Supersize Me is available for you to watch on Google Video. If the video is not showing up below, click on the Supersize Me link or Google for it on Google Videos.
SuperSize Me Video on Google Videos
This is particularly an eyeopening film when viewed at the end of a nutrition course.
Add comment November 30th, 2008
I was able to find a short clip about a reporter who decided to become a volunteer drinker in a field sobriety test in this news report from 2007, on “How Much is Too Much?”
His report shows some of the sobriety checks done by police officers to determine if someone has had too much to drink.
Add comment November 25th, 2008
A study published in the The Journal of Law and Economics by researchers at the City University of New York is showing what many parents and teachers already knew to be true, that television ads are contributing to childhood obesity.
In a research study supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases researchers Chou, Rashad and Grossman estimated that the effects of television fast-food restaurant advertising on children and adolescents are playing a role with children being overweight.
These researches predict that a ban on fast-food restaurant advertising would reduce the number of overweight children ages 3–11 in a fixed population by 18 percent and would reduce the number of overweight adolescents ages 12–18 by 14 percent.
In addition, eliminating the tax deductibility of junk food advertising would produce more declines of between 5 and 7 percent in these outcomes.
With estimates that children see over 30,000 television commercials a year and a third of them are for junk food, it is likely that eliminating junk food ads would go a long way in helping manage the advertising world’s contribution to promoting childhood obesity.
These findings go along with earlier ones conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation which found that “The vast majority of the foods that kids see advertised on television today are for products that nutritionists would tell us they need to be eating less of, not more of, if we’re going to get a handle on childhood obesity.”
Sources:
Image Source: Game boy. Royalty Free Use.
Add comment November 22nd, 2008
In Fall 2008, the U.S. Department of Agriculture launched the My Pyramid for Preschoolers Website just for Preschoolers, children aged 2-5. The site encourages parents and caregivers to
Use MyPyramid to help your preschooler eat well, be active, and be healthy.
Customized MyPyramid for Your Preschooler
Visitors to the My Pyramid for Preschoolers Web site can “get a customized MyPyramid Plan for your preschooler” by entering the child’s first name, age, gender, and typical amount of daily activity. The site then generates a plan tailored to that child.
At the My Pyramid for Preschoolers website parents and caregivers can explore ways to help preschoolers:
The site provides a variety of information and resources for parents and caregivers wanting to ensure that their preschooler grows up healthy.
Downloads
The My Pyramid for Preschoolers Website also offers fun materials to download and print.
Some of the best points on the site is the reminder to parents is that:
You can raise a healthy eater by setting a good example and practicing positive habits.
You are the most important influence on your child.
You can do many things to help your children develop healthy eating habits for life.
For more information about the MyPyramid for Preschoolers, visit the My Pyramid for Preschoolers Website.
Sources:
Hitti M. October 27, 2008. ‘My Pyramid for Preschoolers’ Debuts. WebMD.
Add comment November 17th, 2008
A news item update from a colleague on a new article published in the PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Science) looking at the prevalence of corn isotopes in fast foods.
This new study researchers from the University of Hawaii sampled food from McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s chains and then used stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to trace the input materials from these large fast food chains.
From these findings they were able to infer the source of feed to meat animals, the source of fat within fries, and the extent of fertilization and confinement inherent to production.
What they discovered was the overwhelming majority of American fast food is based on a single source – corn. This study highlights the overwhelming importance of corn agriculture within virtually every aspect of fast food manufacturing. The presence of corn in so much of the food has some pretty striking implications.
The Implications
Science Blogger Ed Yong offers these insights in his blog post from November 11, Corn is everywhere in American fast food:
…the fact that so much of said food can be traced back to corn has environmental implications. Corn feed is relatively cheap and provides farmers with a way of maximising the calories that their animals are eating for minimum cost.
But corn agriculture in the US is encouraged by heavy government subsidies, but has been criticised for being environmentally unsustainable. It encourages heavy use of both fertiliser (as revealed by the nitrogen isotope analysis) and pesticides.
Science blogger Revere, points out in the blog post on November 12, Fast food = corn, corn and more corn:
if we eat just one hamburger, one chicken sandwich and one small order of fries we will be getting 50% of our recommended calories for the day, 80% of our carbs and 75% of our protein (90% for women). We would also be getting a full day’s worth of saturated fat. And all for just about $3.
This is a pretty remarkable nutritional bargain, but of course there are hidden costs (beyond the heart attack on a plate aspect). Corn as a feedstock is not only wasteful but highly subsidized. Our cheap meal is being paid for in other ways (taxes).
Bottom Line
While fast food may be tempting, because it is cheap and inexpensive, you may ultimately be paying for it in several ways, not only through poor nutrition, high calories and high fat intake, but also by supporting corn as a wasteful, subsidized and environmentally unsustainable food source.
Sources:
A. H. Jahren, R. A. Kraft (2008). Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes in fast food: Signatures of corn and confinement Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0809870105 http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2008/11/10/0809870105
Yong E. November 11, 2008. Corn is everywhere in American fast food. Not Exactly Rocket Science.
Revere. Nobember 12, 2008. Fast food = corn, corn and more corn. Effect Measure.
Image Sources: Robert Owen-Wahl. Hamburger. Royalty Free Use. Maja. Corn. Royalty Free Use.
Add comment November 14th, 2008
There has been some debate going on in regards to the terms that should be used to indicate a child’s weight status.
For adults the categories are Underweight, Overweight and Obese, but these terms have been avoided in children.
Some doctors have avoided the blunt terms in particular “obese.” Instead, they refer to children many would consider too fat as being “at risk for overweight,” and “overweight” for those others would consider obese. These fuzzier labels let pediatricians “off the hook” when counseling patients who need to lose weight.
Dr. Reginald Washington, a committee spokesman and member of the American Academy of Pediatrics stated that the reason for not using the actual terms has been of “fear that we’re going to stigmatize children, we’re going to take away their self-esteem, we’re going to label them.”
Recommendations
A committee of medical experts American Medical Association and funded by federal health officials including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that the terms overweight or obese be applied to children.
The recommended terms are more accurate, but don’t mean that doctors need to be insensitive about using the terms.
The recommendations were endorsed by most of the organizations on the committee, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Dietetic Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the American College of Preventive Medicine.
The CDC will consider whether to adopt the recommendations.
Reason for Concern – More Obese and Overweight Children
About 17% of U.S. children are obese and one-third are overweight, using the committee’s recommended definitions. Those numbers are rising, putting children at risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol problems and other ailments more commonly found in adults.
Source:
Associated Press. June 12, 2007. Expert panel says to call kids ‘obese.’ USA Today.
Add comment November 10th, 2008
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