The Checkup Archive: Health Policy
USDA's Food Atlas maps out Americans' food environment
If either of those topics -- or scads of others related to the way Americans eat --is of interest to you, then carve out an hour to tool around the federal government's highly addictive U.S. Food Environment Atlas Web site.
By
Jennifer LaRue Huget
| January 20, 2011; 7:00 AM ET |
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Health News, Health Policy, Minority health, Nutrition and Fitness, Obesity
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Is that right? Soda taxes would help fight obesity?
There's all kinds of talk these days about taxing sugar-sweetened beverages as a means of curbing obesity. The idea is that if sodas and other sweet drinks were more expensive, people would buy less of the stuff. In turn, that reduced consumption should mean fewer calories consumed, and hence less weight gained. And revenues generated by these taxes could go toward obesity-prevention programs. But it's not clear whether such a scheme would really work.
By
Jennifer LaRue Huget
| December 17, 2010; 7:00 AM ET |
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Categories:
Health Policy, Is That Right?, Nutrition and Fitness, Obesity
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What front-of-package food labels should say
The world of nutrition and food policy sometimes seems like a big messy jumble of competing interests, contradictory science and warring fiefdoms. So it's awfully refreshing to see someone cutting through the clutter and delivering a cogent and thoughtful message about how to help Americans eat more healthfully. That's what happened this morning when the Institute of Medicine issued its carefully considered report about front-of-package food labeling systems.
By
Jennifer LaRue Huget
| October 13, 2010; 12:17 PM ET |
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Health Policy, Nutrition and Fitness, Obesity
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Is it okay to spend food stamps on soda?
New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has raised a stir by asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture to allow the city to prohibit food-stamp recipients from using food stamps to buy sugary drinks such as soda.
By
Jennifer LaRue Huget
| October 7, 2010; 11:23 AM ET |
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Categories:
Childhood obesity, Health Policy, Nutrition and Fitness, Obesity
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Why you should care about paid sick leave
A report being released at a Congressional hearing later this morning by the D.C.-based Restaurant Opportunities Centers United ("a national restaurant workers' organization, comprised of restaurant worker organizations across the country," according to its Web site) says, among other key findings from its survey of more than 4,000 restaurant workers nationwide, that "nearly 90% of workers said they did not receive paid sick days. As a result, two thirds of respondents said they had worked while sick in the previous year, preparing, cooking and serving food."
By
Jennifer LaRue Huget
| September 30, 2010; 7:00 AM ET |
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Categories:
General Health, Health Policy, Infectious Disease, Influenza, The Business of Health, Workplace health
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Planning a home birth? Read this first.
An editorial published Friday in the British medical journal The Lancet argues that women have every right to give birth at home -- but only if they've done their homework. Citing several health organizations' stances on the risks of home births versus hospital delivery and the limited research comparing the...
By
Jennifer LaRue Huget
| August 2, 2010; 7:00 AM ET |
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Categories:
Health Policy, Motherhood, Pregnancy, Women's Health
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