Princess Health and Changes coming for Nutrition Facts labels on food products: emphasis on calories, added sugar and serving size. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Changes coming for Nutrition Facts labels on food products: emphasis on calories, added sugar and serving size. Princessiccia

calories childhood obesity diet federal regulation food food and drug administration food industry food marketing nutrition obesity

Gusty 14:14 Add Comment

Associated Press

By Danielle Ray
Kentucky Health News

Nutrition labels on food products will undergo a facelift over the next two years.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized plans Friday to change labeling to emphasize calorie count and added sugars in an effort to simply nutrition labels and clarify serving sizes.

First lady Michelle Obama, a longtime crusader against childhood obesity, said parents will benefit from the upcoming changes.

"You will no longer need a microscope, a calculator, or a degree in nutrition to figure out whether the food you're buying is actually good for our kids," she told The Associated Press.

The overhaul puts less emphasis on fats and more on caloric value and added sugars. Calories on upcoming labels will be listed in larger font than other nutrient facts. Added sugar will get its own line, separate from naturally occurring sugar.  Currently, both added and naturally occurring sugars were lumped under one category, "Sugars."

New labels will also include a new "percent daily value" for added sugar, which will tell consumers how much of their recommended daily intake they will get from a given item. The FDA recommends consuming less than 10 percent of total daily calories (200 calories in a typical diet) from added sugar.

"The new labels should also spur food manufacturers to add less sugar to their products," Michael Jacobson, president of the advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest, told AP. He said that under current labeling, it's nearly impossible for consumers to know how much sugar fits into a reasonable diet.

The footnote will better explain what "percent daily value" means. It will read: �The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.�

Serving sizes will also be clearer. The biggest difference will be that serving sizes will be based on what consumers typically eat instead of what they should eat. About one-fifth of foods will undergo revised calculations. For example, a serving size of ice cream will be 2/3 of a cup; previously it was a 1/2 cup.

If you've ever been duped into consuming more calories than you intended, or tried to calculate exactly what fraction of a slice of pizza constitutes a serving size, you're in luck. Package size affects what people eat, the FDA noted. So, products that were previously between one and two servings, such as a 20-ounce soda, will be labeled as a single serving, since consumers generally eat or drink the entire contents in one sitting.

Larger containers, like pints of ice cream, will have dual column labels: one column with information for a single serving and the other with information for the entire container.

Labels will also include two additional nutrients: potassium and Vitamin D.

Industry reaction was predictable. A representative for the Sugar Association told AP that emphasis on added sugar could confuse consumers, but other industry leaders welcomed the changes.

"This update is timely as diets, eating patterns and consumer preferences have changed dramatically since the Nutrition Facts panel was first introduced," Leon Bruner, of the Grocery Manufacturers Association, told AP.

Most food manufacturers have until July 2018 to comply. Smaller manufacturers will have an additional year.

The FDA proposed the changes two years ago. They are the first major update to nutrition labels since labeling was introduced in 1994. So far, more than 800,000 foods have nutrition labels.

For more information on the changes, click here.

Princess Health and Feds strengthen anti-discrimination health rules. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Feds strengthen anti-discrimination health rules. Princessiccia

disabilities federal regulation gender disparities health health care health care access health care reform health communication obamacare Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act

Gusty 13:20 Add Comment

Photo from mdxipe.wordpress.com

By Danielle Ray
Kentucky Health News

The Department of Health and Human Services issued rules Friday in an effort to ensure equality in health care for women, the disabled and people who speak English as a second language.

The new provisions protect women from discrimination not only in the health coverage they obtain but in the health services they seek from providers. They also prohibit denial of health care or health coverage based on a person's sex, including discrimination based on pregnancy, gender identity and sex stereotyping.

The rule also requires providers to take reasonable steps to provide communication access to people with limited English proficiency. In addition, it requires that providers make electronic information and newly constructed or altered facilities accessible to individuals with disabilities, including providing auxiliary aids and services.

HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell called the rule "a key step toward realizing equity within our health care system." She said in an agency news release that it reinforces the central goal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act, to improve access to quality health care.

The rule covers any health program or activity that receives federal funding, such as providers who accept Medicare or Medicaid; any health program that HHS administers; and federal- and state-based health insurance marketplaces and insurers that participate in them.

The new rule implements Section 1557 of the 2010 health-reform law, which is the first federal civil-rights law to prohibit discrimination based on sex in federally-funded health programs. Previously, civil rights laws enforced by the agency's civil rights office barred discrimination based only on race, color, national origin, disability, and age.

The rule does not resolve whether discrimination on the basis of an individual�s sexual orientation status alone is a form of sex discrimination under the reform law. However, the provisions leave room for the agency's civil-rights office to evaluate complaints that allege sex discrimination related to a person�s sexual orientation to determine if they can be considered sex stereotyping, which the rule prohibits. In cases where religious freedom would be violated, health-care providers are not required to follow the regulation.

A summary of the new rule can be accessed here.

Princess Health and Effects of new vaping regulations won't be felt immediately; American and British researchers have differing views of e-cigs. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Effects of new vaping regulations won't be felt immediately; American and British researchers have differing views of e-cigs. Princessiccia

cancer federal regulation lung disease research smoking tobacco vaping

Gusty 13:40 Add Comment

By Danielle Ray
Kentucky Health News

A long time coming, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released new regulations this month for all tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes, vape pens, hookahs, dissolvables, and pipes. But the effects might not be felt for as long as two years.

Photo: excusemyvapes.com

The regulations require health warnings on packages and advertisements and ban sales to minors. Other regulations include reporting ingredients to the FDA, requiring photo identification to buy, banning free samples and banning the labeling of products as moderate, with words such as "light" or "mild,"

The FDA called the regulations a milestone in consumer protection. It believes the new rules will help prevent misleading claims by manufacturers moving forward and allow for review of new products not yet on the market. The agency already regulated traditional cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and roll-your-own tobacco prior to the decision.

The new rules will take effect in stages. The ban on sales to minors begins Aug. 8, but according to Phil Galewitz of The Washington Post, the ban will primarily affect Michigan and Pennsylvania, as the other 48 states already ban sales of e-cigarettes to minors. Warning labels will take effect May 2018. The labels will read: �WARNING: This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.�

Don't expect changes overnight. Manufacturers have two years to submit products for review and another year for the agency to perform evaluations.

Why did the FDA take on vaping? For one thing, because the market has so far been unregulated, the ingredients in vaping liquid are largely a mystery. However, a 2015 Harvard University study found several dangerous chemicals present in these liquids. The chemicals can destroy tiny passageways in lungs, leading to scar tissue buildup and eventually respiratory disease, according to the study.

For another thing, adolescents and teenagers are vaping at unprecedented rates. More than 3 million middle and high school students used e-cigarettes in 2015, up more than 500,000 from the year before, according to the FDA.

E-cigarettes have been the most commonly used tobacco products among youth for two consecutive years. Sixteen percent of high schoolers and about 5 percent of middle schoolers were vapers of e-cigarettes in 2015, according to the FDA. More than 80 percent of them cited appealing flavors, which include "gummy bear" and "cotton candy," as their primary reason for use.

The science is still out on whether the harmful qualities of vaping negate any potential benefits. Some studies have found e-cigarettes to be less harmful than traditional cigarettes. For example, a 2015 Public Health England review concluded that e-cigarettes are about 95 percent less harmful than traditional cigarettes.

"E-cigarettes are not completely risk free but when compared to smoking, evidence shows they carry just a fraction of the harm," said Professor Kevin Fenton, director of health and well-being at PHE, said in a news release. "The problem is people increasingly think they are at least as harmful and this may be keeping millions of smokers from quitting."

As noted in the Harvard study, e-cigarettes are not harmless. The question remains if vaping can be a tool to help current smokers quit, if they lure in kids who otherwise would not become smokers or if it's a little of both.

According to the British study, there is no evidence that vaping attracts non-smokers. Fewer than 1 percent of either adults or young people who have never smoked are becoming regular e-cigarette users, the study noted.

As for fears that vaping leads to traditional smoking, Linda Bauld, a cancer prevention expert at Cancer Research United Kingdom, said in a news release that those claims are unfounded.

"Fears that e-cigarettes have made smoking seem normal again or even led to people taking up tobacco smoking are not so far being realized," Bauld said. "In fact, the overall evidence points to e-cigarettes actually helping people to give up smoking tobacco."

Attitudes toward vaping have been much more favorable overall in the UK. Public health officials there seem more willing to accept e-cigarettes as a safer alternative and even a stop smoking tool than do U.S. officials.

For more background information on the FDA's new regulations, click here.

Princess Health and FDA to regulate e-cigs: ban sales to minors, require warning signs, require federal approval; did not address advertising issues. Princessiccia

Princess Health and FDA to regulate e-cigs: ban sales to minors, require warning signs, require federal approval; did not address advertising issues. Princessiccia

e-cigarettes federal regulation food and drug administration smoking ban teens tobacco tobacco prevention youth

Gusty 08:34 Add Comment

In a long-anticipated move, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced May 5 that it is assuming regulatory authority over all tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes, cigars, hookah, tobacco and pipe tobacco that include banning sales to anyone under 18.

�Today�s announcement is an important step in the fight for a tobacco-free generation � it will help us catch up with changes in the marketplace, put into place rules that protect our kids and give adults information they need to make informed decisions," Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said in a news release.

FDA's new tobacco regulations will prohibit sales of e-cigarettes and all tobacco products to anyone under 18, both in person and online, and buyers must now show photo ID.

Health warnings will also be placed on packages and in advertisements, saying, �WARNING: This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.� It also bans free samples and the sale of covered products in vending machines not located in adult-only facilities.

The regulation also requires manufacturers of all newly-regulated products introduced to the market after Feb. 15, 2007, a date that is set by the Tobacco Control Act of 2009, to require federal approval. An amendment to the legislation has been submitted to change the date so more e-cigarettes would be grandfathered in, Jayne O'Donnell and Laura Ungar report for USA Today.

The e-cigarette industry is pushing back on these regulations.

"Industry experts say treating e-cigarettes, which don't contain tobacco, the same as cigarettes could lead to such onerous and costly approval that all but the largest tobacco companies would be forced out of the market � and possibly those companies, too," USA Today writes. Jeff Stier, an e-cigarette advocate with the National Center for Public Policy Research and industry officials, told USA Today that it could cost $1 million or more per application.

Vapers also argue that e-cigs help people quit, but studies on that conflict.

Ellen Hahn, a professor at the University of Kentucky College of Nursing and co-chair of the UK Tobacco-free Task Force, told USA Today that the new rule is a good first step toward controlling e-cigarettes, noting "vaping" can get youth addicted to nicotine and threatens to prolong "the tobacco epidemic."

"From a health perspective, to reduce the social acceptance of them is good because frankly, it's the wild, wild West out there," she told the newspaper. "Vape stores are everywhere."

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation commended the FDA for these regulations, noting the use among high school students has "rocketed from 1.5 percent in 2011 to 16 percent in 2015, an increase of more than 900 percent." But it also said the regulation did not go far enough.

"Studies have proven that tobacco advertising directly influences youth, and that such sweet e-cigarette flavors as gummy bear and cotton candy play a role in children trying these products," Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, CEO of the RWJF, said in the statement "Today's final rule did not address these issues, and we strongly urge the FDA to take aggressive regulatory and enforcement actions to prevent and reduce youth tobacco use, in any form it takes."

The regulation goes into effect Aug. 8, and gives affected industries two years to comply. The original proposal was introduced in 2014.

Princess Health and Levels of suspected 'hormone disruptors' in teen girls dropped after they switched to products that didn't contain them . Princessiccia

Princess Health and Levels of suspected 'hormone disruptors' in teen girls dropped after they switched to products that didn't contain them . Princessiccia

endocrine system federal regulation food and drug administration teenagers teens

Gusty 06:56 Add Comment

A recent study found that after three days of not using personal-care products that contain "problematic substances," the levels of chemicals that potentially disrupt hormones in the bodies of teenage girls dropped, Environmental Working Group Vice Preisdent Alex Formuzis writes for its Enviroblog.

The study, led by Kim Harley of the Center for Environmental Research and Children�s Health at the University of California-Berkeley, asked 100 Latina girls between 14 and 18 years old to not use personal-care products such as cosmetics, shampoos and soaps, for three days and instead to only use products free of the suspected hormone disruptors: phthalates, parabens and triclosan. The girls, all volunteers, were given products that did not contain these chemicals.

After three days, the teens' urine tests showed a 44 percent decrease in the levels of methyl and propyl parapen, preservatives widely used in cosmetics, shampoos and skin lotions; a 35 percent decrease in triclosan, a commonly used antibacterial chemical that has been linked to the disruption of thyroid and reproductive hormones; and a 27 percent decrease in mono-ethyl phthalates, a common industrial plasticizer found in some nail polishes and fragrances.

�Techniques available to consumers, such as choosing personal care products that are labeled to be free of phthalates, parabens, triclosan, and oxybenzone, can reduce personal exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals,� the study authors wrote. �Our study did not test for the presence of these chemicals, but simply used techniques available to the average consumer: reading labels and investigating product safety through web-based databases.�

The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, notes that the study shows that "consumers may be able to reduce exposures to these chemicals by seeking out commercially available products with lower levels of these chemicals."

However, Formuzis pointed out that the federal Food and Drug Administration has "virtually no authority" over this industry and notes that this study helps to, "underscores the need to regulate the personal care products industry."

Legislation by U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), proposes to do just that.

"The Feinstein-Collins Personal Care Products Safety Act would give the FDA tools for ensuring the safety of personal care products as strong as those that regulate food and drugs," Formuzis writes. The bill would require the FDA to investigate the safety of five cosmetics ingredients and contaminants yearly; cosmetic makers would have to register their manufacturing facilities,disclose their ingredients, report health incidents related to their products, and label their products with disclosures and warnings as needed; and it would allow the FDA the authority to recall dangerous products.

Formuzis reports that "some of the corporations backing the Feinstein-Collins bill include Revlon, Johnson & Johnson, Proctor & Gamble, Unilever, L�Oreal, California Baby and the industry trade organization, the Personal Care Products Council."

Princess Health and Teens now more likely to use e-cigs than tobacco; health officials call for regulations and better education about the products. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Teens now more likely to use e-cigs than tobacco; health officials call for regulations and better education about the products. Princessiccia

e-cigarettes federal regulation research smoking teenagers teens tobacco

Gusty 15:21 Add Comment

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

The number of adolescents using electronic cigarettes has risen so much that more of them use e-cigs than tobacco products, says the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The findings come from the National Youth Tobacco Survey, which collected data from about 20,000 middle- and high-school students across the country from 2011 to 2015.

Only 1.5 percent of high schoolers used e-cigarettes in 2011, but that zoomed to 16 percent in 2015, with most of the increase seen between 2013 and 2014. The number of middle-school students using e-cigarettes increased from less than 1 percent in 2011 to 5.3 percent in 2015.

Tobacco smoking with hookahs, or water pipes, showed a lesser but significant increase, rising to 7.2 percent from 4.1 percent among high-school students and to 2 percent from 1 percent among middle-school students.

During this same time frame, children's use of cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products decreased. The share of high-school and middle-school students who reported smoking a cigarette in the last month dropped, respectively, to 9.3 percent from 15.8 percent; and to 2.3 percent from 4.3 percent.

The rise in e-cigarette and hookah use offset the decrease in traditional tobacco use, meaning there was no overall change in use of nicotine or tobacco products among middle and high school students between 2011 and 2015.

An estimated 25.3 percent of high school students and 7.4 percent of middle school students say they have used a tobacco or nicotine product in the past 30 days. That amounts to 3.82 million high school students and 880,000 middle school students.

The study did not give state-by-state figures, but Kentucky has long ranked high in youth tobacco use.

One of the reasons for the rise in popularity of e-cigarettes is that there are no restrictions on buying them on the internet, Carina Storrs reports for CNN after interviewing Brian A. King, deputy director of research translation in the CDC Office on Smoking and Health, who led the current research.

"The fact that we have a flavored product that is easier to access and possibly cheaper has created a perfect storm to lead to increased use," King said.

Also, King said, e-cigarette companies appeal to youth by advertising heavily on social media, selling trendy accessories and employing celebrities to market the products. King said older peers and family members could also be providing e-cigs, just as they have provided conventional cigarettes to.

Pediatricians have called for raising the smoking age to 21 and for the regulation of e-cigarettes.

As of April, 2016, 141 cities in 10 states and the state of Hawaii have raised the legal age to buy tobacco or vaping products to 21, according to the tobacco21.org website.

In Kentucky, Democratic Rep. David Watkins, a retired physician from Henderson, filed a bill this year to raise the legal age for buying tobacco or vaping products to 21, which made it out the the House Health and Welfare Committee, but was not called up for a vote on the House floor. Kentucky banned the sale of e-cigarettes to minors in 2014.

The Food and Drug Administration introduced a proposal in 2014 to oversee and regulate electronic cigarettes, but it has still not been finalized.

Dr. M. Brad Drummond, associate professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told Storrs that tighter restrictions are needed around purchasing, taxation, flavoring and advertising of e-cigarettes, noting that this would have an effect on "denormalizing their use." He also said teens need to be better educated about the harms associated with e-cigs.