PEDIATRICS - Ending of Coke Relationship

"American Academy of Pediatrics decides relationship with Coke is not so sweet" PBS NewsHour 9/30/2015

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SUMMARY:  Coca-Cola, the world's largest producer of sugary beverages, had been a partner and sponsor of the American Academy of Pediatrics.  But the Academy is now ending its relationship after revelations that the company has paid for scientific research playing down the role of soda in obesity.  Hari Sreenivasan learns more from Anahad O'Connor of The New York Times.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  Coke is the world’s largest producer of sugary beverages, so you might not think the American Academy of Pediatrics would partner with the company.  But that had indeed been the case until this week.  It was a main sponsor of the academy’s Web site, healthychildren.org, and a past sponsor of the group’s national conference.

It’s provided over $100 million in financial support to other professional medical and health groups as well.  The Academy is now ending its relationship with Coke.  And it comes after a recent story in The New York Times laid out how the company has paid for scientific research that plays down the role of soda in obesity.

Anahad O’Connor has been working on these stories, joins me now.

So, I guess the first story — or the most recent story first, what’s the connection between Coke and the Academy of Pediatrics?

ANAHAD O’CONNOR, The New York Times:  So, the first story I did was looking at Coke’s — the money that they were paying a lot of researchers and institutions to do research that, you know, was downplaying the role of sugary drinks in obesity.

And in response to that story, the CEO of Coca-Cola said, we’re not trying to deceive the public.  We’re trying to work with institutions to promote active healthy living, and we are going to release all of the funding that we provided to scientists, universities, to health groups over the past five years.

And so they released a trove of data showing this extensive number of grants.  And in that data, we saw that the American Academy of Pediatrics was in there, and Coke had provided something like $3 million to the Academy, at least over the past five years.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  And how do the pediatricians feel?

ANAHAD O’CONNOR:  So, the actual members of the Academy — and there’s more than 64,000 pediatricians who are part of this Academy — it’s very prestigious — a lot of them are very upset.  When I spoke to them, they said they couldn’t believe that the Academy had partnered with Coke or worked with it to any extent, because sugary drinks are considered a very major factor in the obesity epidemic, especially among children.

These pediatricians see the effects of it firsthand.  They see type 2 diabetes, hypertension.  You know, all these diseases that used to occur in middle age and later in life, they see them in children now.  And they think that sugary drinks are a primary influence of that.  So, pediatricians were very upset.

WEIGHTING THE COST - Of Extra Weight to Older Americans

"The extra costs of extra weight for older adults" PBS NewsHour 2/27/2015

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SUMMARY:  Lifelong obesity, now common in the U.S., is beginning to change how Americans age.  Along Alabama's Gulf Coast, one in three adults is obese, and many who have lived with the negative health effects of excess weight are entering their senior years.  Special correspondent Sarah Varney of Kaiser Health News reports on the added costs, disabilities and challenges for older obese patients.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Two major trends are on a collision course in the United States: the aging of the U.S. population and a decades-long surge in obesity.

The elderly population is projected to double to 80 million by 2050.  And, as that’s happening, obese individuals are far more likely to become sick or disabled as they age.

Special correspondent Sarah Varney has the story from Alabama, produced in collaboration with our partners at Kaiser Health News.

SARAH VARNEY, Kaiser Health News:  Bayou La Batre calls itself the seafood capital of Alabama.  Residents here depend on fishing and shrimping for their livelihood.  And when they sit down to eat, they like most things fried.

Former Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin has been trying to reverse the nation’s obesity epidemic one patient at a time at her Bayou clinic.

REGINA BENJAMIN, Former U.S. Surgeon General:  Bake, boil, and broil. Say that again.

GARI QUALLS:  Bake, boil, and broil.

REGINA BENJAMIN:  So no more fried shrimp.

SARAH VARNEY:  Gari Qualls is 69 years old and a retired crab picker.  She spent most of her life seriously overweight and was diagnosed with diabetes age 39.

As obesity became commonplace around the U.S., health care providers like Benjamin began seeing the impacts of the disease all around them.

HEALTH - Progress in U.S. Obesity Trend?

"CDC Report Offers Glimmer of Progress on Altering U.S. Obesity Trend" PBS Newshour 2/21/2013

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RAY SUAREZ (Newshour):  There may be hope yet for bringing the national epidemic of obesity under control.  At least the latest numbers on calories and fast food released today indicated possible progress.

For years, health officials have warned about Americans' growing girth.  Now research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests the fight against fat may be having an effect.  Among the findings, American children consumed fewer calories in 2010 than a decade before, seven percent less for boys, four percent less for girls.  And for adults, fast food accounted for just over 11 percent of the calories consumed in 2010, down from nearly 13 percent in 2006.

The researchers acknowledge the changes are small and can't be fully explained.  But public campaigns against obesity have intensified in recent years.  Last September, for instance, New York City's Board of Health limited sugared drinks and sodas to 16 ounces or less.  Mayor Michael Bloomberg praised the prohibition that takes effect Mar. 12th.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, I- New York City:  This is the single biggest step any city I think has ever taken to curb obesity, but certainly not the last step that lots of cities are going to take. And we believe that it will help save lives.

RAY SUAREZ:  And, today, continuing her long-running Let's Move campaign, first lady Michelle Obama , along with Big Bird of "Sesame Street," issued new public service announcements encouraging kids to get active and eat healthy.

HEALTH - Obesity in America and Life Expectancy

"Will Obesity Reverse Rise in U.S. Life Expectancy?" PBS Newshour 5/8/2012

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GWEN IFILL (Newshour): Public health experts have long warned of a growing obesity epidemic in America.

This week, government officials and others have launched a major campaign, warning those long-feared consequences are at hand. In a 474-page report, the Institute of Medicine called for systemic policy changes, from overhauling farm policies and the way food is marketed, to building more walkable neighborhoods, to ensuring children get at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day.

Our Health Unit has an in-depth look tonight, beginning with a Ray Suarez report on the rising toll.

RAY SUAREZ (Newshour): Americans are fat and continue to get fatter. Today, two out of three adults in this country are overweight or obese.

"Obesity in America: By the Numbers" by Joey Chou and Jason Kane, PBS Newshour 5/8/2012