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Tales from the Nanny State continue to the amazement of nobody, I’m sure. In a story coming from (where else…) New York City, the wise school officials, ever concerned about the health and future of their students, decided to check out what each of the kids weighs, matching the results against some Body Mass Index chart. Upon noting that many of the children failed to pass muster, they decided to inform the parents… by handing the kids notes to take home. What could possibly go wrong? A New York City mom was fit to be tied Wednesday after her...

If the government wants to make progress in lowering obesity rates, it needs to start regulating fatty foods much the way it does tobacco. That's the recommendation from a pair of international health organizations pushing policies it says would answer the obesity epidemic. Specifically, the groups recommend that the government control the way the food and beverage industry advertises, to ensure companies aren't implying unhealthy food is good for children and adults. Additionally, they advise governments to require statements on food packaging about how high or low the content of salt, saturated fat, and sugar is in relation to dietary...

Scientists led by Dr David Fairlie from the University of Queensland, Australia, have found abnormal amounts of an inflammatory protein called PAR2 in the fat tissues of overweight and obese rats and humans. PAR2 is also increased on the surfaces of human immune cells by common fatty acids in the diet. When obese rats on a diet high in sugar and fat were given a new oral drug that binds to PAR2, the inflammation-causing properties of this protein were blocked, as were other effects of the high-fat and high-sugar diet, including obesity itself.Zucker Rat, a pet rat that has developed...

Some people are saying that this time, PETA’s lost all credibility. They’ve crossed the line. I’d ask when PETA ever had any credibility? It is not possible to take them seriously. They have to pretend that they’re outraged by animal abuse so that they can raise lots of money from rich and flaky Hollywood liberals. Their latest attack is on the White House for using real eggs in their Easter egg hunt:

New federal dietary guidelines are due to come out next year, and critics say early drafts suggest they may represent a new nanny-state intrusion – calling for Internet-based "weigh-ins" and government text messages to overweight people meant to help them shed the pounds. Critics also fear the guidelines, which are subject to revision every five years, may go well beyond nutrition to address the planet’s health, too. At a March 14 meeting of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, committee member Miriam Nelson of Tufts University said: "The question that we're spending the most time on right now is really, what...

Candy, chips and a helping of ObamaCare. It's already disrupted the health-care marketplace. Now, the Affordable Care Act is infiltrating vending machines. Yep, a provision in the Affordable Care Act requires vending machines to display the calorie content of all food items. The FDA finalized the regulations April 3. If you know the calorie content of an item, you might make a more healthy choice. Or so the thinking goes.

Exercise, and not colorful marshmallow Peeps, will be the focus of the 136th Annual White House Easter Egg Roll on April 21, the sixth year in a row that first lady Michelle Obama's fitness-first goal for kids has taken over the once sugar-filled event on the South Lawn.“The day's activities will encourage children to lead healthy, active lives in support of the first lady's Let's Move! initiative,” said the White House of their sixth roll, titled “Hop into Healthy, Swing into Shape.”In the past, administrations have given differing themes for the annual Easter Egg Roll. Former President George W. Bush,...

Although it’s been going on for years, it seems lately there is an all-out assault by the nanny government to crack down on our liberties. Nowadays, when the people say no, our rulers just do the old end around, or sleight-of-hand. They cause us to concentrate on one thing while they regulate behind our backs. Lately it seems that even this tactic has changed and the Nanny State has begun to attack us from all sides. Take this global warming nonsense. With every passing year, the people are coming to realize what a hoax it has been. Every poll conducted...

There has been a growing awareness of the evolving obesity epidemic. It appears that more people than ever are overweight or obese. This problem seems to be primarily associated with poor diets and sedentary lifestyles. It has been known for awhile that being overweight or obese is associated with increased mortality. A new study shows that the mortality risks from such weight problems are worse than previously thought. It has been observed that the high prevalence of disease and associated weight loss which occurs at older ages decreases the validity of prospective cohort studies aimed at examining the association which...

White House executive pastry chef Bill Yosses is resigning after First Lady Michelle Obama fundamentally changed his job duties to focus on healthier food. Yosses is leaving the White House in June to work on a new project focusing on “food literacy” and The New York Times says Michelle is “partly to blame.” The openly gay chef was hired by Laura Bush in 2007 to make his trademark cookie plates and sugar sculptures. Mrs. Obama took over in 2009 and ordered Yosses to make healthier plates in smaller portions. Yosses began replacing butter with fruit puree and sugar with honey...

If you were reading me in January, you might remember how shocked I was by a claim (one of many false claims) that President Barack Obama made in his state of the union speech. I wrote, “If The President Can Credit Michelle Obama With Lowering Childhood Obesity, Then He can Get Away With Anything.”

Gov't Spending $4.8M to Tell Students to 'Get Fruved' March 17, 2014 - 9:13 AM By Eric Scheiner (CNSNews.com) - If a college student dressed up as a giant bunch of grapes jumped out of the shadows and told you to "get fruved," what could you possibly say? The University of Tennessee-Knoxville is getting more than $4.8 million taxpayer dollars to develop a healthy-eating campaign that has students -- dressed up as fruits and vegetables -- cavorting in the hallways of higher education. Getting "fruved" means you're eating your FRUits and VEgetables. Get it? The USDA’s National Institute of Food...

What if we’ve been wasting our time all these years? What if Lady M’s obsession with healthy eating: And her seemingly endless tireless appearances to promote Let’s Move!  in order to ensure No Child’s Fat Behind! were all just misguided efforts? What if little black girls grow up to be obese not because of what they eat or what physical exercise they do or don’t do? What if obesity isn’t related to healthy living at all, what if it’s actually caused by…racism? That’s right; racism. That’s how things are shaping up. You see, ever since Boston University got funding in...

A new report funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation casts "serious doubt" on efforts by nanny state legislators to curb obesity through tax increases on sweet sodas and energy drinks, finding in some cases that people simply shift to other sweets — and gain weight."Our results cast serious doubt on the assumptions that proponents of large soda taxes make on its likely impacts on population weight," said the report from three health economic experts. "Together with evidence of important substitution patterns in response to soda taxes that offset any caloric reductions in soda consumption, our results suggest that fundamental...

There is no area of our lives over which the government will not seek control. Take the latest example. Obama is reaching far beyond publishing new food nutrition guidelines or insisting on calorie counts in fast food restaurants, he is intent on allowing global warming alarmists and other extremist groups to co-opt them as well. In an article entitled, “Obama administration pollutes guidelines for healthy eating with unhealthy ideologies,” published Sunday by the Washington Examiner, National Center Senior Fellow and Risk Analysis Division Director Jeff Stier says environmental activists within the U.S. government plan to change the nation’s dietary guidelines...

Many Americans consider obesity one of the nation’s most important health issues. Many also battle themselves with the problem every day. According to a recent report, 27.1% of all Americans were obese last year, up from 26.2% the year before. While many in the United States continue to struggle with their weight, the problem is more pronounced in the southeastern part of the country. Six of the 10 states with the highest obesity rates last year were located in that part of the country. Mississippi was the fattest state in America, with 35.4% of its residents considered obese. Based on...

Tolerance for regulation is growing even though we know little about its effectiveness. There is a glimmer of hope for the fat countries of the world – for Mexico, which has recently outstripped the US as the most overweight population in the Americas, and for Britain and Hungary, which vie for the title of Europe’s most obese nation. A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows a steep drop in obesity among US toddlers. While a seventh (14 per cent) of children aged two to five had a very high body mass index a decade ago,...

The daily allowance for a person's sugar intake should be halved to six teaspoons, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said. Draft guidance published by the international body advises a dramatic reduction in sugar consumption to help avoid mounting health problems including obesity and tooth decay. The WHO is proposing to retain its current formal recommendation that no more than 10 per cent of an individual's calories should come from sugar – the equivalent of 12 "level" teaspoons a day for the average adult. However, its draft guidelines state that a further reduction to 5 per cent "would have additional...

Donald is large. Very large. At more than 600 pounds, he is a mountain of flesh with a small opening at the top through which he speaks. "My stomach hurts," he says, his voice surprisingly high and childlike. It is 10:00 pm in the emergency room, and I am already swamped with patients I'm trying to move through the ER before my shift is over. Asked if he's ever felt this kind of pain before, Donald says, "No, never. At least, not like this." "Well, what'd you expect?" the unit secretary mutters, only half to herself. Donald is in his...

Researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden have performed the first study on humans that demonstrates how food's fat composition determines where fat will be stored in the body. Findings of the small, preliminary study suggest that polyunsaturated fat -- found in olive oil, nuts and seeds and oily fish-- seems to keep fat away from the abdomen and liver. Published in the American Diabetes Association journal Diabetes, the study focused on 39 young, healthy adult men and women, all of whom ate an extra 750 calories per day for seven weeks. Extra calories were consumed via high-fat muffins baked by...