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NEWS ABOUT: junk food

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No. 1 Source of Salt in Our Diet Isn't Chips ... It's Bread

On list of top sodium sources, salty junk food comes in a distant No. 10

(Newser) - If you had to bet $5 on whether more salt in your diet came from bread or chips, you'd probably be out five bucks. Potato chips, pretzels, and popcorn actually rank a distant No. 10 on the CDC's list of the top 10 sources of sodium, released yesterday.... More »

How Much Will We Spend on Super Bowl Snacks?

$1.02B, according to TurboTax

(Newser) - It's not nearly as much as we spent on Halloween candy , but it's significant: Americans will spend $1.02 billion on Super Bowl snacks this year, according to a TurboTax infographic obtained by AdWeek . That includes $184.4 million on potato chips, $40 million on pretzels, and $36.... More »

It's Time for Twinkies to Die

Hostess' demise is a good thing: Mark Bittman

(Newser) - Hostess' bankruptcy filing probably won't mean the death of the Twinkie—rather, a restructuring of the company—but even if it did, it would be a death we should celebrate, writes Mark Bittman in the New York Times . The food columnist admits he ate his fair share of... More »

Taxpayers Subsidizing Junk Food: Report

To the tune of $16.9B over 15 years

(Newser) - Is America’s obesity epidemic government subsidized? That’s the question CALPIRG and the US PIRG Education Fund set out to answer with a new study, and its answer was affirmative, according to the LA Times . From 1995 to 2010, the government handed $16.9 billion in farm subsidies to... More »

Happy Meals Get Healthier

McDonald's will add fruit, remove some of the fries

(Newser) - Are Happy Meals soon to become Healthy Meals? Well, at least healthier: McDonald's, under pressure from nutrition advocates, will add a serving of fruit or vegetables to all of the children's meals, the LA Times reports. But the French fries will still be included, albeit in a smaller... More »

Bittman: Time to Tax Junk Food

With obesity costing US billions, gov't must help health

(Newser) - With the "Standard American Diet" producing ever more heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, it's time to tax junk food and subsidize vegetables, writes Mark Bittman in the New York Times . "Right now it’s harder for many people to buy fruit than Froot Loops," he says,... More »

LA Schools Ditch Chicken Nuggets, Add Sushi

Chicken nuggets out, spinach tortellini in as menu overhauled

(Newser) - Chocolate and strawberry milk are off the menu in the nation's second-largest school district. The Los Angeles Unified School District, which serves some 650,000 meals a day, has cut out flavored milk as part of a menu overhaul aimed at reducing child obesity in a region where nearly... More »

We Need Junk Food Laws, Not Suggestions

We need laws, not suggestions, argues Mark Bittman

(Newser) - The FTC’s new guidelines against marketing junk food to kids don’t go nearly far enough for Mark Bittman. “Instead of announcing, ‘We have guidelines you must follow,” the New York Times writer complains, “the FTC said, in effect, ‘We have voluntary guidelines we... More »

Can Baby Carrots Really Kill Doritos?

The carrot industry is spending $25M to try

(Newser) - What do Doritos and baby carrots have in common? The answer we're looking for is "they're both lunchtime standards"—and the baby carrot industry wants to take Doritos and its snack-food brethren down. Some 50 carrot growers are planning a $25 million marketing effort designed to convince kids... More »

To Fight Fat, Make Junk Food as Taboo as Tobacco

US must get a handle on public health crisis

(Newser) - A widespread vice has a negative effect on Americans' health, and it's up to the government to do something about it. That approach worked for tobacco, David Lazarus writes for the LA Times , and it can work for obesity, too. "The answer seems obvious," he argues. "If... More »

Study: Junk Food Addiction is Real

Brain chemistry changed in binge-eating rats

(Newser) - Junk food can be as addictive as cocaine and causes similar changes in the brain, according to a new study. Researchers found that rats given unlimited access to high-calorie food like candy bars and cheesecake not only became obese very quickly, they continued gorging even when they know doing so... More »

Gut Bacteria Can Make You Fat

Unhealthy diet encourages efficient micro-organisms

(Newser) - Eating junk food may do a double whammy on your waistline: In addition to the calorie influx, high-fat foods alter intestinal bacteria, actually making it easier to get fat. Obese mice in a new study had significantly more of a specific type of bacteria, Firmicutes, that easily convert food into... More »

'Fat Tax' Is Really a Poor Tax

(Newser) - With Congress contemplating a trillion dollar health care bill, the idea of the “fat tax” has come back into vogue as a way to slim down Americans. Supporters say junk food is every bit the addictive drug that cigarettes are, designed by food scientists to be “hyperpalatable,”... More »

'Functional Foods' Worry Health Experts

'Nutritious' junk food grabs growing US market share

(Newser) - Once dubbed junk, certain snacks are enjoying a second life as so-called “functional foods”—candy bars or sugary cereals spruced up with added nutrients, the AP reports. Despite warnings by health experts, functional foods now account for $27 billion in sales, or 5% of the US food market,... More »

Fat Friends Eat More Together

(Newser) - Overweight kids eat more when they eat with their overweight friends, Newsweek reports. A new study tested a child's consumption of healthy snacks and junk food while in the company of a friend or stranger who was either fat or lean. Overweight kids eating with a chubby buddy ate more... More »

Teen Couch Potatoes Eat Poorly Later: Docs

TV ads may play a role in the trend

(Newser) - Teenage couch potatoes grow into adults who consume more junk food than their peers, Reuters reports. Kids who reported watching 5 or more hours of TV daily later ate more fast food and fewer fruits and veggies than teens who tuned in for 2 hours or less. The lead researcher... More »

Naked Chef on Obesity: No One Knows How to Cook

Jamie Oliver, grilled on epidemic, rips lack of cooking skills

(Newser) - Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, widely known as the "Naked Chef" after his hit TV series, blames the obesity crisis on schools for failing to teach students how to cook. Oliver told a British government panel exploring the growing crisis that the inability to cook has driven families to turn... More »

Anti-Bubba: Is Obama's Bod Un-American?

Maybe the typical American will have trouble identifying with a 'beanpole'

(Newser) - No matter how long the 2008 campaign drags on, we'll never see Barack Obama as we did Bill Clinton in 1992: drenched in sweat and jogging into a McDonald's. Obama's fit—skinny, even—and a bit of a gym rat. The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the notion... More »

We Live in a Time of Bacon— Resistance Is Futile

Spray-on variety a bit much, but writer thinks meat can't ever get too full of itself

(Newser) - Everywhere Peter Meehan looks, he sees bacon. Fatty, salty, bombastic, and blissfully delicious bacon. The Salon writer tries to figure out "where we are in the bacon bonanza"—he cites bacon spray, scented candles, trendy recipes, even a bacon-of-the-month club—and reaches out to experts "to see... More »

Pringles Aren't Potato Chips, British Court Rules

Maker of the chip—sorry, snack —wins case, avoids tax

(Newser) - It’s official: Pringles are legally no longer considered potato chips in England—and manufacturer Procter & Gamble couldn’t be happier, Reuters reports. In an effort to avoid the UK's tax on chips, P&G went to court to argue the tube-dwelling snacks were actually more like cakes or... More »

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