Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Report: Poor Nutrition Is Leading Cause Of Illness, Lost Productivity
CNN: Poor Diets Threaten US National Security — And It'S Serious
America's poor diet isn't just bad for us. It's now considered a threat to national security. Diet-related illnesses are a growing burden on the United States economy, worsening health disparities and impacting national security, according to a white paper published Monday in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Poor nutrition is the leading cause of illnesses in the US, with unhealthy diets killing more than half a million people each year, a group of experts who have formed the Federal Nutrition Research Advisory Group wrote in the paper. (Crespo, 7/20)
Kaiser Health News: Pandemic-Inspired Food Labeling Raises Alarms For Those With Food Allergies
As the mother of a child with food allergies, Heather Sapp was well versed in reading labels and calling manufacturers to verify ingredients. For years, she kept her daughter’s diet free of the peanuts and tree nuts that could kill her. But when a bite of lemon-ginger hummus three years ago sent Sapp herself into life-threatening anaphylactic shock, her dependence on labeling accuracy became more complicated. Testing determined that Sapp, now 43, had developed adult-onset anaphylactic allergies to chickpeas, sesame and cilantro. More recently, Sapp, who lives in Phoenix, had an anaphylactic reaction to parsley. (West, 7/21)
