March 2009

Rudd Center Releases Soft Drink Tax Policy Report

The Rudd Center has just released a policy report on soft drink taxes. It provides a summary of research which addresses concerns of policy makers and citizens, policy recommendations and arguments used by proponents and opponents of soft drink taxes.

In addition, Kelly Brownell, PhD, Rudd Center Director, wrote an opinion piece for the New York Daily News urging Governor Paterson of New York to remain firm in his commitment to the tax, both because of the expected effect on sugared beverage consumption and the potential to generate revenue for needed health programs. Click here to read a review article on soft drink intake and health outcomes published by Rudd Center faculty in 2007.

Videos Exposing Weight Bias Released

*A must-see and must-share for teachers and health care providers*
The stigmatization of obese adults by employers, educators, health care providers, family members, romantic partners, and the media is rampant. To help increase public awareness about this issue, the Rudd Center has released two new videos on weight bias. The videos are hosted by Emme, supermodel and women's advocate. They feature Rudd Center experts, including Rebecca Puhl, PhD, Director of Research & Weight Stigma Initiatives. Using expert commentary and dramatic representation, the videos address the obstacles obese individuals encounter at home, in schools, and within health care settings. The videos can be viewed on the Rudd Center website or Yale’s YouTube website. DVD copies will be available soon.

U.K. Embarks on Campaign to Reduce Saturated Fat

One-third of premature deaths in the United Kingdom are due to cardiovascular disease. Saturated fat can lead to increased cholesterol levels, increasing the risk for cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, heart attack, angina, and stroke.

The U.K.’s Food Standards Agency has launched a public health campaign aimed at reducing the consumption of saturated fat. The $20 million campaign includes a 40-second television ad and a series of print ads about the adverse health effects of saturated fat. The ads also list foods high in saturated fat and suggest healthier alternatives. The U.K. is pressing companies to offer products with reduced saturated fat and to improve package labeling.

“The government in the U.K. has been very active on the nutrition front and has established very good relationships with leading scholars and NGOs. Perhaps similarly ambitious programs could take place in the U.S.,” according to Kelly Brownell, PhD, Rudd Center Director.

Spotlight on Rudd Center Affiliated Faculty: James Gustave Speth, JD

James Gustave Speth’s research focuses on global environmental change and governance. In his current work, he is examining whether the dynamics of modern capitalism run counter to environmental goals. If they do, what must change and how?

Speth has collaborated with Kelly Brownell, PhD, Rudd Center Director, to develop new ways of looking at the interactions between food and the environment and to identify common policy approaches.

Speth is the Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. Dean of the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and Sara Shallenberger Brown Professor in the Practice of Environmental Policy at Yale University. He currently teaches two courses: International Environmental Law and Policy; and Modern Capitalism and the Environment: Pathways to Sustainability.

Speth’s prior positions include Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and Chair of the U.N. Development Group; founder and President of the World Resources Institute; Professor of law at Georgetown University; Chairman of the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality; and senior attorney and cofounder of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Speth earned his MLitt from Oxford University and his JD from Yale University. Working to combat environmental degradation, he has held leadership roles on the President’s Task Force on Global Resources and Environment; the Western Hemisphere Dialogue on Environment and Development; and the National Commission on the Environment. He has received the National Wildlife Federation’s Resources Defense Award; the Natural Resources Council of America’s Barbara Swain Award of Honor; a Special Recognition Award from the Society for International Development; the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Environmental Law Institute; and the Blue Planet Prize. His publications include the books: The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability; Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment; and Worlds Apart: Globalization and the Environment. His articles have appeared in Foreign Policy; Foreign Affairs; Environmental Science and Technology; and the Columbia Journal World of Business.

Click here to read more about Speth’s work.

The Latest Rudd Center Podcasts

Marcia L. Pelchat, PhD
Associate Member, Monell Chemical Senses Center

• Human Food Cravings
• Human Food Addiction?

David Wallinga, MD, MPA
Wm T Grant Foundation Fellow, University of Minnesota; Director, Food and Health Program Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

• Overfed and Undernourished: Downstream Impacts of a Flawed Farm Policy?
• High-Fructose Corn Syrup
• Use of Antibiotics in Modern Farm Animals

Marian Tanofsky-Kraff, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; Researcher, Unit on Growth and Obesity, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health
Preventing Excessive Weight Gain in Adolescent Girls at High-Risk for Adult Obesity

Susan Peters, APRN, MPH; Sonia Pereira, PhD
Peters: Director of the Physical Activity & Wellness Project for New Haven Public Schools, Supervisor/Clinician in School Based Health Center: Yale-New Haven Hospital; Pereira: Term Assistant Professor, Barnard College, Columbia University
Is PAW Working? Results from an Evaluation of the New Haven Public Schools Health/Wellness Initiative: Physical Activity & Wellness (PAW)

Our collection of podcasts is available for download on iTunes U, under the Yale University Health & Medicine – Nutrition & Obesity section, or you may subscribe to a RSS Feed that will automatically update whenever new content is released. Podcasts can be listened to on a computer or downloaded to a music player.

Library of Podcasts (Partial List)

Lori Dorfman, DrPH
Director of Berkeley Media Studies Group, a project of the Public Health Institute
News Frames of Health Issues

Eric A. Finkelstein, MHA, PhD, MA
Health Economist and the Director of the Public Health Economics Program at the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International
The Fattening of America: How the Economy Makes Us Fat, If It Matters, and What to Do About It

Michael S. Kaufman, JD
Chairman of the National Restaurant Association Board of Directors and Co-President of Enovo Restaurant Ventures LLC
America’s Restaurants: Serving Our Nation

Tim Lobstein, PhD
Director of the Childhood Obesity Programme at the International Obesity TaskForce (IOTF)
Obesonomics: Describing the Obesogenic Economy

Brian Wansink, PhD
Executive Director, USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion; John S. Dyson Endowed Chair, Applied Economics and Management Department, Cornell University; Director, Cornell Food and Brand Lab
Turning Mindless Eating into Healthy Eating