Childhood Obesity

This is a good place to start for my "grumpy" blog. Three new studies has linked sugary drinks to obesity. The three studies published Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine show it but of course, the industry spokesmen are denying it. This seems a lot like the tobacco stuff years ago.

OF COURSE IT IS RELATED. DAAAAAA.... I hope we didn't spend to much in research dollars to prove it. Maybe I will do a study to see if the sun always comes up in the east. Here is a link to a news article if you're interested HERE.

I have fought this battle for over 30 years. In practice, I ask a child how much pop, juice or Kool-Aid they drink a day. You must ask about Kool-Aid because that is considered health food in some households. Also "Sunny-D" is also health food...  I always get the same answer. "Not Much". Now I dig until I get a number. That is usually 1-2 cans per day. I have had over two 2 liter bottles per day included in the "not much" answer.

So lets do a little math. First, what is normal serving size? The industry likes to use 1 cup (8oz) A can is 12 oz but most bottles are 20 oz plus and most household glass are about 16. So 12oz is 140-180 depending on brand. But most teens use a larger serving size so lets use 200 calories per serving. Most are more than that. Juice is natures pop. Actually a little higher in calories. So if we use 200 calories for the one serving per day we have (200X365) divided by 3500 calories per pound you get just over 20 POUNDS of wt gain per year for one severing of pop/juice per day. Actually it is probably a bit more since the fat needs to be supported by cell structure and blood supply.

And I won't even bring up the glycemic effect if all that sugar.

So I ask you, why are we training our children that they must always have a drink in their hand? WHY... Are we really that stupid? Train your young children to drink when they are thirsty. And to drink only water between meals. Is it really that hard?

Why????????????

I occasionally have things I want to say. Sometimes food related and sometimes not. I don't think most of it is very important. I don't want to put a post on my main blog 101 Cooking For Two since thousands will be forced to see it everyday. But I'm tempted several times a week.

So call this "The Musing of An Aging Mind" or "the grumpy old guy" if you want. The same rules will apply here as at 101.

About comments
Comments are welcome, in fact that is why this is a seperate blog on blogger. I was going to do a static page but there would be no way for readers to comment on individual posts. Rude or obnoxious comments are not welcome and will not be published. If I comment on something and you disagree, please comment but keep it factual. If you want to spout pseudoscience or wackiness then go away.  I will be the sole and final judge of what is published on this site. Get your own site if you want to be rude or wacky.

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