"obesity epidemic" news and stories

• Pepperoni may be many things, but it ain't Italian.
• Sake has long been loved by an ardent few. But its luck is changing in Vegas.
• Is Fat Radish a "smart little joint" or just a "restaurant for good-looking youngsters"? You decide.
• The government issued a radical new statement the other day: "Eat less." Yep.

Legislators in Louisiana, where the statewide obesity rate stands at 29 percent, recently rejected two measures designed to improve residents' eating and drinking habits. But Rep. Patrick Williams, who authored one of the bills, is optimistic that the state will soon adopt a more proactive approach to citizen wellness.

"Everyone wants to be more healthy," Williams says. "And that's not just going to happen by itself."

Williams' original bill would have banned households enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program from using food stamps to purchase "unhealthy foods." Retailers including Wal-Mart loudly protested the plan, arguing they shouldn't have to police their customers' shopping carts. Williams says he anticipated the outcry.

Gourmet's Barry Estabrook finds that the latest nutritional studies are at odds with what some manufacturers' campaigns might have us believe. The following is an excerpt of his findings published on Gourmet.com.

Nothing spoils a good marketing campaign as surely as solid, scientific facts. So I imagine the folks over at the Corn Refiners' Association-who have recently spent a fortune on PR and advertising to convince "moms and healthcare professionals" that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) was no better or worse for us nutritionally than sweeteners such as table sugar and honey-were shocked when they opened the latest issue of the Journal of Nutrition.

It contains a paper by a group of researchers at the University of Texas who report that fructose, the primary sugar in HFCS (which finds its way into just about every non-diet soft drink sold), made subjects of a study fatter than glucose, another sugar.

"Our study shows for the first time the surprising speed with which humans make body fat from fructose," said Elizabeth Parks of the Southwestern Medical Center.

It also may explain why the current obesity epidemic in this country dates back to 1980, the year HFCS entered our diet. Starting from zero, Americans now gulp an average of 66 pounds of the stuff each year.

And it shows.

The story continues at Gourmet.com: Politics of the Plate: How Sweet It Isn't

What has 920 calories, 60 grams of fat and is designed to "really fill you up?" That would be Hardee's newest addition to their breakfast menu, the Country Breakfast Burrito. One flour tortilla contains two eggs, crumbled sausage, diced ham, bacon bits, shredded cheddar, 5 hashrounds and a big ladleful of sausage gravy. Poking around in Hardee's nutrition calculator reveals that many of their other breakfast items are nearly as nutritionally treacherous (the Monster Biscuit clocks in at 790 calories and 57 grams of fat).

And just to confirm that we like our calories cheap and empty, this breakfast burrito is widely available for just $2.69. (For those of you without a Hardee's in your vicinity, it's basically the same thing as Carl's Jr. Oddly though, the comparable breakfast burrito on the Carl's Jr. menu has just 820 calories and 53 grams of fat. I guess they figured folks out west would want a slightly lighter version).

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