City Council seeks slimmer kids

From IB Times:

A bill introduced in New York City that would implement nutritional requirements for kids' meals at fast-food restaurants has the potential to curb childhood obesity if passed, according to an NYU Langone Medical Center study. Under the "Happy Meals" bill, fast-food chains would be required to include a serving of fruit, vegetables or whole grain in any meal marketed to children using toys or promotional items.

The bill, which was proposed by New York City Council member Ben Kallos, also would limit the meals to 500 calories or less, with fewer than 35 percent of calories coming from fat, only as much as 10 percent from saturated fat, fewer than 10 percent from added sugars and no more than 600 milligrams of sodium.

Council members surprised kids don't take gym in school

From the Daily News:

City Council members Monday grilled the city’s health commissioner over Mayor Bloomberg’s planned supersized-soda ban, with one arguing that restoring cut gym classes would be a better way to combat obesity.

By the city’s estimate, about 40% of public school students are overweight or obese — part of the evidence the Bloomberg administration cites as justification in its latest push to reverse the obesity trend.

Yet as city lawmakers from two committees quizzed city Health Commissioner Thomas Farley, Brooklyn Councilman Domenic Recchia said his children don’t get required physical education in city schools.

In fact, when the city controller’s office reviewed 31 elementary schools last year, it found that none offered physical education classes required under state law.

“If obesity is so important, why is gym being cut?” Recchia asked.

Are these people serious? The City Council funds the construction of school extensions which are built on top of schoolyards and knows that gyms are subdivided into classrooms and then they wonder out loud why kids aren't exercising in school? These people are the problem, not the solution.

And check out these same council members stuffing their faces with junk food during a hearing about banning soda...

Nanny Bloomberg at it again

From the NY Times:

New York City plans to enact a far-reaching ban on the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks at restaurants, movie theaters and street carts, in the most ambitious effort yet by the Bloomberg administration to combat rising obesity.

The proposed ban would affect virtually the entire menu of popular sugary drinks found in delis, fast-food franchises and even sports arenas, from energy drinks to pre-sweetened iced teas. The sale of any cup or bottle of sweetened drink larger than 16 fluid ounces — about the size of a medium coffee, and smaller than a common soda bottle — would be prohibited under the first-in-the-nation plan, which could take effect as soon as next March.

The measure would not apply to diet sodas, fruit juices, dairy-based drinks like milkshakes, or alcoholic beverages; it would not extend to beverages sold in grocery or convenience stores.

NYC has fatter kids than rest of USA

From the NY Times:

New York City schoolchildren are as heavy, or perhaps even heavier, than the national average, despite the Bloomberg administration’s dogged efforts to improve the health of city residents, according to new data from the city’s health department.

Two out of five, or 40 percent, of the nearly 637,000 children in kindergarten through the eighth grade were found to be overweight or obese in the 2008-9 school year. Those rates were the same as in the previous year, according to a survey of both school years that is to be released on Sunday.

That compares with 35.5 percent of 6- to 11-year-olds nationally, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Among New York City children who were overweight, 22 percent were obese, compared with 19.6 percent nationally.

The numbers were broken down by ZIP code and showed that less-affluent neighborhoods had the most severe problems. In the 2008-9 school year, the highest rates were found in Corona, Queens, where 51 percent of schoolchildren were overweight or obese. That was followed by parts of Harlem, with 48 to 49 percent, and Washington Heights, with 47 percent.

More Bloombergian hypocrisy

From the NY Post:

Mayor Bloomberg doesn't want New Yorkers anywhere near sugary drinks -- so stay away from the ones on tap at the city's Department of Health.

Weeks after the city unveiled an advertising blitz on subways that depicts sugary drinks morphing into yellow globs of human fat when poured over glasses of ice, The Post spotted a vending machine in the agency's main lobby at 125 Worth St. stocked with the beverage no-nos.

In addition to diet sodas, some of the drinks on hand are Gatorade, Snapple and Coca-Cola -- the trio the city singled out in the ads with pictures of anonymous bottles that closely resemble those beverages.

"It seems as if it's 'Do as we say and not what we do.' It's certainly interesting that that's the case," said lobbyist Richard Lipsky, who represents the beverage company Good-O, makers of Arizona drinks, Orange Crush and Coco Rico.

"The fact that they haven't removed the soda machine just shows you that we shouldn't allow the Department of Health bureaucrats to make decisions for us, because their decision-making process is often jaundiced."

The city's campaign, which is its latest attempt to target obesity, cost taxpayers $277,000. A private donor gave $90,000 to the effort.

City Hall officials declined comment.

Dr. not buying Bloomberg's anti-soda campaign

Good afternoon,

I hope you’re doing well. I recently read a post on your blog titled, “Do What I Say, Not What I Do” where you address Mayor Bloomberg’s hypocrisy towards the New York City Health Department’s “Don’t Drink Yourself Fat” advertisement. I thought you might be interested in a podcast with a response to the ad campaign, from the scientific perspective. Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, President of the American Council on Science and Health, thinks it is irresponsible to pinpoint a single product for America’s obesity problem and thinks that these efforts may be misleading for consumers.

She addresses her views on the podcast below:

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Liz Seymour for Dr. Elizabeth Whelan and the American Council on Science and Health