While our last post was about energy drinks, it's fitting to talk about the bigger elephant in the room - sodas in general.  As reported by Alternet, "Staggeringly, almost one-quarter of teens today have pre-diabetes – double the rate of just 10 years ago. One in three youth born in the U.S. after the year 2000 will get type 2 diabetes in their lifetimes (1 in 2 young people of color) along with some or all of its major health consequences including stroke, kidney failure, blindness and amputations.

A major cause of this epidemic is the consumption of sugary drinks. Just one 12-ounce soda has about 10 teaspoons of sugar — more than the recommended daily maximum for adults and more than 3 times the recommended maximum for kids. Studies show that drinking just one sugary drink a day can lead to increased risk of diabetes, tooth decay and other health problems.

Sugary drinks are already the number one source of added calories in teens’ diets, yet the beverage industry is still targeting youth of color as their future growth market."   And this marketing machine is massive - with some of the cleverest marketing minds, backed by enormous advertising budgets.

The good news is a group called Opentruth is hoping to make an impact with campaigns encouraging kids - the key targets - to fight back.  The group is in California, but hopefully they'll make some traction and influence kids in the rest of the country as well.

And there are actions you can take as well:
Model the way - reduce, or better yet, eliminate sodas from your home.  If you do consume them, make them a rare indulgence, not an everyday event
Practice Tough Love - your kids may put up a fight - OK, let's be realistic - your kids WILL put up a fight, but don't hesitate to educate them.  Share honestly the effect these products can have on their health.  It won't be easy, but over time your kids will hear you and it will make a difference.

For more information about Opentruth.now, click here for an Alternet article or visit opentruthnow.org

Are your kids drinking energy drinks?  If so, this may change what you're putting in your grocery cart. A recent article in Times shared an alarming finding about the effect of "energy drinks" on children. A new study by the Yale School of Public Health found a link between consumption of energy drinks and hyperactivity and inattention, stating that middle-schoolers who consume sweetened energy drinks are 66% more at risk for hyperactivity than other kids.

While the researchers could not state that the energy drinks caused the hyperactivity and inattentiveness in the kids, they did find correlation. “Despite considering numerous types of beverages in our analyses (eg, soda, fruit drinks), only energy drinks were associated with greater risk of hyperactivity/inattention,” the authors write in the study published in the journal Academic Pediatrics.

"Unlike soda and juice, energy drinks often contain ingredients like guarana and taurine. The researchers say it could be the effect of these ingredients mixed with caffeine that causes problems.  “Energy drinks contain large amounts of caffeine, sugar and other ingredients that work synergistically with caffeine. Caffeine may be contributing to this association because the caffeine content of energy drinks is far greater on average than that of soda,” the authors write.

It's a difficult battle for parents, as kids are exposed to extremely strong marketing, despite guidelines by the American Beverage Association recommending energy drink companies not market their products to children. As a parent, you may want to hold firm on this point, and follow the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation limiting your kid's consumption of sweetened beverages and avoiding energy drinks entirely. .
For the complete article, click here

An article from Berkeley Wellness noted an increase in the both the number of food manufacturers and packaged foods that now use natural vs. artificial coloring, including beetroot powder, paprika, and annatto, for example, instead of Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6.  For years, the European Union has required warning labels on foods containing any artificial colors and pressure on American food manufacturers is pushing them in the same direction.  


However, there is evidence that coloring of both sorts can cause harm. Artificial coloring has been implicated in causing attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and several natural colorants have shown severe allergic reactions or may be classified as carcinogenic at some levels of ingestion.


The article nicely summarizes the real issue at hand:
"For the vast majority of people, food colors—whether natural or artificial—do not pose a health risk in the amounts typically consumed. The main problem is that foods containing them tend to be heavily processed, high in fat, sugar, and sodium, and not very nutritious.
Don’t assume that replacing artificial colors with natural ones makes the food a healthy choice either—candy is still candy. If you eat mostly whole foods (like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains) and limit processed foods (especially crazy colorful ones), you’ll consume few color additives anyway."

Wise words.


For the complete article: click here