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About a third of French children are obese. DW.  France 24 looks at this problem related to eating habits and exercize. These figures are up by 75% showing that current lifestyles with overuse of mobile phones and lack of exercize, poor nutrition, play a role.

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The Federal Trade Commission says food companies in the U.S. spent $2.3 billion in 2006 for advertising to children. With the epidemic in childhood obesity in the U.S., this raises serious questions about how product packaging, images and themes affect the eating behaviour of children. New guidelines have now been written at the request of Congress. They were written by the F.T.C., the Food and Drug Administration, the Agriculture Department, and the Centers for Disease Control. The regulatory agencies say they will take comments and consider changes before submitting a report to Congress. The guidelines call for foods advertised to children to include healthy ingredients such as whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, or low fat milk. The foods cannot contain unhealthy amounts of sugar, saturated fat, trans fat and salt. The sugar requirement would have cereals contain no more than 8 grams of added sugar per serving. Fruit Loops for example contains 12 grams of sugar per serving. The guidelines apply to both children and teenagers. However these guidelines are voluntary. At this time an industry led effort has not produced results. The Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, which is operated by the industry, lets each company set its own nutritional criteria. The regulatory agencies see the need for the food industry to follow a uniform set of standards. Without serious action on this issue the U.S. healthcare system will continue to be burdened with high rates of obesity related illnesses in the general population, and out of control costs. And the U.S. will continue to face the urgent problem of a lack of healthy eating habits of children teenagers, and adults....

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Marty Makary, John Hopkins surgeon, is the DJT nomnee for head of the US Food and Drug Administration, FDA. Here a colleague of his at John Hopkins offers her experience working with Makary.  Leanna Wen says Makary is concerned about plastics, dyes, preservatives and chemicals that are entering our bodies and causing disease. Diseases that were not so prevalent one or two generations back are widespread today, says Makary. Makary wants to know why. Why has obesity quadrupled among young people in the US?Makary is also asking questions about why rates of childhood obesity are 5 times lower in Japan. Makary tell this Post reporter that ultra processed foods that are loaded with chemicals such as preservatives, artificial dyes and thickeners , take up 60% of calories Americans consume. This and poor food habits of today can cause diabetes, cancer, heart attacks and dementia. Pesticides and microplastics can cause early onset Alzheimer's and autoimmune diseases, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders. Makary wants medicine practiced in the US to direct resources to prevention, not simply hand out medicines with increasingly risky side effects. ...

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The public and the NHS pay a lot for childhood obesity. Starmer is doing something about it. He plans to put junk food television ads past 9 pm, ban high sugar and salt, high fat food online ads. Ban on high cafeeine energy drinks. And giving councils power to prevent fast food outlets opening near schools.

The plan includes checkups at workplaces for adults.

Starmer said-

There’s diet, there’s healthy lifestyle, we are going to have to get into that space. I know some prevention measures will be controversial but I’m prepared to be bold, even in the face of loud opposition. Some of our changes won’t be universally popular, we know that, but I will do the right thing for our NHS, our economy and our children.”

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A study published in the British journal Lancet shows that the number of people suffering from diabetes went from 153 million in 1980 to 353 million in 2008. The study shows the U.S. having 24.7 millon diabetics in 2008, which is three times the number from 1980. About 70% of this is from population growth and aging, and the rest from obesity, lack of exercize, changing diet. The American Diabetes Association estimated the cost of treating diabetes in the U.S. at $174 billion for 2007. About 138 million diabetics live in China and India. In India there is an additional cause- malnutrition in early childhood years for the poorer segment of the population. European countries have done better than the U.S., Mexico, India and China. S. Korea and Thailand have done better than other Asian countries. And this is attributed to healthier lifestyles, diet and less obesity in these countries.

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Considering the costs of obesity and the nature of the problem spread across the whole population of the U.S., only a nationwide effort will work, according to a consensus of experts in a report by the Institute of Medicine.

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The Journal's interview with Weight Watchers International CEO, David Kirchhoff. Weight Watcher's strategies focus on increasing its online business and getting males to join Weight Watchers. According to Kirchhoff it has 1.4 million people, 90% of whom are women, attending meetings each week all over the world. Online business is surging, with an average of 1.8 million additional subscribers for the first 3 quarters of 2011. In the first 3 quarters of 2011 the online business showed gains of 70%. Estimates are for the online business to generate $400 million in revenues and $200 million in operating income in 2011. Today 65% of the business is in the U.S. and a large part of the rest is in Europe. Kirchhoff sees new opportunities in China, where poor lifestyles- the use of the internet instead of being outdoors, and the increased access to all kinds of food- is creating a surge in obesity.

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Coca Cola's new Turkish-American CEO Muhtar Kent is interviewed by the WSJ's Mike Esterl. Kent answers questions about obesity and Coke, about management style, plans with Coca Cola's cash reserves of $13 billion, and his olive grove in the Aegean part of Turkey. He says he is a hands-on person and spends one day in the market every week wherever he is, keen on learning something each time. He points to the time spent on trucks during the seven and half months in 1978, when he joined the company. His response to the obesity issue is that Coca Cola is now a 500 plus brand, 3000 products company, of which 800 introduced in the last 4-5 years are calorie free or low calorie.

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Zaraska says a vegetarian diet or one that includes vegetarian diet in meals is a good idea to reduce the risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes and other medical problems. Be sure to add zinc, iron and calcium, Vitamin B12 to the diet if you are older she points out, to compensate for the change. About 2.5 million Americans over the age of 55 are vegetarian according to a 2012 Harris poll done for the Vegetarian Resource Group. There is a common perception of vegetarianism as purely vegetable type foods. However vegetarianism in India is practiced with the inclusion of all dairy products- milk, yogurt, and buttermilk. Not only are they included, they play a significant role in the diet. Also included and playing a large role in the diet are lentils and beans which provide a significant source of protein. When the idea of vegetarianism is broadened to a more normal vegetarianism as practiced in countries like India and includes dairy, lentils and beans, the diet is able to provide most of the nutrients needed. By including this kind of vegetarian food as an integral part of the diet and reducing meat is another way the health needs of Americans facing a high rate of obesity and other medical problems can be met. If insurance companies were to give incentives for increased consumption of these vegetarian foods and lowered consumption of meat, and the public was made aware of its benefits through advertising, the cost of health care in the U.S. could be brought down....

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Budget cuts leading to cutting of gym classes in American schools.

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Wal-Mart is expected to announce a five year plan to meet specific targets for lowering sodium, trans fats and aded sugars in a whole range of foods- including rice, soups, canned beans, salad dressings and snacks foods- in packaged foods sold under its house brand, Great Value. Other moves towards healthy foods are to move to eliminate the extra cost to consumers for healthy foods made with whole grains. It will also lower prices on fresh fruits and vegetables. This plan is similiar to other plans announced by companies such as Con Agra Foods which set a target of reducing sodium content in foods by 20% by 2015. New York City also has a public health initiative for healthy foods. another move by Wal-Mart is to get major food suppliers like Kraft, to follow the example set by Wal-Mart. Kraft sells 16% of its global sales through Wal-Mart. The move will be gradually introduced over five years which makes for slow progress, and the targets set for sugar reductions are much less than they should be, says Michael Jacobson, executive director of Center for Science in the Public Interest. Another serious drawback is that Wal-mart has not proposed to tackle the major cause of childhood obesity, which is the added sugars in soft drinks....

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New York's ban on sugary drinks over 16 ounces in street stands and fast food places.

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Aizenman in this must-read describes the National Soda Summit and the presentation of one man Todd Putnam, a former executive from Coca-Cola that throws light on one of the truly important things that happened in the lives of Americans in the postwar period of development and growing prosperity. This is the development of marketing and advertising and its singular application in the case of Coca Cola to promoting sugary drinks. It is also related to what even business people describe as the single biggest problem in America. And it is happening at a time when the story is being repeated in developing countries such as China and India. Putnam describes the exhilaration, he and other Coca-Cola managers felt when the graphs at internal presentations showed Coke passing milk in consumption per capita in America. Several other facts stand out in Putnam's description of his experience- the ignorance on health issues among his marketing peers, the huge marketing prowess and dollars brought to bear once a goal such as increasing per capita consumption of sugary drinks was set- he was hired out of Purdue by P&G and worked at Disney before joining Coca-Cola- and the focus on the 12-24 demographic with 90% of all soft drink marketing targeted at this segment. What he regrets most is the focus on minorities who suffer some of the highest levels of obesity in America. No mention is made of the efforts underway in developing coutnries such as China and India which are seeing a surge in obesity rates and diseases such as diabetes. Coca-Cola says 41% of its sugary drinks are low calorie, but compared to milk, fruit juice and other healthier alternatives where does this rank? The cost to the nation's health care system alone would show that the performance of Coca-Cola's stock price over the postwar period came with a price tag that was never even thought about, when healthier alternatives as health drinks companies have found sell well when well marketed and formulated for different groups....

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Judith Warner coins the phrase "dysregulation," for the cultural phenomena that may be behind the lack of restraint exercized in everthing that relates to personal lives like obesity, to the lack of regulation in the gulf and financial crisis. Citing Whybrow's book, "American Mania: When More Is Not Enough," she points to a disturbance in the national psyche, something that disturbs some inner clock or mechanism, that disturbs some inner balance that is built into us from the beginnings of man in the universe.

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Two of three obese people live in developing countries. About 29% of the global population is obese in 2013, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. Between 1980 and 2013, obesity increased by 47% for kids and 27% for adults in the global population. Dr Murray of IHME says no country was the exception. Diet and inactivity are the principal culprits. About 37% of world's men and 38% of women are obese. Obesity increased rapidly first in developed countries, becoming noticeable by 1980 and slowing since 2006, and now is growing fast in developing countries. Germany is a surprise No. 8 on the list. The U.S. No. 1 ranking tells a lot about the misguided priorities of living in the U.S., lack of education on healthy eating and healthy living, and not putting healthy habits at the top of things to do above making more money. An extreme case is South Africa where 42% of women are obese. The most obese countries are by rank - U.S., China, India, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Egypt, Germany, Pakistan, Indonesia. Middle Eastern and North African countries have high obesity rates for children. The study is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation....

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Only 23% of meals in America include a vegetable. The number of dinners made at home with a salad dropped to 17% in 2010 compared to 22% in 1994. Salads ordered at restaurants dropped to 5% in 2010 from 10% in 1989, according to NPD research company in its 25th edition of "Eating Patterns in America." The U.S. is going backwards in good eating habits and no enough attention is being paid to this in the debate about cost of health care. Their is a clear connection between good eating habits and health, and while invention and use of the latest research and innovations in health care are lauded, the decline in patterns of healthy living and food habits are receiving less attention.

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Chile, Mexico and the U.S. rank high in the diabetes rate for top soda consuming countries. In the U.S. the diabetes rate is at 7.7% of the population, in Chile 9.6% and Mexico 9%. Soda consumption per capita was at 165 litres in the U.S., 146 litres in Mexico and 134 litres in Chile, and 145 litres in Argentina where the diabetes rate is at 3.9%, for 2012. A new public service ad in Mexico City subway stations says it all, showing an ad with a soda bottle and the words- "Would you take 12 teaspoonfuls of sugar? Soda is sweet, diabetes isn't." The new Pacto de Mexico agreed to by all major political parties includes the soaring diabetes rate in Mexico as a problem to be tackled, including lunches at public schools and the consumption of coke and sodas by children. A particular acute problem in Mexico is the lack of clean drinking water in many areas and the dependence on coke and sodas for liquids. But bottled water could be used in its place if available at lower prices. One proposal is for a soda tax which could generate $2 billion and be used for setting up clean drinking water fountains in schools and other places. Elected officals in Mexico are firm about the need for action, as Mexico recently became the first country over 100 million inhabitants with the highest obesity rates at 7 adults out of 10 over the age of 20 obese or overweight, and the consequently high diabetes rate. Diabetes is the No. 2 killer in Mexico, and a serious health danger. Coca Cola gets its second highest revenues from Mexico after Europe, and the situation has evolved after years of heavy coke advertising to the point where Coca Cola is taken at every meal by some Mexican families, and is a sign of prestige. The company's response is to fight the public service ads with ads showing people burning off 149 calories by walking. The country now faces a long and uphill fight. Russia is one of the countries which is also conducting a similiar fight against soda drinks. The Bloomberg Philanthropy is financing efforts against soda drinks in Mexico, as part of its campaign against smoking and sodas as health hazards, and this maybe Bloomberg's bigger contribution to society than his service to New York City. Developing middle income countries such as Mexico, Chile, India, China, Brazil, are the hardest hit by soaring diabetes. And the costs to their health systems in 10-20 years from uncontrolled obesity and diabetes will be enormous. The U.S. is a developed country with similiar high rates of obesity and diabetes, with soaring medical costs, and serious problems that strangely have not received the public awareness and efforts that one should expect. ...