British government-corporate complex harms anti-obesity fight

This video from the USA is about fast food and obesity.

From British daily The Morning Star:

The Lancet criticises obesity campaign

(Thursday 08 January 2009)

A GOVERNMENT campaign to fight obesity with the help of food companies was strongly criticised by leading medical journal The Lancet on Thursday.

The three-year Change4Life campaign is aimed at families with children under 12 years old.

Its goal is to reduce the proportion of overweight children to the level that it was in 2000 by 2020.

But the decision to fund the campaign with money from manufacturers whose products may be contributing to the obesity epidemic came under fire from The Lancet.

The journal said: “It beggars belief that the government has decided to allow sponsorship by commercial companies in the order of £200 million, in addition to £75 million of public funding.

“Companies include PepsiCo and Kelloggs – the makers of the very products that contribute to obesity. Party to this sponsorship arrangement are also supermarkets that display rows upon rows of sugary snacks, cereals and soft drinks.”

New research shows that within a few short years of getting hitched, married individuals are twice as likely to become obese as are people who are merely dating: here.

USA: Doctor Forced Out for Disparaging Doughnuts: here.

How the 40 year drop in the minimum wage helped cause obesity: here.

Britain: Health campaigners have called for universal free school meals and better access to playgrounds as key to fighting child obesity, amid warnings of an epidemic of the disease among working-class youngsters.

Obesity and tooth decay in children are reaching epidemic levels, experts at a leading hospital have claimed: here.

A stressful job is associated with a bigger waistline, according to a new study of employees at a downsized company in upstate New York: here.

Obesity expert on toxic sugar: ‘People have said sugar is bad, but didn’t supply the biochemistry. I supplied that’: here.

Labour unveils ‘dossier of Tory failure’ on child obesity: here.

A GRIM picture of tens of thousands of children in Britain needlessly suffering rotting teeth and obesity was painted by shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth today. Speaking at the inaugural conference of the National Association for Hospital Education in Leicester, Mr Ashworth announced a £500 million programme to tackle child health problems if Labour comes to power. The association has been established to support education professionals who work with children and young people with medical and mental health difficulties. Mr Ashworth said Britain lagged behind other developed countries on mortality, breastfeeding and obesity rates and that social inequality in Britain was widening: here.

Super-sized citizens: the relationship between a country’s fast-food outlets and its obesity rates: here.

Researchers from The University of Queensland and University of Cambridge are exploring ways to help scientists better protect their work from the influence of the food industry. With rising obesity levels, and significant public interest in diet and health, the ethics surrounding research in this area is centre-stage: here.

Related articles

• Coca-Cola Tries to Avoid Blame For Obesity With Infographic, Advertising (medicaldaily.com)

The world’s population of children and adolescents with obesity is predicted to increase by 70 percent by 2030, from 150 million to 254 million. Without intervention, experts predict rates of obesity in higher income countries will stabilize at high levels while low and middle-income countries will struggle to handle a rapidly increasing public health problem: here.