Food Giants Pledge to Nix 1.5 Trillion Calories
Several of the nation's largest food companies say they will take 1.5 trillion calories out of their products by 2015 in an effort to reduce childhood obesity.
The companies made the announcement through the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, a coalition of retailers, food and beverage manufacturers and industry trade associations. They pledged to reduce the calories as part of an agreement with a group of nonprofit organizations concerned with childhood obesity, first lady Michelle Obama said Monday.
"This is precisely the kind of private sector commitment we need," said Mrs. Obama, who earlier this year launched her own "Let's Move" anti-obesity campaign.
Food companies concerned about national and local efforts to raise food taxes and a rising tide of lawmakers preparing to write anti-obesity measures have publicly endorsed the first lady's message and pledged to make their foods healthier.
The industry foundation said the companies will introduce lower calorie foods, change product recipes and reduce portion sizes to achieve the goal, seeking to reduce 1 trillion of the 1.5 trillion by 2012.
Mrs. Obama has urged the food industry to speed up efforts to produce healthier foods and reduce marketing of unhealthy foods to children. In a speech to an industry association in March, she urged companies not to find creative ways to market products as healthy - including reducing fat and replacing it with sugar, or vice versa - but to increase nutrients as well.
To keep the companies accountable, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a nonpartisan philanthropic and research organization that works to improve the nation's health, will evaluate how the groups' efforts affect the number of calories consumed by children and adolescents.
"We're confident their commitment to this cause is sincere and measurable - and thus has real potential for impact," said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. "What remains unknown is what effect it will have on efforts to prevent childhood obesity."
The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation has more than 80 members, including General Mills Inc., ConAgra Foods Inc., Kraft Foods Inc., Kellogg Co., Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc. and Hershey Co.
AP The companies made the announcement through the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, a coalition of retailers, food and beverage manufacturers and industry trade associations. They pledged to reduce the calories as part of an agreement with a group of nonprofit organizations concerned with childhood obesity, first lady Michelle Obama said Monday.
"This is precisely the kind of private sector commitment we need," said Mrs. Obama, who earlier this year launched her own "Let's Move" anti-obesity campaign.
Food companies concerned about national and local efforts to raise food taxes and a rising tide of lawmakers preparing to write anti-obesity measures have publicly endorsed the first lady's message and pledged to make their foods healthier.
The industry foundation said the companies will introduce lower calorie foods, change product recipes and reduce portion sizes to achieve the goal, seeking to reduce 1 trillion of the 1.5 trillion by 2012.
Mrs. Obama has urged the food industry to speed up efforts to produce healthier foods and reduce marketing of unhealthy foods to children. In a speech to an industry association in March, she urged companies not to find creative ways to market products as healthy - including reducing fat and replacing it with sugar, or vice versa - but to increase nutrients as well.
To keep the companies accountable, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a nonpartisan philanthropic and research organization that works to improve the nation's health, will evaluate how the groups' efforts affect the number of calories consumed by children and adolescents.
"We're confident their commitment to this cause is sincere and measurable - and thus has real potential for impact," said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. "What remains unknown is what effect it will have on efforts to prevent childhood obesity."
The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation has more than 80 members, including General Mills Inc., ConAgra Foods Inc., Kraft Foods Inc., Kellogg Co., Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc. and Hershey Co.
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"Some also suggest that by eschewing grains we are somehow missing out on something vital in the diet. This is nonsense. There is nothing ?vital? found in grains that can?t be obtained more healthily elsewhere in the diet. Don?t forget that grains are a very recent addition to the human diet ? for most of the 2.5-odd million years we?ve been evolving for we just didn?t eat them. And don?t forget too that the absolute requirement for carbohydrate in the diet is none at all (we can make it from other dietary elements)." -- Dr John Briffa
For all you mooks who whine and cry about high-fructose corn syrup: I hope you don't eat fruit...that stuff is packed with fructose (fruit sugar)!
"reduce sugar" What Sugar??? it's mostly some chemical sludge called fructose corn syrup.
I betcha they gladly trade it for Aspartame, and market it as reduced sugar.
Low fat, now there's all kinds of fake foods to replace that too.
Yeah, you can pretty well not eat much and still sit around and get plump.