News on Health and Nutrition from the United States

Many snack foods and spreads on the market are now free of artery-clogging trans fat, but consumers still need to be savvy label-readers, according to researchers. In a sampling of packaged foods at a local Wal-Mart, researchers at the University of Mi...

 Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has become the first nationwide U.S. grocery chain to require suppliers of its private label and other food products such as produce, meat, fish, poultry and ready-to-eat foods to have their factories certified against one of th...

It is common knowledge that obesity levels in America have been recorded at record levels, almost reaching the point of an epidemic. However, in the wake of numerous federal guidelines that promote a low fat diet, one must beg the question -- is it pos...

To see whether potato chips and cheese crunchies, those quintessential Super Bowl snacks, can lose their fat but keep their taste, we compared regular versions with some lower-calorie, lower-fat, or multigrain cousins. We also dipped the tortilla chip...

The Virginia Senate voted unanimously Tuesday to phase out the use of artery-clogging trans fats in food sold at public schools, from the cheese pizza in the cafeteria to the chips in the vending machine. The bill would direct the state superintendent...

A new United States Potato Board (USPB) website, www.potatogoodness.com, joined the Board’s online cache of resources championing the goodness and nutrition found in America’s favorite vegetable. This consumer website went live January 17, 2008 and re...

Bell Flavors and Fragrances has responded to concerns over the use of diacetyl in popcorn by developing butter flavors that are free from the additive. The company claims its replacers provide the same fatty, creamy mouth feel that diacetyl does, and ...

Super Bowl Sunday is the “Super Bowl” of snacking. Research by the Calorie Control Council and the Snack Food Association finds that Americans will eat 30 million pounds of snacks on the big game day. That breaks down to 11.2 million pounds of potato ...

Swanson Health Products has filed a petition with the FDA asking it to determine that California's Proposition 65 conflicts irreconcilably with food and supplement regulations, making the industry vulnerable to 'bounty hunters'.   Proposition 65 was i...

PepsiCo Inc (PEP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) expects its business, based on "comfort foods", to be resilient to a U.S. economic slowdown, Chief Executive Indra Nooyi said on Wednesday. "In many ways we are countercyclical and it helps...

A top food safety expert at ConAgra Foods Inc. was fired last week because he violated one of the company's employment polices, company officials said Monday. ConAgra declined to provide more details about Paul A. Hall's termination as vice president ...

Restaurant chains in New York will be forced to put calorie counts on their menus as part of a healthier eating campaign. The city's health board hopes the fat-filled truth about some dishes will shock diners into choosing alternatives. The new rule ...

Una agencia municipal aprobó el martes un plan para obligar a cadenas de restaurantes de comida rápida a poner la cifra de calorías de sus alimentos en menús, con la esperanza de que eso fuerce a los neoyorquinos a comer de manera más saludable.

Unilever consumer scientists claim that simple front-of-pack logos will be most effective in helping consumers make the healthy choice in the supermarket. In the journal Appetite, the scientists report on the efficacy of eight front-of-pack nutrition l...

A union for U.S. hotel, restaurant and kitchen workers has called on cooking oil manufacturers to stop using a toxic butter-flavoring additive called diacetyl."It could pose a serious health risk to commercial cooks and UNITE HERE is calling for f...

Wayne Watson, from Centennial, Colorado, is thought to be the only consumer of popcorn to have developed the rare lung condition bronchiolitis obliterans (popcorn lung).   Watson's lungs have been damaged by the flavour chemical diacetyl in the artif...

Westchester County’s ban on the use of cooking oils that contain trans-fat is now in effect for restaurants, school cafeterias and other licensed food service establishments. Starting January 15, 2007, Health Department inspectors will check for trans...

Following the lead of New York City and Brookline, health regulators in Boston last night took the first step toward banning artery-clogging trans fat from French fries, doughnuts, and other food sold in restaurants and corner stores. The Boston Publ...