Newsletter

Food rich in fat, salt and sugar should be taxed

Dr Dileep Mavalankar, Director, Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar

The State of Salt

A study based on the nutritional information provided by leading fast food chains across the world has shown that there is a considerable variation in salt content of the fast food products between categories, countries and also brands. The study was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) in April.

Death by Sugar

Denmark first imposed fat tax on saturated fat in October 2011 and is now contemplating imposing a tax on sugar and chocolate consumption to fight the bulge.

Oil is Not Well

A study published in Current Science Journal (March 2012) has reported alarmingly high rate of increase in oil consumption in India. According to the study conducted by DM Hegde, project director at Directorate of Oilseed Research, the per capita consumption of edible oil in India has increased almost five folds during the period of 1950-2011.

Bhopal’s gas tragedy plight continues

A retrospective analysis between 2001 and 2009 has shown that a little more than half of the victims of Bhopal gas tragedy suffer from abnormal lung function.

Size does matter

The researchers at INSEAD business school in France have concluded that food marketing successfully distorts portion size perceptions of people many a times.

Ban on junk food advertisement proposed in UK

The Scottish public health minister has called for a ban on junk food advertisements before 9 PM in UK. The ban is proposed to extend to the whole of United Kingdom.
Earlier, the broadcasting regulatory body Ofcom had banned advertisement of food products containing high sugar, salt and fat content in children’s programmes.

FDA draws guidelines for antibiotic use in animals

The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), has come up with guidelines that asks drug manufacturers to voluntarily limit the use of certain antibiotics in animal feed.  The FDA has asked the drug manufacturers to limit use of 200 antibiotics as growth promoters and keep them only for therapeutic purposes. The companies adopting this recommendation will have to revise their product labels to reflect the change.

Pesticides found responsible for honeybee deaths

Scientific evidence continues to mount strengthening the case that neonicotinoid pesticides are indeed key drivers behind colony collapse disorder (CCD). This suggests that that pesticides are indeed responsible for the mysterious colony collapse disorders among honeybees in US.

The Environment Health Bulletin - January, 2012