Obesity and health watch

Another week and another deluge of obesity related-news.

Scales

The Royal Society for Public Health has called for “activity equivalent” labelling on packs, such as a running stick man, which shows the time in minutes it would take to burn off the calories contained in that particular food or drink.

Scotland’s new food body, Food Standards Scotland, has said Scottish government should “actively consider how a sugar tax may be introduced and at what rate”.

To counter this, some research by the Institute of Economic Affairs assessed the impact of a sugar tax in countries such as Hungry, Finland and France, and concluded that sugar taxes are not effective tools for reducing consumption.

A US study has found that school children’s access to water fountains reduces obesity whilst other US reseach has shown how putting smoking style warnings on fizzy drinks could stop parents giving them to their kids.

Fats are back in favour after a new study showed how polyunsaturated fats, found in soybeans, fatty fishes, tofu, seeds and nuts, can prevent heart disease deaths.