Posts Tagged ‘New York’

Two of the world’s foremost metropolitan cities have joined together to fight childhood obesity. In a report titled “A Tale of Two ObesCities” researchers from London Metropolitan University and City University of New York have found demographic similarities between obese children in both cities. Notably, both cities are characterized by high levels of income disparity with the poorest children having the highest rates of obesity. In London 36.3% of children are obese by the age of 11, compared with 40% in New York. The report demonstrates that the two cities can benefit from collaboration and learning from each other’s experiences in combating childhood obesity. The main recommendations of the report include:

- Build active design principles into building codes, housing strategies

-Promote and support urban agriculture as a sustainable and health promoting use of green spaces

-Promote access to places where people can by physically active and promote walking and cycling

-Implement a universal free school meal program with nutritional standards

-Promote research to help cities understand how the beat health inequalities

[via Medical News Today]

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After tackling high-calorie fast foods and trans fats, the New York City Health Department is teaming up with other municipalities and companies to reduce the amount of salt in prepackaged and restaurant foods over the next five years. “Salt is a huge problem in our diets,” said Dr. Sonia Angell, director of the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Control Program at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. “The majority of us consume too much salt, which increases blood pressure and puts us at risk for heart attack and stroke.” Most people need about 1,500 mg of salt per day. However, the average American adult consumes upwards of 3,500 mg, mostly from prepackaged and restaurant-served meals. The goal of the New York City initiative is to reduce sodium levels in prepared foods, so as to allow consumers to add salt if desired. Subway, one of the participating restaurants, has already committed to reducing salt in their sandwiches nationwide. “If salt is reduced gradually, we won’t notice a difference in our palate,” Angell said. “Our palate will adjust and we’ll enjoy foods as much as we do now.” [via CNN]

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Did you know that it is legal in most states of the union to shackle incarcerated women during childbirth? The American Academy of Obstetrics and Gynecology condemns this practice because they say it unnecessarily risks a woman’s health. Soon, New York will become the sixth state to ban this practice, along with California, Illinois, New Mexico, Texas and Vermont. It’s unclear how many inmates are affected by the practice. The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics said 4% of state inmates and 3% of federal inmates were pregnant in 2008 when they were first incarcerated. There is no data available to indicate how many women delivered babies in prison, or were restrained while doing so. [via The Boston Globe]

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