Nutrition

The Obama administration proposed regulations Friday that would prohibit U.S. schools from selling unhealthy snacks.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says long-delayed school snack rules are coming soon.

Will brain injury lawsuits doom or save the NFL?

Ohio's governor weighing Medicaid expansion.

Davos divided on tackling obesity

In NAACP, industry gets ally against soda ban

UN wants better family planning

Federal regulators on Wednesday upheld a ruling that the popular juice company POM Wonderful has engaged in deceptive and misleading marketing practices.

In ratifying the decision, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said it had found even more instances of misleading marketing by POM Wonderful.

The company deceived consumers, regulators said, by claiming that POM juices could “treat, prevent, or reduce the risk of heart disease, prostate cancer and erectile dysfunction.” The commission said the company had a “lack of sufficiently reliable evidence” to back up those claims.

The commission barred the company from claiming that their juices are “effective in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of any disease,” unless there is sufficient medical evidence.

The FTC ruled that the company made false or deceptive claims for 36 products, up from the 19 instances that FTC Chief Administrative Law Judge D. Michael Chappell found in May 2012.

A coalition of health groups is calling on Nickelodeon to stop airing commercials that promote unhealthy foods.

In a letter Monday, groups urged the channel and its parent company, Viacom, to implement strong nutrition standards for the foods marketed on Nickelodeon and by its shows' characters.

SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer should not be licensed to advertise foods like imitation fruit snacks or Popsicles, the American Academy of Pediatrics and others wrote.

A nonprofit health group is urging federal regulators to act against a new Cracker Jack product that contains caffeine, arguing the snack is unhealthy for children.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) wrote to food makers and regulators Wednesday, warning about a growing number of caffeinated snack products that could endanger children's health.

The group also argued that the Cracker Jack product, Cracker Jack'D, and its counterparts violate Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules. 

The group claims Obama's junk-food habit glamorizes unhealthy eating before a country that already faces an obesity crisis.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) slammed New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg for his ban on large sodas after Bloomberg endorsed President Obama.

Speaking on CNN, Paul cited the soda ban when he said he didn't expect "Nanny Bloomberg" (I) to endorse Republican Mitt Romney.

"I don't think many of us thought that 'Nanny Bloomberg' was going to be endorsing a Republican any time soon. We can't even get a decent-sized Coke to drink in New York City anymore. So, I don't think his proclivities or his sort of sense of philosophy really is Republican much at all," Paul said Thursday. 

House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-Minn.) is asking government investigators to study the controversial school lunch rules implemented this fall by the Obama administration.

The rules set calorie limits on school lunches and promote nutritious foods as part of the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act. The Obama administration backed the requirements as part of its fight against childhood obesity.

"State and local officials, parents and students have raised concerns about a number of these changes," Kline wrote Wednesday to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), "specifically the adequacy of the calorie maximum, the cost of the new requirements, and increased food waste in school cafeterias." 

Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) is promoting a student video comparing the rules to the world of the best-selling dystopian trilogy.