Nutrition

ABC's most recent "Bachelorette" is giving heat to Sen. Susan Collins over her stance against new nutrition standards.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) wants federal regulators to set new standards for public school lunches based on how food is prepared rather than the ingredients used.

The request aims to help potatoes, peas and other starchy vegetables retain their prime spot on the school lunch menu in the face of proposed regulations limiting servings to two servings a week starting next fall. Defenders of the new standards say they will offer students a balanced, science-based diet, but many lawmakers have vowed to protect popular — and heavily lobbied — foods.

"The fact is that French fries are a problem but potatoes are not," Collins said Wednesday during the Senate Appropriations Committee's markup of its agricultural spending bill. "I don't know what (Agriculture) Secretary (Tom) Vilsack has against potatoes, but I'm going to invite him to northern Maine for a nice feast."

Judith Palfrey will serve as executive director of the “Let’s Move!” campaign against childhood obesity.

President Obama marked the start of National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month with a proclamation calling on all Americans to "take action by learning about and engaging in activities that promote healthy eating and greater physical activity by all our Nation's children."

The rate of childhood obesity has tripled since the 1970s, with a third of American children now said to be overweight or obese. At this rate, researchers say, a third of children born in 2000 will develop Type 2 diabetes during their lifetime, with many others at risk of obesity‑related illnesses including heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer and asthma.

"By taking action to address the issue of childhood obesity," the president said, "we can help America's next generation reach their full potential."

A new effort to track corporate efforts to influence public health policy has just been launched even as more and more industries attempt to circumvent increased regulatory oversight by getting cozy with potential critics.

Australia's newly launched Croakey Register of Influencers in Public Health seeks to document ties between corporate interests and the public health sector — in the United States. The effort comes as the food and beverage industries are coming under increased federal oversight as part of efforts to curb childhood obesity.

"Traditionally, the public health community may have regarded itself as a relative 'cleanskin' when it comes to commercial conflicts of interest," register moderator Melissa Sweet explains. "But as the food, beverage, alcohol, transport, gambling and energy industries, to name a few, come under increasing regulatory pressure, they are turning to some strategies that are worth documenting.

Even in a climate as politically charged and divided as in Washington D.C., every once in a while there is an issue that has the ability to unite our two parties around a common goal. Last year, every member of the Senate came together to support the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. By unanimously passing this legislation to revise outdated nutrition standards for school meals, Congress took a giant step toward improving our children’s nutrition, curbing our nation’s growing obesity crisis and improving the wellbeing of our children. 

Unfortunately, some members of Congress are turning their backs on our students and trying to undo those important changes in order to please powerful D.C. lobbyists.

Proposed restrictions on food marketing would ensnare many popular — and ostensibly healthful — products, according to critics of the proposal.

A working group of federal agencies recently released a set of marketing rules it wants the food industry to adopt voluntarily. Industry and business groups have blasted the proposals, which seek to limit the marketing of unhealthy food to children.

The Sensible Food Policy Coalition said Thursday that the proposed restrictions would prohibit marketing of 88 of the 100 most popular food items in the U.S., including products such as yogurt and whole-wheat bread.

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Fewer than 4 percent of U.S. hospitals provide the full range of support mothers need to be able to breastfeed, according to a new government report that calls the shortcomings a missed chance to combat childhood obesity.

“Hospitals play a vital role in supporting a mother to be able to breastfeed,” Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement accompanying the report. “Those first few hours and days that a mom and her baby spend learning to breastfeed are critical. Hospitals need to better support breastfeeding, as this is one of the most important things a mother can do for her newborn. Breastfeeding helps babies grow up healthy and reduces health care costs.”

The CDC report is based on data from the national survey of “Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care.” The survey measures the percent of U.S. hospitals with practices that are in line with the “Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding” developed by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund.

A motley group of lawmakers with little in common are now raising concerns about proposed restrictions on food advertising.

Nineteen senators from rural states demanded Thursday that federal agencies justify their call for stringent voluntary restrictions on marketing food marketing to children.

Four agencies — the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Federal Trade Commission — have proposed voluntary guidelines for food companies in an effort to stem childhood obesity. Industry experts say the guidelines would curb free speech, cost jobs and do little for children's health.

The letter to the agency heads, spearheaded by Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.), requests the agencies to explain how they linked marketing to obesity. It also questions their nutritional recommendations and inquires about the economic impact to certain food sectors such as cereals, meats and cheese.