(AP) -- A plan by New York City to combat obesity by restricting the purchase of sugary drinks with foods stamps would be too large and complex, federal officials said Friday.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture rejected a waiver request that would have allowed the city to implement the plan, which would have barred food stamp recipients from using their benefits to buy sodas, teas, sports drinks and other sugar-sweetened drinks.
The ban would have applied to any sweetened beverage that contains more than 10 calories per 8 ounces.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. David Paterson announced in October that they would seek a waiver from the USDA to start up a temporary program that would be evaluated before becoming permanent.
In a statement released Friday, Bloomberg said his administration was disappointed by the USDA's decision.
"We think our innovative pilot would have done more to protect people from the crippling effects of preventable illnesses like diabetes and obesity than anything being proposed anywhere else in this country - and at little or no cost to taxpayers," he said.
While sharing the goal of reducing obesity, an official with the nation's food stamp program said in a letter Friday addressed to the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance that the USDA had concerns about the plan's "potential viability and effectiveness."
Jessica Shahin, associate administrator of the program, wrote that the proposal lacked clear product eligibility guidelines, didn't take into account the burden that might be placed on city food retailers and failed to put forward a credible design for evaluating the effect on obesity and health.
The food stamp program was launched in the 1960s and serves more than 40 million Americans each month.
The city has been actively working to shape diet choices by New Yorkers, including with a public advertising campaign called "Pouring on the Pounds" that targets the excessive consumption of sugary drinks by linking it to obesity and diabetes.
Oct 07, 2010
spiritosl
not rated yet Aug 22, 2011Even every pig farmer know that if you feed the pig a lot of carbohydrates the pig quickly gets fat.
A physiologist knows that carbohydates (=sugar) rises the blood glucose level and triggers the pancreas to release insulin which makes the liver convert excess carbohydrates to stored fat. Thus the insulin effect withdraws some of the energy from sugars eaten from the metabolism and the glucose eating individual gets hungry prematurely and craves more carbohydrate food that is again partially stored as fat.
So by eating more than 2 oz of carbohydrates per day is an excellent way of weight gain with frequent hunger episodes.
By having meat and fat, both essential macronutrients, the body will be satisfied and stay lean in the same way man always has been before the McGovern committee report 1977 where natural animal fats were falsely villified.