It's 6 p.m. You're tired and hungry. Food is the No. 1 thing on your mind.Your favorite fast-food restaurants line the roads home – McDonald's, Taco Bell, Domino's. So what's for dinner?
When 11-year-old Shania Lape sees an overweight classmate struggle to keep up, she's filled with sympathy. "They can't run as fast, they can't play the games at school because they're not healthy," said Shania, a fifth-grader at Kenly Elementary in Tampa. Worse yet, not being able to play with their classmates could lead to a lifetime on the sidelines for some kids.
William Heisel interviews Michele Simon, public health attorney and author of Appetite for Profit, who wants people to rethink what they are eating and why. She peers through the food industry marketing to see what big packaged food manufacturers and restaurant giants are really selling.
Learn more about what killed Elizabeth Taylor and the first anniversary of health reform in today's Daily Briefing.
The nuclear crisis still playing out in Japan may be happening thousands of miles away, but there are numerous relevant stories that health reporters can unearth in the United States that go beyond breaking news.
In the past few years, in fact, school lunch reform has become a cause célèbre in many school districts in the Bay Area as concerns mount about children’s health. And the Oakland school district, along with the West Contra Costa County Unified School District, is among the pioneers in injecting healthier food choices into their menus despite a paucity of resources and the challenges of re-educating taste buds.
The new report about the criminal histories of nursing home workers from the Office of Inspector General for Department of Health and Human Services has prompted many bold statements. What has been missing from all the alarmist analyses of this report are a few key facts and a sense of perspective.
Contaminated waters mean exposure to 42 chemicals for people who consume fish from the Duwamish River, despite posted warnings. For those who depend on the river as a primary food source, this frightening possibility is not enough of a deterrent.
Is your drugstore selling your prescription information to the pharma industry? Answers and more in our Daily Briefing.
There is a world of difference in how districts provide healthy school lunches. One key difference is money—both the income levels of school districts and the cost of lunch programs. Another is the food culture of diverse communities, so to speak, and what kids and their families are used to eating. In districts like Oakland, which participate in the federally and state subsidized lunch programs, the nutrition services have just $2.74 per meal to deliver a lunch that meets guidelines--and that kids will want to eat. Affluent districts such as Orinda don't participate in the subsidized lunch program and may serve catered lunches that are a lot like food they would eat at home.
