Clean, accessible water is vital to the health of children, especially when it comes to reducing consumption of sugary beverages and keeping kids healthy throughout the school day. The National Drinking Water Alliance (NDWA) is a national coalition of nonprofits, academic institutions, individuals and advocates who are working to ensure all children have access to safe and clean drinking water. NDWA is working to ensure water safety issues, like what happened in Flint, are eradicated at the national, state and community levels, by developing legislation for tap water testing in schools and childcare sites. NDWA has not only urged the United States Department of Agriculture to add a water symbol to the My Plate graphic but also provides a hub of various water resources, including ...
Fast-food is usually considered unhealthy, as it contains added salts, fats and sugars in most menu items, but how does the packaging of fast-food harm you? A new study funded by the National Science Foundation and the Silent Sprint institute showed how chemicals used in an array of fast food packaging can be dangerous to consumers. Health risks like cancer, thyroid disease, immune suppression, low birth weight and decreased fertility are associated with a chemical used in fast food packaging called PFASs (per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances) also known as PFCs, which are highly fluorinated chemicals. “These chemicals have been linked with numerous health problems, so it’s concerning that people are potentially exposed to them in food,” said Laurel Schaider, an ...
In Dona Ana County (67.1% Latino) where many adults are diagnosed with diabetes, new classes are cooking up to help those diagnosed enjoy diet modifications to improve their health. What is being called the Kitchen Creations cooking school, is being offered at a local high school, Mayfield High School to ensure participants have access to hands-on learning. Participants can build skills like how to plan meals, measure appropriate service sizes, how to read food labels and balance carbohydrates, which all can help aid better blood glucose levels, and increase health outcomes. Participants are sharing the good news of their A1C levels dropping and enjoying the classes, explained Cassandra Vanderpool, registered dietitian and Extension diabetes coordinator for NMSU’s Department ...
Aiming to mirror their mission "to help people live the healthiest lives possible", Intermountain Healthcare is removing all sugary beverages, candies and less healthy snacks from it's vending machines. Many nationwide health systems have also adopted similar policies including, Mayo Clinic and Kaiser Permanente. From March 1st of this year, snacks that have added sugars, salts, and saturated fats will all now be banned from vending machines, with new healthier food options based on nutrition and dietary guidelines. Since 2014, the hospital has been working to create healthier food environments, with cafeterias that offer healthy plates, and messages about eating healthier and being active. Over 100,000 people in Utah and Southern Idaho are living with prediabetes, stated St. ...
In efforts to help decrease the rising obesity rates in France, the government has banned all fast-food restaurants, including many American chain restaurants from giving consumers free soda refills. Targeted to the youth, who are facing rising rates of diabetes, the law is working to limit consumption of sugary beverages, which has shown through research to be linked higher risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cavities, and behavior problems. According to 2014 data, the French are less overweight than Americans, at 15.3% vs Americans at 36.5%, however, France is looking to be ahead of the issue, working to prevent alarming levels of diabetes. Many countries across the world are working to tackle their rising obesity and diabetes rates, through the World Health Organizations ...
All the tax talk on sugary beverages that happened in January to help offset the state's Medicaid expenses and provide for obesity prevention, is now "off the table" according to WPSD 6 news. In a state where the majority of adults are overweight and 1 in 3 children in the state are considered obese or overweight, sugary beverages may only add to the health risks of the state and Medicaid expenses. Although it was reported that 65% of Latino Illinoisans supported the penny-per-ounce tax, the proposal is unsupported by Republican Senator Paul Schimpf and Senator Dale Fowler, who reported they're glad to see the sugary beverage tax thrown out, believing it would drive business out of Illinois to other close states. Research from The HEAL Proposal estimated that an increase in ...
Two projects from the Keck School of Medicine of University of South California National Institutes of Health for obesity research have been awarded funding to support research focused on preventing and treating obesity-related fatty liver disease in Latinos. Michael Goran, Ph.D., professor of preventive medicine, co-director of the Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute and director of the Childhood Obesity Research Center at the Keck School, was the recipient of both grants and will be leading the research efforts. Prior work from the Goran lab showed that early introduction of sugary beverages to Latino infants was associated with higher prevalence of obesity. Going off this information, one of Goran's project swill examine how reducing sugary beverage consumption for ...
After a new policy for a sugary drink tax was proposed by Mayor Javier Gonzales and questioned by the city council, Mayor Gonzales reminded Santa Fe City Council to consider the 2-cent-per-ounce tax to fund preschool education this last Wednesday, January 25th, 2017. Health is a factor in bringing the tax to the city, but Gonzales's main idea for the tax revolves around bringing equity in education to the many children in the city that do not have enough preschool slots or teachers, according to Santa Fe Mexican Editorials. The tax is estimated to bring in as much as $7.7 million a year to help fill the city's some 966 3-and 4- year-olds that are lacking a high-quality pre-K education. More conversations with Gonzales about his proposal is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, ...
Healthy Beverage Partnership (HBP), an initiative facilitated by Denver Public Health, has launched a new regional marketing campaign, Hidden Sugar.
The HBP is a collaboration among six Denver metro local public health and environment agencies working to reduce sugary drink consumption through organizational policy adoption at community venues. The new campaign will run throughout January and February, and again in May.
Denver Metro area residents should see the campaign ads on billboards, on TV, online or hear it on the radio. The goal of the Hidden Sugar campaign is to make it easy for parents and caregivers to see how much sugar is hidden in many of the drinks children drink on a daily basis. For example, one 10-ounce juice drink has as much sugar as 10 chocolate chip ...
