ContributorNetwork - COMMENTARY | Fast food icon McDonald’s is looking to shake its junk food image, at least with kids’ meals. The golden arches began offering apples instead of fries; now McDonald’s is auto-adding apples in Happy Meals and cutting fries. The apples are served with caramel dip, so there is some debate about their healthiness. Depending on the region, McDonald’s will be putting raisins, carrots or pineapple in its Happy Meals, too. Some progress in being made in children’s nutrition, but the going is slow.

More: continued here

ContributorNetwork - COMMENTARY | Do you want fries with that? The common questioned asked through a little metal drive-thru speaker was not muttered for a little while in the Chicago area, but has now returned. Bending to pressure from health advocacy groups and supporting lawmakers, McDonald’s temporarily pulled french fries from their Chicago area Happy Meals. Outcries from disappointed children and parents prompted a quick return of the famous tasty fries, but in smaller portions. The famed fast food chain is now also adding organically grown fruit and vegetables to the kid-sized meals which come with a small toy.

More: continued here

HealthDay - THURSDAY, July 21 (HealthDay News) — The epidemic of excess
weight gain and obesity among young Americans began about 15 years ago, a
new study finds.

More: continued here

LiveScience.com - Dieters can now buy genetic tests that claim to help them lose weight. The tests, which can cost $170 or more, tell people how to make their diet compatible with their genes to achieve maximum weight loss.

More: continued here

HealthDay - WEDNESDAY, July 20 (HealthDay News) — Personality traits may play key
roles in body weight, according to a new U.S. study.

More: continued here

ContributorNetwork - On July 13, the Journal of the American Medical Association released its most current online edition. The commentary, “State Intervention in Life-Threatening Childhood Obesity,” appears in that edition.

More: continued here

HealthDay - FRIDAY, July 15 (HealthDay News) — After undergoing the
weight-loss procedure known as bariatric surgery, following a rigorous
exercise routine can help patients continue to lose weight and avoid
regaining unwanted pounds, researchers say.

More: continued here

Reuters - Boston pediatrician David Ludwig, the center of a media firestorm this week, wants to set the record straight on his view that a state should intervene in the most extreme cases of child obesity.

More: continued here

ContributorNetwork - COMMENTARY | Thanks to a previous study, we already know that smaller plates can lead to weight loss. Another article suggests that lower light leads to overeating in restaurants. Now, another study comes forth stating that a bigger fork in restaurants is also a key to losing weight.

More: continued here

Reuters - U.S. public awareness campaigns about sugary soft drinks are under legal attack by beverage makers, which have sued New York City’s health department and hit local governments with requests for documents on the science behind the initiatives.

More: continued here

LiveScience.com - While the recommendation to remove fat from your diet was standard medical advice for years, a new review of published studies shows that changing the types of fats you eat will bring better results.
The study from researchers at Norwich Medical School in the U.K. looked at 48 studies spanning nearly half a century, and compared the health benefits of low-fat diets, in which saturated fats were replaced with carbohydrates, to the health benefits of what researchers call modified-fat diets, in which saturated fats are replaced with unsaturated fats, such as fish and vegetable oils. …

More: continued here

AP - Cancer and memory loss are baby boomers’ biggest health fears. Given their weight, maybe heart disease and diabetes should be.

More: continued here

ContributorNetwork - Jonah Hill, star of teen snark flicks “Superbad” and “Get Him to the Greek,” has reshaped his formerly chubby self for a new film “21 Jump Street.” Hill’s personal nutritionist and trainer helped him lose weight; are expensive resources needed for weight loss? The keys to successful weight loss are information and willpower.

More: continued here

AFP - The government should have the right to remove severely obese children from their parents’ home and place them in foster care, two US doctors argued in a controversial editorial.

More: continued here

AFP - A 22 stone former police officer who was denied the right to obesity surgery will take his case to the Court of Appeals on Monday.

More: continued here

AP - Rural Mississippi is the country’s fattest state for the seventh year in a row, according to an annual obesity report issued Thursday. Colorado, a playground for hikers and outdoor enthusiasts, is the nation’s thinnest.

More: continued here

ContributorNetwork - Shortly after Ohio lawmakers attached a resolution preventing local governments from regulating food businesses to the state budget, the state was named the 13th fattest in the country.

More: continued here

HealthDay - FRIDAY, July 8 (HealthDay News) — Obese people who have elective
surgery are nearly 12 times more likely to suffer from complications than
those of normal weight, new research indicates.

More: continued here

AFP - A British man weighing 22 stone (139 kilograms, 306 pounds) launched a court appeal Monday against a decision to refuse him state-funded obesity surgery because he is not fat enough.

More: continued here

AP - Preschoolers, even babies, need daily exercise, the British government says in its first-ever exercise advice for its youngest citizens.

More: continued here