Tag: Diabetes

The Global Challenge of Unhealthy Diets: Front-of-Package Labeling for America

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

by Alice Bryk Silveira

The alarming rise in diabetes and obesity rates in the United States has placed significant strain on health care systems and poses a serious public health threat. Americans’ overconsumption of ultra-processed foods high in sugar, salt and unhealthy fats is a concerning contributor. Globally, poor nutrition from such dietary habits plays a major role in the global burden of chronic diseases. In response, many countries have implemented policies to reshape their food environments. A prominent strategy is front-of-package (FOP) labeling systems, designed to help consumers make more informed choices, encourage healthier lifestyles, and push food manufacturers to align with public health guidelines by reducing ingredients such as sugar and salt.

Despite international momentum and calls from public health experts, the United States remains behind. Since 2009, the U.S. government has discussed the potential adoption of a uniform FOP label, with Congress directing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Institute of Medicine (IOM) to produce recommendations on the topic. No standardized system exists but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to propose new rulemaking on front-of-package labeling in 2024.

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Up close details of a dark soda in ice.

Why soda taxes, an awesome public health policy, are rare

Daniel G. Aaron Leave a comment

By Daniel Aaron

This post is, in part, a response to a panel discussion on soda taxes and obesity, given by Professors Emily Broad Leib, Steven Gortmaker, and Carmel Shachar on February 14, 2020.

Diet is devastating the public’s health

Diet is the top cause of death and disability in the United States and abroad. Diet-related disease has been rising for forty years, and we cannot seem to control it. Currently 39.8% of Americans are obese. By 2030, this will climb to half of all Americans. Obesity causes numerous health risks, including heart attacks and strokes, and increases the risk of many different types of cancer.

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Lessons from Miss Idaho: Greater Acceptance of (but Not Necessarily Greater Access to) Diabetes Devices

kgreenwood Leave a comment

By Kate Greenwood
[Cross-posted at Health Reform Watch]

Given the health law and policy topics that are this blog’s usual fare, some of you may have missed the fact that earlier this month the eighty-eighth annual Miss America pageant was held here in New Jersey, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. And you may have also missed it (I did) when, this past July, Miss Idaho, Sierra Sandison, a Type 1 diabetic, became a social and traditional media sensation after she competed in the swimsuit competition with her insulin pump clipped to her bikini bottom, visible for all to see. Sandison started a hashtag, #showmeyourpump, inspiring Type 1 diabetics from around the world to post photos of themselves with their pumps.

Although Sandison was the first contestant to compete in the Miss America pageant with her pump visible, she is not the first contestant with Type 1 diabetes, or the first to rely on a pump. In 1998, both Deana Herrerra, Miss New York, and Nicole Johnson, Miss Virginia, had the disease, and both relied on pumps to control it. Johnson went on to be crowned Miss America 1999, with a platform of diabetes awareness. Johnson explained to the Philadelphia Inquirer that, before getting the pump, “‘I stuck myself four or five times a day. I was getting scar tissue. I was feeling depressed, and I thought, `I’m never going to have an iota of freedom.'” Since getting the pump, Johnson said, “‘Now, I control the diabetes.”’

Sierra Sandison’s decision to wear her diabetes pump on her hip both contributed to and was the result of a trend toward greater acceptance of medical devices and our need for them. (As Miriam Tucker reported at NPR, “Amputees are increasingly using visible prostheses rather than covering them up. And the ostomy community has its own version of the ‘show me’ campaign.”) Nicole Johnson told Tucker that “‘Our culture seems to be more accepting today, as opposed to when I was diagnosed in 1993.'”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the increase in acceptance has not translated into easy or uniform access to the medical devices that help diabetics manage their disease, including insulin pumps, insulin pens, and continuous glucose monitors. Read More

A Question of Insurance Fraud?

Temple University Center for Public Health Law Research Leave a comment

By Scott Burris

No, I mean it: this is a question to Bill of Health readers who know about the law on this topic.

This week, a colleague handed me a palm card she’d been given at a subway station here in Philadelphia. “Cash for diabetic test strips” it read.  Comparing prices on the company’s website with prices on Wal-Mart’s pharmacy page, it looked like the test-strip buyer pays about 20 cents on the dollar for “pre-owned” test strips.

The palm card and the website both stipulate that the strips be unexpired and in their original, unopened, factory-sealed boxes.

So, one asks, are there enough people out there who buy more diabetic test strips than they need, and are willing to take an 80% loss to ensure they are used by someone else? That seems unlikely.

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