Disease Proof : Disease Proof : Health & Nutrition News & Commentary : Dr. Joel Fuhrman

A new study in the American Journal of Public Health involving 500,000 middle school and high school students in California suggests kids going to school within walking distance of fast food joints are more likely to drink soda and be obese and less likely to eat fruits and vegetables than students attending school not near fast food restaurants. Researchers claim fast food places are intentionally clustered around schools because they are popular hangouts for kids; Reuters reports.

Hopefully, if you teach kids how to eat wisely they won’t be tempted by fast food crap. But, one Los Angeles, California city official is taking the law into her own hands. She doesn’t want anymore fast food restaurants opening up in South-Central Los Angeles. Take that!

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The soda, Coke Plus, is sold as a good source of vitamins and minerals. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is not impressed. "The FDA does not consider it appropriate to fortify snack foods such as carbonated beverages," the agency said in a letter to Coca-Cola on Tuesday. But Coke doesn’t think they’ve done anything wrong—what a shocker—claiming this does not involve any health or safety issues. Regardless, they have 15 days to outline a corrective course of action; via Reuters.

Listen, adding vitamins to soda is like putting a pig in a dress, its a still sugar-laden junk food, i.e. a pig. So bad, that the some experts wanted to slap a Surgeon General’s warning on it. Yes, for real.

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America’s got a big obesity problem, costing us more than $100 billion a year. And, despite reports that obesity is leveling off, New York Governor David Paterson has proposed a tax on sugary beverages, like soda. In a letter, Paterson says the tax would apply to non-diet drinks and fruit juices that contain less than 70% percent juice. He compares the obesity tax to the taxes imposed on cigarettes, claiming the health and financial benefits are undeniable; via CNN.

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