Junk food with cartoon characters on the packaging tastes better in the minds of young children, according to a new survey. Read the full story

Junk food alters the brain’s chemistry much like heroine or cocaine, according to a new study, meaning high-fat fare may be just as addictive. Read the full story

A junk food tax would be effective in reducing obesity rates and improving the overall health of the country, a new study suggests. Read the full story

This week on WLS News, we’ll explain how an occasional sip of vino could help you keep a sleek physique, and why putting a tax on junk food may actually help Americans save money. Plus, find out how too little sleep at night could keep you from shedding pounds, and see what researchers are saying about the effect a specific stomach bacteria has on obesity. Get the details on all of these stories and more in this week’s newscast. Read the full story

Check out this week’s WLS News to learn about a new obesity drug performing well in clinical trials, find out what junk food manufacturers are doing to promote weight loss, and get important details about the negative effects of a high-fat diet on the muscles. Plus, learn about the connection between obesity and asthma among women, and discover what a recent study shows about the link between obesity and some forms of mental illness. Read the full story

The increasing popularity of the high-calorie, high-fat, low-fiber diet and other lifestyle factors common to Westernized nations is causing a dramatic increase in colorectal cancer rates around the globe. Read the full story

Fast Food Format Failure for Fitness

Here’s a shocker…kids tend to eat what their parents eat. A crack team of researchers at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research has determined that teens are more likely to eat a healthy diet if their parents do. On the other hand, kids whose elders favor a fast food diet are more likely to be junk food junkies themselves.

According to the California Health Interview Survey – a recent quiz of thousands of California teenagers – 43% of West Coast teens eat fast food every day, but only 38% eat their “daily five” – which are the five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables that nutritionists recommend.
Researchers admit that the zillions of fast food restaurants in Southern California help lure many youngsters away from a healthy diet – but they say that parents can counter the siren song of hamburger-hawking clowns and fried-fish pirates by setting a good dietary example for their kids.
In short:  parents should eat the things they want their kids to eat, and avoid stuff they want their kids to avoid.

Modeling healthy eating habits, and giving them increased access to fruits, vegetables and other healthy fare, can go a long way toward helping teens make smarter food choices themselves.