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New website to protect kids from junk food marketing

Filed under: Food and Diet by Matt Emery on March 31, 2008 @ 12:35 PDT

food-marketing From the website:
Children are vulnerable to advertising. They are less able than adults to fully understand that the purpose of advertising is not to inform but to persuade, and to ultimately sell a product.

Studies show that children are much more likely to want to eat food that comes in branded packaging than food with no branding – even if it is the same product.

A study of 3 to 5 year olds showed that over 75% of children preferred French fries in McDonalds branded wrapping, compared to the just over 10% who preferred fries from plain packaging - the food was exactly the same!.  More info here; http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/161/8/792

The same study also showed that children with more TVs in their home were more likely to prefer the McDonalds-branded food packaging.  An extensive survey of the evidence from the World Health Organization (WHO) confirms this.

The WHO report on Marketing of Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages to Children explains that advertising promoting foods high in fat, sugar or salt directly influence children’s attitudes and behaviour – they want and ultimately eat these unhealthy foods.  This can be a direct influence with children buying the foods, sweets and drinks themselves or asking their parents for these foods.

Visit the website here: http://junkfoodgeneration.org

Download the World Health Organization report : WHO - Marketing Junk food to kids (PDF file)


Experts say marketing of junk food to children must be restricted

Filed under: Food and Diet by Matt Emery on @ 12:15 PDT

consuming-kids Louise Baur, Professor of the Discipline of Paediatrics & Child Health at the University of Sydney and Consultant Paediatrician at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, says that parents are struggling to be heard over the bombardment of marketing aimed at their children.

From the article:
"Every week, in my weight management clinics at the hospital, I see parents who are trying their very hardest to look after the health of their kids" says Professor Baur. "By now, everyone has heard the alarming childhood obesity statistics. Parents are much better informed about healthy eating, and are trying to teach their children good nutritional habits. But how can they compete with slick, multi-million dollar marketing campaigns?

She dismisses suggestions that advertising doesn’t play a significant role in the diets of children. "Advertising does influence what kids want and therefore what parents buy - of course it does. Companies wouldn’t spend millions on it if it didn’t!"

Professor Baur points not only to television advertising, but to a range of marketing strategies from sponsorship of kids’ sporting events to "endorsements" of products by popular cartoon characters. She says that all levels of government have a role to play in supporting parents by introducing measures to restrict these marketing practices - and she isn’t alone.

The World Federation of Consumer Organisations, Consumers International, has this week released a new International Code on Marketing of Food and non-Alcoholic Beverages to Children, which is supported by the International Obesity Taskforce.

The Code calls for new government regulations to protect children and parents from the pressures of junk food marketing practices.

"This isn’t about being the "fun police", banning chocolate or soft drinks, or outlawing all forms of advertising" she says. "All we are asking is for some balance. Limiting the marketing of unhealthy food and drinks will give parents a better chance to teach their kids about responsible, healthy eating. We want to give children back to their parents. And that’s going to lead to happier families and healthier kids."

Full article here: http://www.usyd.edu.au/news/84.html?newsstoryid=2199


The Lunch Box Challenge

Filed under: Food and Diet by Matt Emery on @ 12:09 PDT

In this event at the CI World Congress, 12 children were asked to choose the contents of their lunch box from a range of healthy and unhealthy options.

The results speak for themselves.

You can visit the Consumer International website here: http://www.consumersinternational.org/


The Flip Side to the Obesity Epidemic

Filed under: Food and Diet, General News by Matt Emery on @ 11:36 PDT

lindsay_lohan_nicole_ritchie_skinny Dr Martin Donohoe MD FACP has researched the body image problem that is ubiquitous throughout western civilisation.  He has uncovered some interesting statistics.

From the article:
As many as 66% of women and 52% of men have reported feelings of dissatisfaction or inadequacy regarding their body weight.[4] Sixty percent of girls in grades 9-12 are trying to lose weight, compared with 24% of boys.[4] The number-one wish of girls aged 11-17 is to lose weight.[5] Women are more likely to judge themselves as overweight when they are not, whereas men are the opposite.[6] Women who desire to lose weight are more likely to do so in the hopes of improving their appearance, whereas men who wish to lose weight are more likely to be concerned about their future health and fitness.[7]

Body-image distress is now classified as a psychological disorder. Five percent to 10% of females have an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia.[4] Male and female high school athletes are especially at risk for unhealthy weight-control behaviours, such as restricting food intake, vomiting, over-exercising, using diet pills, inappropriately taking prescribed stimulants or insulin, and using nicotine.[8] Some adolescents dehydrate by restricting fluid intake, spitting, wearing rubber suits, taking daily steam baths and/or saunas, and using diuretics or laxatives.[8]

Consequences of abnormal weight-loss behaviours include delayed maturation, impaired growth, menstrual irregularities or loss of menses, increased rates of infection, eating disorders, and depression. Alternatively, such behaviours can be a sign of depression or verbal, physical, or sexual abuse.[9,10]
Media images have contributed to a misguided perception of the "ideal" body. Today, models weigh 23% less than average women; in 1986 it was only 8%.[11] Modelling schools for teens create unrealistic expectations. Only a very "select" few models achieve financial success (of these select few, beginners earn $1500 per day, those in the top tier $25,000 per day, and supermodels $100,000 or even more per day).

The full story:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/571497_print

Further Reading:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/skinny-fat/


Society makes it easy for you to be overweight

Filed under: Food and Diet by Matt Emery on September 25, 2007 @ 00:10 PDT

nutrigrain_bar_equals_diabetes An interesting article from the University of Sydney highlights what we at Caveman Power have been advocating for some time now.

From the article:

The global epidemic of Type 2 diabetes is an indicator of serious underlying issues in our society, says a University medical expert.

“People think of this as an issue of individual responsibility - you’re overweight, you’ve got diabetes, it’s your fault. But it just isn’t,” said Associate Professor Bruce Neal.

“You are overweight because you live in a society that make it easy for you to be overweight, that bombards you with advertising about the wrong kinds of foods, that doesn’t make it easy for you to lose weight,” said Professor Neal.

More than 250 million people worldwide have Type 2 diabetes, and the numbers are growing rapidly. Most will eventually die or be disabled by the complications.

“Diabetes is an indicator of serious underlying issues in our society,” he added. “We have to get governments much more engaged in addressing the reasons why we have this epidemic. Unless they take a more active role it is not going to go away. It is not going to get better. In fact it is going to get much worse.”

The global study followed 11,140 people for four and a half years. They were recruited from more 200 centres in 20 countries around the world.

“Type 2 diabetes is a massive problem around the world, and on average, someone with diabetes lives 5 to 10 years less than someone who doesn’t have Type 2 diabetes. It causes a huge economic burden, and in particular the complications that we were preventing in this study are a major cost to the health system.

And now for my opinion:

Firstly, we need to educate people about Diabetes prevention.  This however, is no small task - considering it’s at direct opposition to multi-million dollar corporations who have the best marketing (propaganda) tools at their disposal.

Additionally, the grain industry is massively subsidised by the government (which is of little surprise considering the export dollars garnished) and grains are a big part of the diabetes equation.

Some people may ask; Why should we educate the people?  Aren’t they already aware they’re eating junk, it’s just a willpower thing?

The answer is NO!  Junk food is being heavily marketed as health food.  For example; Cereal, Low-Fat Yoghurt, Muesli Bars etc.

This is not a case of willpower, it’s a case of deliberate profiteering by large corporations who absolutely refuse to acknowledge any link with Diabetes.

So how do we educate the people?  The answer lays somewhere between “guerilla media” and ”tell a friend”.

To educate yourself, search diabetes on Google.  Learn to think for yourself - do not automatically give trust to whatever the billboards or TV ads are telling you.

I’m not even asking you to trust me - that’s up to you.  Do the research and find out for yourself… empower yourself.

Feel free to challenge me or ask me questions in the comments section below - we may all learn something.

Link to full article: The University of Sydney


Get food marketers off kid’s backs!

Filed under: Food and Diet by Matt Emery on September 13, 2007 @ 14:09 PDT

Recent research by the NSW Centre for Overweight & Obesity COO discovered this advertisement by Mainland.

Get food marketers off kid’s backs!

“It  appears  to  us  that Mainland’s  compliance with  advertising restrictions is as dubious as the nutritional content of their snack!” stated Bridget Kelly in her article in the Prevention Research Centres Newsletter.

I agree with Bridget, and although I am not in favour of excessive government restrictions on advertising, I am in favour of creating awareness about the deceitful nature of some food corporations.

I would like to see a day were consumers are empowered with enough knowledge about health, that it renders unscrupulous food advertising impotent.  And I believe the starting point is you and me, right now… vote with your wallet, and put these advertising tricks out of commission.

Source: COO Prevention Research Centres Newsletter


Summary of trends in obesity-related behaviours in NSW and Australia

Filed under: Food and Diet by Matt Emery on @ 13:45 PDT

trends_in_obesity_nsw_australia_small

The NSW Centre for Public Health Nutrition have released a report outlining the recent rends in obesity related behaviors.  It clearly shows that children’s intake of high-sugar foods and drinks have risen sharply.

What is particularly interesting is that the consumption of high-sugar foods and drinks has risen substantially for children, and not for adults.

So what could cause an increase for children, and not for adults? Well to me the answer is dreadfully clear; marketing.

The article supports this assertion;

“Similarly, advertising pressures, access to appropriate food choices, school food policies, nutrition information and labelling all potentially influence food selection.

In Australian society today there is also a large commercial drive to promote products that contribute to obesogenic behaviours (food is the most advertised product on television). The economic imperative (ie profits) behind these promotions creates a challenge…”

Remember this every time you go shopping;  Food corporations do NOT care about you or your children’s health.  They exist for one reason only; to make money.

Full Report is here: NSW Centre for Public Health Nutrition


Children’s television - Types of foods advertised

Filed under: Food and Diet by Matt Emery on @ 13:20 PDT

types_of_food_advertised_small A recent study by the NSW Centre for Overweight & Obesity has revealed an alarming trend in their comparison of children’s viewing hours versus non-children’s viewing hours.

<< Click on the image (left) to see a detailed view.

Here are more disturbing facts from the report;

  • The frequency of advertisements for sugared drinks was more than twice as high during children’s viewing hours compared with non-children’s viewing hours.
  • The viewing period with the highest proportion of food advertisements for high fat/high sugar foods was during weekend children’s viewing times. During this time, high fat/high sugar advertisements comprised 52.7% of all food advertisements.

Food corporations are profiting at the expense of children’s health.  And the government guidelines for regulation clearly lack efficacy. But we can fight back by hurting unscrupulous food corporations where it hurts most; their net profit.  Every time we choose a healthy product over a non-healthy product - we take the power back.

Sources: The NSW Centre for Overweight and Obesity


Junk food dressed as breakfast cereals

Filed under: Food and Diet by Matt Emery on September 11, 2007 @ 22:04 PDT

Not long after writing my previous post about food labelling andlow-fat Vs high-sugar food, comes this article;

“Health experts have joined forces to lobby political parties on childhood obesity in the lead-up to the federal election.

VicHealth, the Cancer Council, and Diabetes Victoria have launched the Obesity Policy Coalition.

Its election agenda includes calls for a GST on high-sugar breakfast cereals, an overhaul of food labelling laws, and a ban on the marketing of unhealthy food to children.

Spokeswoman Jane Martin says they want to see a “traffic light” labelling system on all foods that shows green, orange or red symbols to indicate the levels of sugar, salt and saturated fat.

“Often products which are say 98 per cent fat free - which might be seen on confectionery - are very high in sugar, so we think it’s useful for people to see the whole story about the key nutrients,” she said.

“What consumers want to know about is fat, salt and sugar, often things that aren’t highlighted on the front of packs, particularly if they’re in high levels.”

The group is also calling for a mandatory “traffic light” colour coding system in place on food packages in Australia.

Red labels on a package would indicate a high level of fat, salt or sugar, yellow would indicate medium levels and green labels would be for low levels.  A similar system is being trialled by some supermarkets and manufacturers in Britain.

Ms Martin said the colour code system would make it easy for people to put the fat, sugar and salt in a food into context.

“We want to see a mandatory simple scheme that consumers understand that outlines the key elements of products including sugar, salt and fat,” she said.

“It gives them a better understanding of what’s in the food. If it’s 90 per cent fat free they will know it’s high in sugar. And that’s the kind of information that’s currently missing.”

But a spokeswoman for Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott said the Government did not have any plans to impose new taxes.

The head of Diabetes Australia (Victoria), Greg Johnson, said thousands of Australian children were growing fat on “junk food dressed up as breakfast cereals”.

Sources: www.abc.net.au - canberra.yourguide.com.au - www.theage.com.au


There is no biological requirement for carbohydrates

Filed under: Food and Diet by Matt Emery on August 31, 2007 @ 03:06 PDT

Professor Richard D. Feinman says;
It is true that your brain needs glucose, but glucose can be supplied by the process of gluconeogenesis; that is, glucose can be made from other things, notably protein. This is a normal process: when you wake up in the morning, between thirty and seventy percent of your blood glucose comes from gluconeogenesis. There is no requirement for dietary glucose.

Source: Why You Don’t Want the “Experts” to Tell You What to Eat


HumanaNatura.org - Feast-Fast Eating For Superior Health

Filed under: Food and Diet by Matt Emery on @ 00:14 PDT

Greg Battaglia is a member of the HumanaNatura community and has written a very interesting article about eating once a day. Below is a snippet, and be sure to check out the link below it to read the rest of the article.

When viewing meal frequency through an evolutionary scope, one can easily conclude that humans certainly did not evolve to consume food very frequently. In nature there is no absolute guarantee that food will be available or when it will be available. It is likely that humans would have been subjected to many hours or even days without food throughout the entirety of our evolution. It is also likely that when food did become available, for example, after a vigorous but successful hunt, that our ancestors would have consumed a large quantity of calories to make up for the deficit created during the fast. Once a kill and any gatherings were completely eaten, the fast would then begin once again and this cycle might continue as the basic template for a typical hunter-gatherer (H/G) eating pattern.

Read the article here: http://www.humananatura.org/viewarticle.php?article=168


Lose Body Fat By Eating Just One Meal Per Day - The Fitness Black Book

Filed under: Food and Diet by Matt Emery on @ 00:00 PDT

Rusty from the Fitness Black Book has written an excellent article about intermittent eating.

He says;
when I turned 30 I wanted to lose that last bit of body fat…but I always had a layer of fat covering my abs. I could never get really lean following the “eat six small meals per day strategy”. I decided to test out just eating one meal per day at night, like I did when I was young and lean.

Guess What? I got extremely lean within three weeks and didn’t lose an ounce of muscle. It just didn’t seem to make sense to me at all! The 6 meals per day plan seemed to make more sense, but the one meal per day at night plan was the strategy that got me lean!

I say;
I totally support his assertions, as I have tried this myself, and I can report that I am in excellent health and i’ve lost excess fat.  It flies in the face of modern trends, but it works… period.

Check out his website: The Fitness Black Book: Advanced Tips Your Personal Trainer Doesn’t Know About


Diet foods for children may lead to obesity

Filed under: Food and Diet by Matt Emery on August 30, 2007 @ 23:36 PDT

Diet foods and drinks for children may inadvertently lead to over eating and obesity, says a new report from the University of Alberta.

Researchers contend that animals learn to connect the taste of food with the amount of caloric energy it provides, and children who consume low-calorie versions of foods that are normally high in calories may develop distorted connections between taste and calorie content, leading them to over eat as they grow up.

Read more here: University of Alberta


95 per cent of Australians don’t meet national health guidelines

Filed under: Food and Diet by Matt Emery on @ 23:12 PDT

Physical inactivity and insufficient fruit and vegetable consumption are key risk factors for obesity and lifestyle-related diseases. Results presented recently at the 6th Annual Conference of the International Society of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity in Oslo, Norway, and soon to be published in the International Journal of Obesity reveal that 95 per cent of Australian adults are not meeting national physical activity and nutrition guidelines for health benefits.

They found that overweight perception may be another barrier to physical activity participation among men and women with excess body weight, and suggest that public health strategies need to focus on overcoming weight perception as well as weight status barriers to adopting healthy physical activity behaviours.

When analysed separately, investigators found that approximately 25 per cent of Australians met physical activity guidelines, and approximately 55 per cent and 15 per cent of Australians consumed sufficient fruit servings/day and vegetable servings/day, respectively. Investigators where also startled to discover that less than 5 per cent of Australians met both physical activity and diet guidelines.

Source: University of Sydney


Native Australian fruits bear sweet antioxidants - CSIRO

Filed under: Food and Diet by Matt Emery on @ 22:33 PDT

Twelve native Australian fruits that are exceptional sources of antioxidants have been identified in research published in the journal Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies.

The fruits: Kakadu plum, Illawarra plum, Burdekin plum, Davidson’s plum, riberry, red and yellow finger limes, Tasmanian pepper, brush cherry, Cedar Bay cherry, muntries and Molucca raspberry; were compared with blueberries (cultivar Biloxi) – a fruit renowned for its high antioxidant properties.

While Australian native fruits have been eaten by indigenous people for thousands of years, this is the first scientific study of the fruits as a source of antioxidants and confirms preliminary results published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry in 2006

Check out the full article here Native fruits bear sweet antioxidants (Media Release)


Obesity & Mass Marketing - The fat Get Fatter and The Rich Get Richer

Filed under: Food and Diet by Matt Emery on August 24, 2007 @ 00:44 PDT

I stumbled upon an interesting article today, and it prompted me to write this post…

Diabetes demands proactive approach
Lesley Russell - The Canberra Times, 13 August 2007.

From the article:
Australia is facing an epidemic of Type 2 (adult onset) diabetes. There are now nearly one million Australians with Type 2 diabetes. The problem will grow as the incidence of obesity increases, with 30 per cent of Australian children and 60 per cent of adults now overweight or obese. The rate of diabetes among overweight adolescents has jumped 16-fold in the last decade.

Read the full article here http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?story_id=1036228
————————————————-

My opinion:
People are being conned into buying the wrong foods. Indeed, what the food corporations get away with is criminal.   I’ve recently targeted Kellogg’s as a main offender, but there are many more who claim their products are healthy when clearly; they’re NOT.

Read More


Kellogg’s - you don’t deserve to be called Australian.

Filed under: Food and Diet by Matt Emery on August 19, 2007 @ 23:54 PDT

Kellogg’s is misleading the Australian public. They are keeping people unhealthy, and why not, they’re making a tonne of money…

Did you know?

  • Kellogg’s Nutri Grain is 31% sugar.
  • Kellogg’s Just Right is 31% sugar.
  • Kellogg’s Sultana Bran is 23% sugar.
  • Kellogg’s Special K is 15% sugar.
  • Kellogg’s All Bran is 14% sugar.

Read More


Don’t be fooled by the Low-Fat hype!

Filed under: Food and Diet by Matt Emery on August 17, 2007 @ 22:54 PDT

I see it all the time; people choosing food packages that proudly declare “95% Fat Free”, so let me say this just once…

FAT IS GOOD FOR YOU.

SUGAR IS BAD FOR YOU!

LOW FAT (usually) = HIGH SUGAR

Next time you are choosing anything that’s labelled “Low Fat”, make sure you check out the ingredients and/or the nutrition table on the packaging for signs of high sugar (simple carbohydrate) content.  The food corporations have been using this trick for a while, and let’s face it; do you seriously think the food corporations exist to make you healthy?  They are corporations, and they exist for one reason only; to make money.

Read More


Myth Busting - Eating at Night

Filed under: Food and Diet by Matt Emery on August 15, 2007 @ 22:49 PDT

Ori Hofmekler on his excellent blog says:

It is now known that the sympathetic nervous system virtually rejects eating! Here is the heart of the problem: most of us eat under stress during the day – and we’re not supposed to! We are supposed to eat very little! That’s the way the human body was designed. When you take a flesh machine designed to run on very little food and overwhelm it with food, bad food to boot, bad things are going to happen. Recent scientific literature on intermittent fasting proves my point.

I’m convinced that eating at night is very natural. It makes sense that Primal Man would feast at night after hunting during the day, and I have tested this theory out on myself with excellent results.
The typical anecdotes you hear from people are usually along the lines of “eating at night is bad because food will turn to fat whilst you sleep”. Well I say to that; RUBBISH.

Check out the rest of the article here, it’s an excellent read http://www.warriordiet.com/blog/archives/8-Are-We-Inherently-Night-Eaters.html





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