Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
New Look For Americans: Bodies Aren't Getting Much Taller, But They Are Much Heavier
The New York Times: You’re Not Getting Much Taller, America. But You Are Getting Bigger.
Meet the average American man. He weighs 198 pounds and stands 5 feet 9 inches tall. He has a 40-inch waist, and his body mass index is 29, at the high end of the “overweight” category. The picture for the average woman? She is roughly 5 feet 4 inches tall, and weighs 171 pounds, with a 39-inch waist. Her B.M.I. is close to 30. (Bakalar, 1/14)
CNN: Black And Hispanic Youth Are Targeted With Junk Food Ads, Research Shows
Click over to TV programming that caters to black and Hispanic youth and the commercials almost exclusively push fast food, sugary drinks, bad-for-you snacks and candy, a new report shows. Junk food comprised 86% of ad spending on black-targeted programming and 82% of spending on Spanish-language television in 2017, according to the study released Tuesday. (Ravitz, 1/15)
CNN: A New Guide Could Help Halt Overeating
The British Nutrition Foundation released this month new portion-size guidelines designed to help people eat the right amounts of each food group -- and possibly help them avoid overeating. "It's really worth having a quick check of portion sizes before you're filling up with food because we know that it does take a little bit of time to get those fullness signals coming through," said Bridget Benelam, nutrition communications manager at the BNF. "Probably all of us have had the experience where you eat something and then you eat a bit more and perhaps a bit more and then 10 minutes later you feel much too full and you wish you had eaten a little less." (Thomas, 1/14)
