Kellogg to raise nutrition of kids food
Thu, 14 Jun 2007 11:51:40 GMT
By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Kellogg Co., the world's largest cereal maker, has agreed to raise the nutritional value of cereals and snacks it markets to children.
The Battle Creek, Mich., company avoided a lawsuit threatened by parents and nutrition advocacy groups worried about increasing child obesity. Kellogg intends to formally announce its decision Thursday.
The company said it won't promote foods in TV, radio, print or Web site ads that reach audiences at least half of whom are under age 12 unless a single serving of the product meets these standards:
_No more than 200 calories.
_No trans fat and no more than 2 grams of saturated fat.
_No more than 230 milligrams of sodium, except for Eggo frozen waffles.
_No more than 12 grams of sugar, not counting sugar from fruit, dairy and vegetables.
Kellogg said it would reformulate products to meet these criteria or stop marketing them to children under 12 by the end of 2008.
"By committing to these nutrition standards and marketing reforms, Kellogg has vaulted over the rest of the food industry," said Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "This commitment means that parents will find it a little easier to steer their children toward healthy food choices — especially if other food manufacturers and broadcasters follow Kellogg's lead."
Jacobson's nutrition advocacy group, along with two Massachusetts parents and the Boston-based Campaign For A Commercial-Free Childhood, had served notice in January 2006 of intent to sue Kellogg and the Nickelodeon cable TV network under a Massachusetts law to stop them from marketing junk food to kids.
Center spokesman Jeff Cronin said Kellogg contacted the plaintiffs shortly thereafter and began negotiating the new standards, so the lawsuit was not filed and will not be filed.
"We are pleased to work collaboratively with industry and advocacy groups to unveil these standards," said David Mackay, Kellogg's CEO. "We feel the Kellogg Nutrient Criteria set a new standard for responsibility in the industry."
With 2006 sales of almost $11 billion, Kellogg is not only the No. 1 cereal-maker but also a leading producer of snack foods. Its brands include Kellogg's, Keebler, Pop-Tarts, Eggo, Cheez-It, Rice Krispies and Famous Amos.
Globally, 50 percent of the products Kellogg markets to children do not meet the criteria, said Mark Baynes, Kellogg's chief marketing officer. A third of the cereals it markets to children in the U.S. fall outside standards.
Pop-Tarts and Froot Loops don't meet the criteria, though most cereals fall inside the calorie guideline, Baynes said. Meeting the sugar and sodium standards could be the most challenging.
Kellogg also announced that it will continue to refrain from advertising to children under age 6, and will not in the future:
_Advertise to children any foods in schools and preschools that include kids under age 12.
_Sponsor placement of any of its products in any medium primarily directed at kids under age 12.
_Use branded toys connected to any foods that do not meet the nutrition standards.
_Use licensed characters on mass-media ads directed primarily to kids under 12 or on the front labels of food packages unless they meet the standards.
The advertising agreement does not apply to marketing characters Kellogg owns, like Tony the Tiger, but it does apply to characters the food company licenses, like the cartoon figure Shrek, said Susan Linn, co-founder of the Campaign For A Commercial-Free Childhood.
She said Kellogg was the first food company to agree to restrict advertising using licensed media characters like Shrek.
"These characters play an incredibly important role in children's lives. Kids see them every day; they have toys of them," Linn said. "The media characters are much more powerful . The food companies want to keep using them because they sell a lot of food; kids really respond to them."
Earlier this month, a Federal Trade Commission study found that half the ads for junk food, sugary cereals and soft drinks are on children's programs, double the percentage 30 years ago. Children between ages 2 and 11 saw approximately 5,500 food ads on television in 2004, half of them on kids' shows with audiences of 50 percent children or greater.
American companies spend about $15 billion a year marketing and advertising to children under age 12, the Institute of Medicine said last year when it warned that one-third of American children are obese or at risk for becoming obese.
In response, Kellogg and McDonald's Corp. joined eight other major food and drink companies last November in an industry-sponsored pledge to promote more healthy foods and exercise in their child-oriented advertising. A year earlier, Kraft Foods Inc. had promised to curb ads to young children for snack foods, including Oreos and Kool-Aid.
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Associated Press writer Ann Sanner contributed to this report.
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Panel rejects new weightloss drug
Thu, 14 Jun 2007 02:41:05 GMT
By ANDREW BRIDGES, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Federal health advisers unanimously rejected a weight-loss drug Wednesday after hearing testimony that it increases the risk of suicidal thoughts, even in patients without a history of depression. The manufacturer, Sanofi-Aventis SA, further failed to show the drug rimonabant is safe, the panel said.
The back-to-back, 14-0 votes by the expert panel made it unlikely the
Food and Drug Administration will approve the drug. The agency usually follows its panel's advice, but it isn't required to do so.
"There is a reasonable suspicion we better learn some more and watch this affair more closely before we launch into massive use of this drug," said panelist Dr. Jules Hirsch, a senior physician at New York's Rockefeller University.
In studies, patients given the once-daily tablet reported twice as many psychiatric side effects, including depression, anxiety and sleep problems, than those who received sham treatment, Dr. Amy Egan, an FDA medical officer, told the advisers.
"The numbers of events are small, but in aggregate they are worrisome," Egan said.
Officials from Sanofi-Aventis suggested that patients be screened for depression before they are prescribed the drug. They also advised that patients visit their doctors five times during the first year of treatment to be reassessed to further curtail any potential problems.
"Who is the right patient to receive rimonabant? Not everybody," Sanofi-Aventis' Richard Gural told the panel of advisers earlier Wednesday. The drug is not appropriate for anyone with a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or who has been diagnosed with depression or is taking antidepressant medication, he added.
The FDA is to make a final decision on the drug by July 27.
The company proposes selling the drug under the brand name Zimulti. Rimonabant already is sold in Europe as Acomplia.
The litany of mental problems associated with the drug clearly gave the panelists pause.
"I think this is a drug that needs further understanding with respect to what it does to people's psyche," said panelist Dr. Sid Gilman, a University of Michigan neurologist.
Even if the FDA does approve the first-in-its-class drug, the findings make it highly likely it would bear stern warnings. Company officials embraced the idea of such warnings, which could exclude FDA-approved use in some patients.
The company, FDA and panelists all agreed that Zimulti, along with diet and exercise, works to help shed weight. In yearlong studies, patients on the drug lost roughly 14 pounds. Those given dummy pills lost only about 4 pounds. However, patients regained weight when treatment was stopped after a year.
But the FDA and its outside advisers shared deep concerns that the drug's effect on the body could lead to an array of psychiatric symptoms, including anxiety, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorders and depression. No panelist felt the company had sufficiently characterized the drug's safety.
"What I am really troubled by is the lack of good safety data," said panel chairman Dr. Clifford Rosen, senior staff scientist at the Maine Center for Osteoporosis.
The company believes those increased cases were associated with depression or other disorders and weren't directly caused by its drug. Egan, however, said they were.
"We strongly believe that it is causal," Egan said. She noted 88 percent of those reporting psychiatric problems while on the drug had no prior history of depression.
Furthermore, patients in the studies were carefully screened and monitored, suggesting the problems would be more common should the drug enter broad use, Egan added.
The screenings proposed by the company won't keep the depressed and obese from Zimulti, warned Lynn McAfee, head of medical advocacy for the Council on Size & Weight Discrimination, a fat acceptance group.
"If this gets out to be a real big deal in the public, you can figure out how to answer those questions to get the drug," McAfee said. "It's not going to stop anyone." The potential market for the drug is huge, as obesity rates have exploded in the past two decades. Today, nearly one in three American adults age 20 or older is obese, according to government data.
Dr. Sidney Wolfe, of the advocacy group Public Citizen, said the obese are more likely to be depressed. Many of them likely would take Zimulti along with the antidepressants they already use — with unknown consequences, Wolfe told panelists.
Rimonabant blocks the same pleasure centers in the body activated when pot smokers get the munchies. Blocking the receptors leads to patients eating less and losing weight. Sanofi-Aventis also believes the drug decreases fat storage.
The FDA previously told the French company it would not approve the drug to help smokers quit.
Sanofi-Aventis has proposed selling 20-milligram Zimulti tablets to the obese and to those who are overweight and have type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure or other conditions that put them at risk of cardiovascular disease.
There currently are two FDA-approved prescription drugs for the long-term treatment of obesity: Meridia, an appetite suppressant, and Xenical, which limits the amount of fat the body can absorb. Sales of Alli, a lower-dose version of Xenical that won't require a prescription, start this week.
Heart problems led to the withdrawal of the diet drug fenfluramine in 1997. It had made up with phentermine the popular yet unapproved fen-phen combination treatment.
Bostons college kids Lab rats for hire
Thu, 14 Jun 2007 09:06:54 GMT
By JESSE HARLAN ALDERMAN, Associated Press Writer
BOSTON - College students are known for finding creative ways to earn money, but few can compete with Boston University senior Allison Yochim — who once earned cash watching dueling images of sea turtles and hardcore pornography.
Yochim, a self-described "lab rat," says she has made more than $3,000 by participating in more than 30 medical studies at Boston's world-class research hospitals.
Researchers here can tap into a pool of about a quarter-million college students to find willing participants for scientific studies.
For some students, including Yochim, taking part can almost be a full-time summer job.
During one recent study on female sexuality, Yochim answered a survey of deeply personal questions. Then researchers measured her body's response while she watched a computer screen flashing a sequence of
http://www.mclean.harvard.edu/
Early warning signs for ovarian cancer
Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:41:31 GMT
By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer
ATLANTA - For the first time, cancer experts are advising women of certain symptoms that might alert them to ovarian cancer, a medically infamous "silent killer" that is hard to spot early and is one of the deadliest tumors.
Suddenly experiencing weeks of bloating, the need to urinate frequently, eating changes and abdominal or pelvic pain — either one of these or a combination — could be a tip-off to early ovarian cancer, according to several groups of cancer experts.
The
American Cancer Society and other organizations released a consensus statement Wednesday listing the symptoms. Historically, doctors have believed there are no early signs of ovarian cancer, which is expected to kill about 15,000 American women this year.
"There's been this myth about ovarian cancer being silent and people saying there's nothing you can do about it. Well, that's simply not true anymore," said Dr. Barbara Goff, a University of Washington cancer specialist.
There is no early screening test; a regular pelvic exam is considered the main way to detect the cancer early.
The cancer society wrote the consensus statement along with the Gynecologic Cancer Foundation and the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists.
The experts say women should see their doctor if they suddenly experience any of these symptoms daily for at least three weeks:
_Bloating.
_Pelvic or abdominal pain.
_Difficulty eating or feeling full quickly.
_Frequent or urgent urination.
But the guidelines are problematic, said Debbie Saslow, the cancer society's director of breast and gynecologic cancer.
Many women with these symptoms are more likely to have irritable bowel syndrome than ovarian cancer, she said. Also, there are no highly accurate tests to clearly confirm ovarian cancer at such an early stage.
That means pursuing the symptoms as a harbinger of ovarian cancer may, in some cases, lead to biopsies and other treatments that will do more harm than good.
"That was the frustration with this," Saslow said. But experts decided to issue the statement anyway, because important recent studies by Goff have indicated the sudden appearance of these symptoms in healthy women may be an important indicator.
Doctors said they expect media coverage of the guidelines will unleash a flood of queries from nervous women.
"I would expect an increase in calls from people wanting to come in and find out what is the cause of their symptoms. But if a patient is properly evaluated, it should not lead to an undue increase in diagnostic testing," said Dr. George Mussalli, chairman of the obstetrics and gynecology departments at St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan.
Proper evaluation includes asking whether a woman has a family history of breast or ovarian cancer or has tested positive for a genetic mutation associated with those conditions, said Jane Langridge, who heads the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, an advocacy group.
Women should initially be evaluated by a gynecologist, but they should go to a specialist in gynecologic cancers if more testing and treatment is contemplated, she added.
Doctors check for ovarian cancer with ultrasound, a blood test and an exam in which a doctor feels for a mass. Unfortunately, none are considered highly accurate. The blood test — which checks for a protein that can indicate ovarian cancer — is particularly problematic, some doctors said.
"In premenopausal women, it's almost useless. So many other factors can elevate it," said Dr. Stuart Pancer, an obstetrician/gynecologist at DeKalb Medical, an Atlanta-area hospital system.
Still, Pancer and others said it's important that more women and their doctors practice vigilance.
"We hope this is going to save lives," Goff said.
Among cancers, ovarian is the fifth leading killer of women. It accounts for about 6 percent of female cancer deaths, according to the American Cancer Society.
Lung cancer is No. 1, accounting for more than a quarter of all female cancer deaths. Cancers of the breast, colon and rectum, and pancreas also kill more women.
Survival rates vary by age: Women younger than 65 are about twice as likely to survive at least five years after diagnosis. The overall survival rate is 76 percent after one year and 45 percent after five years.
Survival rates are much higher if the cancer is caught at an early, localized stage, but only one in five ovarian cancers are detected at that point, according to the cancer society.
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AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner in Chicago contributed to this report.
