Obesity

Developing State Policy Recommendations for Safe Drinking Water Procurement in Child Care Centers and Schools

Access to safe and appealing drinking water in child care centers and schools is a key strategy to build healthy habits that children will use for life to maintain a healthy body weight and to support overall health. This study sought to identify and summarize state-level policies in twenty states for drinking water quality and

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New Lawsuit Alleges Coca-Cola, American Beverage Association Deceiving Public About Soda-Related Health Problems

Despite the scientifically established link between consuming sugar drinks and obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease, the Coca-Cola Company and its trade association, the American Beverage Association, deceive consumers by denying and obscuring soda’s link to those diseases, according to a lawsuit filed today. Bringing the action filed today in the Superior Court of

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PHAI Joins Center for Science in the Public Interest in Filing Lawsuit Against Coca-Cola for Deceptive Marketing

BOSTON – Two non-profits that use litigation as a public health strategy have joined forces in a lawsuit accusing the Coca-Cola Company (“Coke”) along with the American Beverage Association (“ABA”) of misleading the public about the science that links heart disease, obesity, and diabetes to consumption of sugary beverages. For years, the Public Health Advocacy

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No More Heart Health Valentines from Coke

By Cara Wilking, JD, Consulting Attorney, Public Health Advocacy Institute [PLEASE NOTE: This blog post was prepared prior to unexplained changes to Coca-Cola’s database of its funding of  organizations in the United States. The information reflects the dollar amounts initially reported by Coca-Cola in the Fall of 2015.] For years, the month of February has

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Re-Tooling Bottled Water Bans and Healthy Beverage Requirements to Serve Sustainability and Public Health Goals: A Constructive Path Forward

By Cara Wilking, JD, PHAI Consulting Attorney Researchers at the University of Vermont in Burlington (UVM) published a paper describing the impact of a campus bottled water ban that was paired with a healthy beverage requirement. The study found that removing bottled water from campus had no impact on the number of plastic bottles shipped

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Copycat Snacks Undermine School Nutrition

Today, the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University School of Law, is releasing the issue brief Copycat Snacks in Schools on the food industry’s recent push to market popular junk food brands in schools. As noted in today’s New York Times story by Michael Moss entitled “The Domino’s Smart Slice Goes To School,” PHAI has

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Plumbing codes an important factor in availability of school water fountains, finds PHAI’s Wilking in CDC study

In a study examining availability of water fountains in schools published in the May, 2014 issue of the CDC journal, Preventing Chronic Disease, PHAI’s senior staff attorney, Cara Wilking, along with CDC researchers, Stephen J. Onufrak and Sohyun Park found that state plumbing codes were a predictor of whether and how many water fountains were available

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PHAI’s Gottlieb and Wilking Co-author study in JAMA Pediatrics Showing that Fast Food Giants Confuse and Deceive Kids

  Boston – After much criticism and prodding, Fast food giants McDonald’s and Burger King agreed to depict healthier food options in advertising directed at children.  Researchers at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, along with the Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) at Northeastern University School of Law, found that attempts to honor these pledges

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