It’s boo-yeah and not a boo-hoo time for kids of all ages when it comes to Halloween merry-making this year. And while experts may feel more confident about trick-or-treating during the coronavirus pandemic, grownups need to take special care to ensure the safety of costumed, candy-seeking kids. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease….
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Cut the salt in prepared and packaged food, U.S. urges makers and sellers
Americans of all ages adore fast food and prepared meals, but one of the lures is these tasty items are loaded with salt. Now federal regulators have proposed new guidelines that they say could save millions of lives by reducing the salt content of commercially prepared and packaged foods. The Food and Drug Administration’s standards,….
Continue ReadingPanicked over prediabetes? For older patients, more evidence to say: Not to worry
It’s not an invitation to pile on the ice cream, cake, and candy. But older adults may get to say pshaw to the finger-wagging they may have endured from doctors and loved ones about their raised blood sugar levels and the condition that specialists ginned up to caution them about it: prediabetes. As the New….
Continue ReadingBeware of toxic heavy metals in baby foods, congressional group warns
Although parents exult when their babies start eating solids, moms and dads may be dishing up for their little darlings unexpected and harmful ingredients in commercially prepared foods — heavy metals, including arsenic, cadmium, and lead at levels that may exceed federal limits. A subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform received lots….
Continue ReadingU.S. rejects expert advice, keeps its diet-nutrition guidelines mostly the same
In yet another instance of disregarding fact-based advice, the Trump Administration, after hearing public comments and assembling a panel of diet and nutrition experts, has rejected their recommendations on how the federal government should update its counsel to Americans about optimizing their eating. The federal advisories, refreshed every five years by the U.S. Department of….
Continue ReadingPandemic prompts more focus on junk foods, shots, domestic abuse, booze
Stepped up vaccinations, bans on junk food for kids, worries about domestic abuse and booze consumption by men — yes, these seemingly disparate things have something in common. They’re all getting heightened attention from experts due to the coronavirus pandemic. Let’s start with a grito (a whoop) for the leyes antichatarra or anti-junk food laws….
Continue ReadingWith viral risks, a new chance to weigh in on obesity, diet and exercise
Health and nutrition experts may get a rare and unexpected chance in the Covid-19 pandemic time to see whether Americans have experienced even a minor reset in their maintaining a more healthful diet, increased exercise, and maybe even reduction in weight gain and its associated problems. To be sure, these have been times of high….
Continue ReadingPandemic and joblessness expose big problems in one health basic: food supplies
The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed millions of Americans to huge problems in one of the most basic elements of their health and well-being — their food supply. It’s past time for all of us to demand changes, and we may want to ask why, in the midst of a global economic calamity, that politicians persist….
Continue ReadingWhile policy makers engage in food fights, kids are getting fed dubious eats
Will grownups in the room step up soon and stop the nonsense? Or should consumers, especially parents and those who want to eat in healthful ways, just expect a perpetual food fight about what’s good and reasonable for Americans, especially our kids, to eat? When it comes to breakfasts and lunches served to 30 million….
Continue ReadingGood news on cancer shows why the battle against smoking matters. A lot.
There’s good news out on declining deaths caused by one of the nation’s leading killers. But experts warn that the country will need to work hard to sustain a sharp drop in cancer mortality rates — mostly due to smokers quitting their nasty habit. That’s because other factors like rising obesity may undo the recent….
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