Another Statist Fast Food Ban Instituted For “Your Own Good” Proves A Failure

Study: Fast-Food Curb Did Not Cut Obesity Rate In South LA

 

 

 

 

 

 

” A much-hailed law that restricted the opening of new stand-alone fast-food restaurants in one of the poorest sections of Los Angeles did not curb obesity or improve diets, a new study found.

  City lawmakers passed the zoning ordinance in 2008 that limited the opening or expansion of fast-food outlets in a 32-square-mile area south of Interstate 10 that struggles with high obesity rates and other health problems.

  The law, believed to be the first effort of its kind by a major city to improve public health, did not ban new eateries in strip malls.

  The research by the Rand Corp. think tank found that obesity rates in South Los Angeles continued to rise after passage of the law.

” It had no meaningful effect,” Rand senior economist Roland Sturm said. “There’s no evidence that diets have improved more in South LA. Obesity and overweight rates have not fallen.” “

 

The money quote:

 

” Before the fast-food ordinance, 63 percent of South Los Angeles residents reported being overweight or obese compared to 57 percent in other parts of the county. Three years after the ordinance went into effect, 75 percent of South Los Angeles residents reported being overweight or obese compared to 58 percent in other parts of the county.”

 

 

 

 

  Yet another piece of feel-good legislation impinging on the people’s right to choose proves a failure , read the rest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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US Obesity By The Numbers

Here’s How Obesity Relates To Gender, Race And Income In The US

 

” In developed economies the quantity of food available to people is less of a differentiator than the quality of food that’s available. While low-income people have access to food, they have less access to quality, healthy foods than high-income people do.

However, obesity might not be as closely related to poverty as it is to other factors, like race and gender.

In fact, a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that for black and Mexican-American men, obesity rates actually increased with income.

For women, the correlation between obesity and poverty seemed to bear out the theory. However, there is still a higher correlation between race and obesity than income and obesity.”

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Overweight ? What’s Your Excuse ? … Haters Come Out Of The Woodwork

Hot Mom Defends Herself Against Facebook Haters

 

 

 

 

” A California fitness enthusiast and mother of three is defending a controversial photo of herself that has prompted a cavalcade of Facebook critics to accuse her of fat shaming women. 

  In the photo, seen at left, 32-year-old Maria Kang poses in a workout bra and matching micro shorts — revealing an incredibly toned figure with washboard abs — while surrounded by her three young sons, now 1, 3 and 4. Floating above her head is the question, “What’s your excuse?” The picture has gone viral, with more than 16 million views on Facebook, and has generated more than 12,000 comments. And while much of the input has been of the supportive “you go, girl” variety, plenty of it has been made up of angry, offended personal attacks on the photo subject, calling her everything from “obnoxious” and “fake” to a bad mom and a bully. 

   Because of the barrage, Kang has put together a FAQ page about her personal life, with responses to many of the criticisms and accusations she’s become accustomed to hearing. For example: “Do you work?” (Yes. She owns two small residential care facilities for the elderly.) “Do you have a nanny?” (No.) “Are those your kids? They all look different.” (“I have to say this is the funniest comment I’ve read. Of course, my children look like both the mother and father,” she writes. “I am half Malaysian Chinese and Filipina. My husband is a Caucasian mix of German, French, Norwegian and Spanish. They are all my kids.”)

 

 

 

HT/Instapundit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Rewiring The Appetite … Curing Obesity

Researchers Find Brain Cells That May Help Rewire Appetite Control

 

 

” Until recently, scientists believed that the nerve cells in the brain associated with appetite regulation were generated entirely during embryonic development. This meant if you were pre-programmed for an eating disorder, the nerve cells were fixed for life.

However, a team of researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the UK have made a breakthrough in the field of neurosciences which could offer a long-lasting solution to eating disorders such as obesity.

The team’s findings, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, have located a population of stem cells in their rodent subjects that are actually capable of generating new appetite-regulating neurons in the brain.

The researchers believe their findings could provide far reaching benefits to the growing number of individuals dealing with obesity. Globally, more than 1.4 billion adults are overweight. Of those, more than half a billion are obese. Obesity can lead to chronic health problems like heart disease, arthritis, type 2 diabetes and cancer. Mortality due to being overweight and obese exceeds 2.8 million people each year.

And the numbers above can be translated into economic burdens on national healthcare systems and economies. Illness and disease due to excessive weight tops $60 billion annually in the US alone.

To arrive at their findings, the UEA scientists focused on the brain’s hypothalamus, which is responsible for the regulation of sleep and wake cycles, energy expenditure, appetite, thirst, hormone release and many other critical biological functions. Within the hypothalamus, the researchers specifically studied the nerve cells responsible for appetite regulation.” 

 

Related articles

• Breakthrough in Neuroscience Could Re-Wire Appetite Control: Combating the Obesity Epidemic (scienceworldreport.com)
• Stem Cells Alter Neurons To Curb Appetite And Potentially Treat Obesity (medicaldaily.com)
• Microchip ‘could help cut obesity’ (bbc.co.uk)
• BBC Horizon : Eat, Fast, and Live Longer (dusthasnocalories.wordpress.com)

 

 

 

 

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Big Food Trims The Fat … 16 Whole Calories Per Person

 

Smaller Size? No Thanks To This Pledge

 

 

 

 

 

 

” The first report card for the food industry’s high-profile vow to cut a trillion calories from what it sells each year is coming in the next few months. But some nutrition and obesity experts already are giving the effort a grade of incomplete.

In 2010, 16 food and drink makers made the joint pledge to shave one trillion calories from the products they sell in U.S. stores and vending machines by 2012, and 1.5 trillion calories by 2015, both compared with 2007 levels.

Supporters of the pledge say it is an important step, and that already the North Carolina researchers’ progress in designing a system to count total calories sold marks a major advance in tracking eating habits.

But skeptics point out that the pledge’s big central number represents just 2% of all calories produced by these companies. And it looks a lot smaller on a per-person, per-day basis: just 14 calories, enough to lose just over a pound if permanently taken off the average adult’s diet and far short of the number of excess calories in the average American’s diet in the era of rising obesity rates, variously estimated at between 100 and 220 calories per day.”

Related articles

• Food industry playing for time on regulation, says obesity expert (guardian.co.uk)
• A Battle of Great Proportions: The Fight Against Obesity (dominicspoweryoga.com)
• Are You Overweight Or Obese? (blackdoctor.org)
• What Your Food Cravings Really Mean (lifehack.org)
• New Coca-cola television adverts address obesity problem (standard.co.uk)

 

 

 

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