For decades artificial sweeteners have been a sugar substitute especially among Latinos and all people who have diabetes, but according to a new study, sugar alternatives may cause people to eat more and sleep less, Univision reports. For their research, investigators from Australia gave sucralose (a chemical present in many artificial sweeteners) to fruit flies and mice and discovered that both of these animals consumed more calories than those animals in a real sugar diet. According to the investigators artificial sweeteners cause a neuronal disequilibrium when the brain is tricked into thinking the body is consuming real sugar but the calories are not existent; thus forcing the brain to send the message to the body to eat more. “These results show us that food 'sugar-free' ...
Early recognition of overweight and obesity, by family and physicians, is crucial, particularly among kids who have higher rates of obesity. However, many people, including many Latinos, don't understand how urgent childhood obesity is because of confusion between overweight and obesity and confusion about what obesity actually looks like.
Parents Underestimate Child's Risk
Parents, in particular, are often unable to correctly identify their child's weight status, thus underestimating their risk for many life-threatening diseases. Additional confusion, that leads to underestimation of health risk associated with obesity, is related to beliefs that big babies are healthier than small babies, and that kids will "grow out of" obesity.
Children Don't "Grow Out of" Obesity
Research ...
The state of Alaska has started the "Play Every Day" campaign to help boost physical activity and reduce sugary drink consumption among families across the state, where two out of three Alaskan adults are now overweight or obese and one out of three Alaskan children are overweight or obese. The new campaign asks kids to drink more water and understand that they don't need sports drinks to play sports. Public service announcement videos for families are also available on the campaign's website, talking about the sugar content in drinks. Posters inform students that even one sweet beverage a day, like a powdered drink, can lead to cavities, weight gain, and type 2 diabetes. The goal of the campaign is to help reduce consumption of drinks that have added sugars, but also to ...
A new study shows how arrows directing grocery store shoppers may help them choose healthier foods. According to a study from the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior, the use of six feet by three feet green arrows with text inside stating, "please follow this green arrow for a healthy heart, or a healthy weight" directed consumers to the fresh produce aisle and helped them choose more produce. These green arrows were part of a study on nutrition interventions using non-traditional marketing on the floor of a grocery store to influence consumers to choose healthier fruits and vegetables when purchasing foods, but not increase their overall budget for foods. "Considering that half of shoppers budgets are less flexible for unmet needs at the grocery store, we knew that we ...
Various cities throughout the nation are thinking about soda taxes or working on reducing beverages like energy drinks, and unnatural juices in schools, and city vending machines. Now Raley's, a privately owned and family operated supermarket chain in West Sacramento will be removing name-brand sodas from their stores. The 121 stores are located in Northern California and Nevada under four names: Raley's Supermarkets, Bel Air Markets, Nob Hill Foods and Food Source. A recent article explains the decision to remove these type of beverages from the store was to advance their vision of health and wellness, wanting to "make it easier" for their costumers to make healthier choices. Latino kids ages 0-5 consume more sugary drinks than their peers, and about 74% of Latinos have had a ...
According to a new study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, researchers found that teens who didn't eat breakfast were at higher risks for obesity than those who ate two breakfasts. This is powerful for schools, as many are working to incorporate healthier foods and reduce sugary drink consumption among students to curb the rising rates of students with diabetes, obesity, and other chronic health risks. Researchers do not know the case as to why eating two breakfasts rather than none can help, but one theory was that students would not overeat later in the day, according to a recent article.
To read the full study, click here.
Copy & Share on Twitter: Two Breakfasts are Healthier than None Researchers Say ...
New reports on healthy foods in school meals show that there still remains issues for underserved children of color. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that many children consume most of their daily calories- a third to a half- at school, making school one of the most important food environments that impact a child's future health. A recent report from the CDC looking at schools across the U.S. from 2006-07 to 2013-14, shows that more schools in the West have the availability of salad bars in their schools than all other regions and most schools serving socio-economically disadvantaged students were less likely to have salad bars. Also revealed in the report, were that many majority-Latino schools were less likely to offer fresh fruit in school meals. Latino ...
A recent article reports that Santiago, Chile is working to combat obesity by providing consumers with warning labels on unhealthy foods. Chile deals with high obesity and diabetes rates. In 2014 an article reported Chile to be the fattest nation in the world, with 37% of boys overweight or obese and girls at 32%. The legislation passed back in 2012, will now be implemented with restrictions on advertising unhealthy foods to kids and also will indicate caloric content with black octagons and warnings showing high fat, sugar, sodium or caloric content. Latino kids in the U.S. also deal with higher diet-related diseases like diabetes and obesity. Studies show that incorporating guidelines in schools that restrict access to unhealthy foods and beverages positively impact ...
The National Restaurant Association (NRA) and the U.S. Air Force has partnered to bring Kids LiveWell meals to kids and families as part of the Air Force FitFamilies initiative. The Air Force FitFamilies initiative is a web-based goal incentive program for families, encouraging families to have active goals, resources, and recipes to increase healthy choices. The Kids LiveWell is the NRA's program created in partnership with Healthy Dining in 2011, which limits sugar, fats, and sodium and increases more healthy options for kids including fruits, vegetables, lean protein, whole grains and low-fat diary. Healthy Dining website also offers families workout videos, nutrition tips, and quick and healthy recipes along with tips from nutritionists on how to choose healthier options when ...
