Healthful Bites

No Ad Smokes

We’ve talked about labeling debates with food products before here on Healthful Bites, and some health experts have said that fewer package health claims lead to less confused consumers. Australia may soon require that cigarette makers follow a similar idea, and Don Draper, for one, would not be happy about it!

An anti-smoking initiative by Australia’s Prime Minister would require all cigarette manufacturers to make their product boxes without any logos or designs.  (I say would, not will at this time, because the companies are actively researching their legal options to combat this). The new cartons would be blank, save graphic warnings against smoking.

Tobacco companies claim that this will cut into their profits in various ways. One: it would make their product look the same as their competitors, making the brand less distinguishable. Two: marketing would essentially become non-existent. The same anti-smoking crusade has also raised the taxes on a pack of cigarettes about 25 percent, effective at Midnight Australia time today.

In the past 12 years, the smoking rate Down Under has decreased by almost eight percent—which many attribute to increased taxes, educational campaigns and more strict marketing rules.

Do you feel it is right for the government to regulate the promotion of this dangerous habit? Or is this a “buyer beware” situation, meaning those who smoke already know they are harming their health?

 (Image from The Guardian)

Get Some Class for a Smaller…Backside (what did you think I was going to say? :) )

Rather than teaching college students about nutrition, it may be better for their dietary habits to school them about food growth, manufacturing and production. Think of it as better nutrition by way of a social movement rather than diet how-to. 

After students took a “Food and Society” course, that never told them to eat “better,” they ate more fruits and vegetables and fewer high-fat animal products and sweets. The class focused mainly on social and environmental issues related to food (a la “Food Inc.” or “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”), rather than nutritional content. Control peers who took a health psychology, obesity or community health class during the same time period reported no nutritional improvements. The population who took one of those three classes actually slanted toward eating fewer vegetables after the course.

The Stanford researchers who designed and performed the study (which involved pre-course and post-course nutritional questionnaires, so results may need to be taken with a grain of salt) said that they had likely reached deeper into the students’ needs, sparking new internal motivation to make healthier choices.

What would be the most effective way to persuade you to improve your diet?

Educate students about the food production system and make them more likely to ditch fast food. (Image from From the Vault Radio)
 

Water cooler conversation starter: Hospital sheets and gowns may make you feel even more nude in the future! Not less covered, but more skin-tone-colored. Medical offices should outfit patient beds—and patients—in apparel that is similar to the patient’s regular skin color, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute suggest. That way, doctors can tell more easily with a glance whether their patient has obvious medical issues. Yellow, blue or pale skin can commonly signal a serious ailment. 

Do you ever diagnose yourself or seek treatment based on your skin color? I guess that I focus more on how I feel internally than how I look. But maybe I should start thinking more superficially in this case?