More than half the childcare centers in the state of South Australia are backing away from the state Health Department’s obesity-fighting initiative, complaining that the program is just too difficult to put into practice. Read the full story

Fast Food is Fun!

In 2001, the National Health Interview Survey in Taiwan examined the level of happiness of more than 2300 children ages 2-12, then correlated this data with the amount of junk food the children ate.  The kids ate french fries, pizza and hamburgers, washed down by plenty of soda and other sugary drinks, and, unsurprisingly, got fat as a result: 25% of the kids in the survey sample were overweight or obese.

What was a surprise was how little the extra weight mattered to them. Only 19% of the children surveyed reported feeling unhappy, sad or depressed.

The survey was the subject of a recent study led by doctors at National Taiwan University and the University of Arkansas. The results of their study, which were published in the Journal of Happiness Studies found that children who ate fast-food and drank soft drinks were more likely to be overweight, but they were also less likely to be miserable about it.

Although the authors of the study offered no opinion on why a Happy Meal really can make kids happy, they did opine that programs aimed at tackling childhood obesity are more likely to work if they aim to replace the fun of eating tasty junk food with other kinds of fun.

Fructose Tied to Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes

Most people who struggle with their weight have been told to avoid high levels of sugar, at one point or another, and for good reason.

Doctors from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore are among many in the medical field who blame the high levels of fructose in snacks and beverages for increased rates of Type 2 diabetes and the current obesity epidemic in America.

Fructose is a sweetener found naturally in fruits. But massive amounts of it are used in corn syrup, which is found generously in foods and beverages – hence the ingredient “high fructose corn syrup” that can provide up to 13 teaspoons of sugar in a 12-ounce can of soda.

Studies show that consuming fructose stimulates the appetite and leads to a bigger appetite for more food, most of it loaded with even more fructose and empty calories.

This stands in contrast to glucose, a sugar that is found in carbohydrates, which decreases appetite. The high intake of fructose can also lead to insulin resistance, which can be a precursor to Type 2 diabetes.

Professor M. Daniel Lane of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine noted that the average American consumes 145 pounds of sweeteners a year – much of it fructose – and teenagers and children likely consume more.

Dr. Lane notes that this level of consumption, coupled with a sedentary lifestyle, raises serious health concerns, given the continual increase in obesity rates among kids and adolescents.