr. Walter Willett of Harvard;
* Dr. Nancy Appleton, author of Suicide by Sugar: A Startling Look at Our #1 National Addiction;
* Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, who appears on my Gab with the Gurus Radio Show on March 31 to discuss his new book, Beat Sugar Addiction Now! ;
* Dr. Richard Johnson, author of The Sugar Fix: The High-Fructose Fallout That is Making You Fat and Sick.); and
* Myself, author of SUGAR SHOCK! How Sweet and Simple Carbs Can Derail Your Life–And How You Can Get Back on Track.
Now, I invite you to watch the eye-opening Nightline segment below.

Halloween Tricks Kids Into Sugar Overload: Op Ed Piece

Are you re planning on passing out sugar-filled candies for Halloween tomorrow night?
If so, you should know that every time you hand out candies, you’re tricking kids into sugar overload.
Halloween isn’t just one night. It paves the way for bad eating habits year-round.
Read more about this in our opinion piece in today’s Newark Star-Ledger.