| Drink claims to burns calories; skeptics don't buy it
Consumers cruising the aisles of supermarkets this week will find a new green tea beverage with an astounding claim - drink it and burn calories. The Coca-Cola Co. and Nestle say consuming three cans a day of their new product, Enviga, will burn 60 to 100 calories - and you don't have to run laps around the track, pedal a stationary bicycle or even bench-press weights. These calories can be burned merely by lifting the cans from table to mouth. It seems too good to be true, and some say it is. In fact, one watchdog group already has filed a false-advertising lawsuit against the two companies, and Connecticut's attorney general has launched an investigation into the calorie-burning claim. But Coca-Cola representatives insist that the drink has been scientifically tested and that it works.
Weight loss pill moves to shelves
Despite side effects that may increase the use of Pepto-Bismol across the country, a diet pill will be the first of its kind to hit the over-the-counter weight loss market this summer.
Alli, a product of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, was approved last week by the Food and Drug Administration for over-the-counter sale. Though prescriptions of the drug were first issued in 1999, according to Glaxo's Web site, the FDA felt it was time for the drug to be available for all consumers of at least 18 years of age.
But not everyone is enthused at the news of obesity being solved with a pill.
The answer for those who are overweight is not found in a pill, but rather in a lifestyle change of dietary and exercise habits, said Dr. Tania Horacek, nutrition counselor and associate professor in the College of Human Sciences and Health Professions.
Big game eating extravaganza
The Super Bowl has become much more than a football game: It's the second biggest day for food consumption in the United States, after Thanksgiving. So, to choose the most splurgeworthy foods, here are the exercise equivalents (each based on a 155-pound person) for some of your favorite football snacks. Keep in mind that we all have a daily caloric budget, so it is only after you use your daily budget that the exercise equivalents kick in. A handful of Doritos | equals 43 touchdown dances in the end zone. Chips are pretty expensive, calorically. A handful of Cooler Ranch Doritos: 140 calories. Diet pro | Eat one at a time, and don't put out huge bowls of them - make it so you have to get up each time you want more than six chips. Two slices of stuffed pizza with the works | 197 minutes cleaning the stadium after the game.
The not-so-great American diet
There have been recent books and movies, as well as numerous medical studies and news shows that call attention to the epidemic of poor health caused by the American diet. A good example is Eric Schlosser’s "Fast Food Nation," a modern-day version of "The Jungle," by Upton Sinclair. Yet even with the popularity of the human experiment detailed in "Supersize Me," fast-food companies like McDonalds and Pizza Hut are making a killing. There is an alarming rate of obesity and diabetes among American children, and some are even experiencing cardiac problems due to poor diet and lack of exercise. A teenager with congestive heart problems. What’s wrong with this picture? The first and foremost problem is Americans are addicted to sugar to the point that our foods are loaded with it.
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