It’s a class action lawsuit, supported by the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Most meals at Denny’s restaurants meals are dangerously high in salt, putting the chain’s customers at greater risk of high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke, alleges a class action lawsuit filed Thursday by a New Jersey man with the support of the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, CSPI.

…The plaintiff, Nick DeBenedetto, 48, is a resident of Tinton Falls, New Jersey, who has eaten for many years at Denny’s restaurants in East Brunswick and Brick, New Jersey.

DeBenedetto takes a prescription medication to control his high blood pressure and at home does not cook with salt or use the salt shaker. Some of his favorite Denny’s items, such as Moons Over My Hammy or the Super Bird turkey sandwich, contain far more than 1,500 mg of sodium even without soup, salad, fried onion rings, or other side dishes.

“I was astonished — I mean, literally floored — to find that these simple sandwiches have more salt than someone in my condition should have in a whole day,” DeBenedetto said. “It’s as if Denny’s is stacking the deck against people like me. I never would have selected those items had I known.”

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This time it’s FXsupplements.com, the makers of Acai Berry Maxx.

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It’s good news…sorta.

The epidemic of obesity among American children appears to be slowing, federal health officials are reporting today.

An analysis of data collected nationally about low-income preschool-aged children ages two to four years old found the prevalence of obesity increased from 12.4 percent in 1998 to 14.5 percent in 2003, but rose only to 14.6 percent in 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. That suggests the obesity epidemic may have hit a plateau, the CDC says.

It’s still too high, of course, but for now, at least it’s not getting worse.

No… it’s not a joke.

When we ran across an e-mail about a new weight loss product, we thought it had to be a joke — a knife and fork that weigh 1½ pounds each, the better to make you eat more slowly? Seriously?

This is quite serious, according to the Knife and Fork Lift’s inventor, Tom Madden. “Everybody approaches it as a joke,” he said, “but when you think about it, it does require you to eat more slowly.” Eating more slowly, say health experts, allows the brain time to register feelings of satiety, resulting in eating less.

The idea sprung from Madden’s own frustrating attempts, and those of his friends, at sticking with diets. “I’m always trying to lose a few pounds, and all the diets everyone has tried to my knowledge have failed. I thought, maybe I could make it more difficult to eat, and slow the process down.” Madden is the founder and chief executive of TransMedia Group, a Boca Raton, La.-based public relations firm.

He came up with a knife and fork encased in a dumbbell-shaped handle, several times the weight of most knives and forks. But he didn’t think this could be the next big thing since the Snuggie when he sent an early version to a friend — who loved it. “He said it was the most unique, creative, imaginative present someone had sent him,” Madden said. “And I thought, let’s make some more of these.”

For what it’s worth, I’ve written about the link between eating quickly and obesity before, so I can appreciate what Mr. Madden is trying to accomplish here.  But there’s no need to invest in…errr… creative (and somewhat pricey) silverware, when – at least for most Westerners - eating with a pair of chopsticks will do much the same thing.

I’ll give Mr. Madden points for ingenuity, however:  I expect the Knife and Fork Lift would make a great gag gift – for either the dieters or weightlifters in your life.

… For selling “designer steroids”.

The supplements, Tren Xtreme and Mass Xtreme, are manufactured by American Cellular Labs and marketed as a “potent legal alternative to” steroids. But authorities alleged in search warrants executed on Thursday that the supplements contain illegal man-made steroids, also known as designer steroids. One of the substances is Madol, which was first identified six years ago during the investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative.

ACL isn’t the only one, either.  I expect more companies and supps will be targeted in the near future.

Introducing the new “Wheaties Fuel”…

Testosterone swirls around every aspect of Wheaties Fuel’s introduction. General Mills — maker of the most popular brand, Cheerios, and the second-largest cereal manufacturer, behind Kellogg’s — used a panel of only male athletes, including the Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and the Boston Celtics power forward Kevin Garnett, to consult on both the nutritional profile and flavor.

From that, the company produced three prototypes of Wheaties Fuel. Samples are going out to about 1,000 “everyday athletes,” primarily Men’s Health readers who volunteered online. By popular vote, those readers will choose the winner, which will be announced Sept. 9; for a few months, the cereal will be available only online, and will be in supermarkets in January.

…The three prototypes bear little resemblance to the original Wheaties, a basic wheat flake: all are much sweeter than the original (each are 25 percent sugars by weight, compared to original Wheaties, at 15 percent). Two contain clusters that have a cinnamon-roll-like flavor and a third has raisins, cranberries and almonds. A cup, without milk, contains 210 calories, compared to 133 in the original Wheaties.

This is a great development, because we all know men require even more sugar and calories in their diets, right?

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One question, many answers… and no solution in sight.

I cannot believe that this idiot is opposing the appointment of Dr. Regina Benjamin as Surgeon General… because she’s overweight.  While I’m no fan of Neil Cavuto (or Fox News), it’s to his credit that he’s having none of it.

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I just finished reading Tom Venuto’s excellent book, “The Body Fat Solution“, and will be reviewing it here later this week.  For now, all I’ll say is that it includes a thorough discussion on emotional eating, which I thought was one of the most valuable parts.  Needless to state, eating for comfort - or in response to other “triggers” that have nothing to do with physical hunger - makes it difficult, if not impossible, for many people to achieve their weight loss/fitness goals.  Fortunately, Tom has extensive, first-hand experience with helping his clients and readers get their eating behavior(s) under control.  You can get a quick feel for his approach by reading his BurnTheFatBlog post on the subject: “5 Steps to Beating Emotional Eating“. 

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The Environmental Working Group’s report on bottled water is worth a read… it’s quite an eye-opener.  In 2008, they created a database representing 137 different commercial brands, and then analyzed both the labels and website information.  The results were pretty revealing… and disappointing.

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Sigh…

The U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has filed a complaint for permanent injunction against Quality Formulation Laboratories, Inc., American Sports Nutrition Inc., Sports Nutrition International LLC and Mohamed S. Desoky, who oversees operations at all three companies.

The companies, located in Paterson, N.J., manufacture dietary supplements and protein powders and distribute them throughout the United States. The companies also export powder mixes and dietary supplements for sale by private label customers.

The government’s complaint, filed July 1, 2009 in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey, alleges that the companies have failed to follow current Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) by manufacturing and storing food under filthy conditions and in conditions that may cause major food allergens to enter into products not intended to contain them.

The complaint also alleges that the companies failed to disclose major food allergens on the product labels and have other labeling problems.

During a recent inspection, FDA investigators found that several of the companies’ products contained milk ingredients that were not declared on the product labels. In addition, the company failed to clean processing equipment between batches and control allergens in the facility.

FDA investigators also discovered live and dead rodents and rodent urine, feces and gnaw holes on bags of product.

In three inspections, FDA investigators noted deviations from GMP standards. The companies promised to make corrections, but they failed to do so. The complaint requests a court order to stop the companies and its officer from manufacturing and distributing the products until needed corrections are made.

“This company has consistently failed to correct filthy conditions in their plants and to make sure that allergens are appropriately declared on the labels, despite frequent warnings to do so,” said Michael Chappell, the FDA’s acting associate commissioner for regulatory affairs. “The FDA will not tolerate companies that fail to provide adequate safeguards.”

Consumers with allergies to milk ingredients who have used these products and are experiencing any symptoms should contact their health care professional.

Kewl: someone’s actually gone and developed comprehensive criteria for superfruit status… and the few relatively fruits that actually merit the title might surprise a few people.

The creator of the rubric is Dr. Paul Gross.  It consists of the following measures:

• Popularity and sensory appeal of the whole fruit
• Nutrient diversity and density
• Phytochemical diversity and density
• Basic medical research intensity
• Clinical applications

And the winners are:
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Which is something that certain supp manufacturers/retailers evidently don’t understand.

Earlier in the week, I clicked through an interesting presentation given at the recent International Society of Sports Nutrition conference.  Entitled “Sports Supplements, Science, and the Politics of New Washington“, it offered some explicit warnings to the supplement industry.  As authors Rick Collins, JD, CSCS and Alan Feldstein, JD put it in a section headed “Self-Regulation or More Regulation”:

If companies making unsubstantiated claims continue to be reported in the press, and lawsuits and class actions proliferate, FDA and FTC may ratchet up their scrutiny.

Indeed. 

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If you’ve ever seen the movie “Dodgeball”, then you know who White Goodman is.  Played by comedian Ben Stiller, the over-the-top fitness nazi and owner of “Globo Gym” is a short man with an oversized ego.  As he quips in the TV commercial that opens the movie: “Here at Globo Gym we’re better than you… and we know it.”

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I’m sure you know the saying. And – when it comes to diet/exercise programs for losing weight and getting in shape – it’s sooooo true.

One of the most self-defeating behaviors I’ve ever encountered during my time on the “Bodybuilding Revealed” and “Fat Loss Revealed” forums, is what I call “The Quest For The Best”. Simply put, most people who are on “The Quest” never stick with one nutrition or workout program for more than a few short weeks, because some other, “better” program catches their eye(s). “Good enough” is never good enough for these folks… they want the absolute BEST return possible for their investment of time/energy/money. 

The irony is that “The Quest” typically sends a whole lot of time/energy/money swirling down the drain, with virtually NO results to show for it. As I noted in an earlier post, it can take some time to make significant body composition changes; so it goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that flitting like a butterfly from program-to-program isn’t the best way to to about it. 

If it’s a good, time-and-battle-tested program from a reputable source, it will work – or can be made to work with a bit of tweaking.  But it needs to be given a chance!  Putting one’s nose to the grindstone and being patient aren’t as exciting as starting something new, but in the end, that’s what it takes to get results AND make them stick.

Solid support + baby steps – not surgery or drastic measures – is what it took.

Congratulations to David Smith – definitely an amazing transformation.

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I came across this report about The American College of Sports Medicine’s new list of America’s fittest cities.  As WebMD describes it,

The list is based on personal factors — including the percentage of residents who smoke, are obese, get regular physical activity, eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day, and have conditions such as diabetes and heart disease — and on local resources, such as parks, farmers’ markets, number of primary health care providers, and crime rates.

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That’s the title of this LA Times article.  I think it overstates things a bit - the info presented is a lot less ominous than the heading suggests.  But that’s par for the course for the mainstream media: when it comes to supps, there simply HAS to be something sinister going on - regardless of the facts.

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This press release sez it all…

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Matt J. Whitworth, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Michigan business owner pleaded guilty in federal court today to his role in a conspiracy to fraudulently market dietary supplements over the Internet with illegal claims that these supplements could prevent, treat or cure a number of diseases. Several Web sites were used to sell nearly $12 million worth of the products in 2005 and 2006.

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…when your good habits keep you going well past 100. That’s Larry Haubner’s problem… at 107, he’s still going strong – which he attributes to nutrition and exercise.  But he’s evidently outlived his savings – twice.

Ask Larry Haubner for the secret to living 107 years, and the Fredericksburg man flexes his biceps, flashes a mostly toothless smile and growls. “Nutrition!” he bellows. “Exercise! I think we should all exercise more than we do.”

But the self-described health nut’s longevity means he’s outlived his savings — twice.

Two years ago, supporters raised $56,000 to help Haubner stay at Greenfield, the assisted living center he calls home. “I was sure that was going to be sufficient,” said Carol Ewing of Bridges Senior Care Solutions, who holds power of attorney to manage Haubner’s affairs.

Today Haubner seems as vigorous as ever. He takes no medication and can lift his walker over his head. But his funds are expected to run out again in November. Without more help, he will have to apply for Medicaid and move to a nursing home. So friends are mounting a second campaign. They’ve raised more than $7,000, enough to pay his bills for three months.

“He doesn’t have anyone,” said Connie Miller, Greenfield’s director, “so we’ve become his family.”

Fortunately - thanks to the press coverage – his supporters at savelarry.org are seeing more donations roll in. Good thing too…looks like he’s gonna need it.  As his doctor, Robert Prasse, states: “I don’t see anything that’s going to take him away from us in a hurry.”