[Vision2020] There go our rights again: Ice Cream 'Isn't Health Food'-Study

[TEX]

Damn it!! Just when I was about to start the Baskin's diet!!

Tex
tex@kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu

On Thu, 24 Jul 2003, Dale Courtney wrote:

> Those who think that they can take better care of everyone else's bodies
> than their own are at it again -- this time with ice cream!
>
> Can someone please tell me why we cannot longer enjoy to eat, drink, and be
> merry without someone trying to sue away our rights to do so?
>
> Best,
> Dale Courtney
> Moscow, Idaho
>   _____
>
> Ice Cream 'Isn't Health Food'-Study
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2
> <http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=573&u=/nm/20030724/od_nm/health_
> icecream_dc&printer=1>
> &cid=573&u=/nm/20030724/od_nm/health_icecream_dc&printer=1
>
>
> By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
>
>
> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The healthy food watchdog that took all the fun out
> of Chinese take-out and movie popcorn has done it again, this time with
> summer's favored treat -- ice cream.
>
>
>
>
> "Everyone knows that ice cream isn't a health food," the Center for Science
> in the Public Interest, an independent, nonprofit group, said in a study
> released on Wednesday.
>
>
>
> "But the staggering calorie and saturated fat content of most of the treats
> served up at chains like Baskin-Robbins, Ben and Jerry's, Cold Stone
> Creamery, Friendly's, Haagen-Dazs and TCBY is bound to surprise most
> consumers."
>
>
>
> The CSPI said an empty Ben & Jerry's chocolate-dipped waffle cone, designed
> to hold at least two scoops of ice cream, itself packs 320 calories and 10
> grams or half a day's worth of saturated fat.
>
>
>
> "If you put a regular scoop of Chunky Monkey ice cream in that cone, it is
> going to be worse for you than (a) one-pound rack of baby back ribs, with
> 820 calories and 30 grams of saturated fat," CSPI nutritionist Jayne Hurley
> told a news conference to publicize the study.
>
>
>
> "This is something eaten by people strolling around a mall," she added.
> "They have no idea they have just eaten 820 calories and one and a half days
> worth of saturated fat."
>
>
>
> Haagen-Dazs's Mint Chip Dazzler, a sundae in a cup, has three scoops of ice
> cream, fudge, cookies, sprinkles and cream -- and 1,270 calories, the group
> said.
>
>
>
> Its 38 grams of fat is more than the day's allowance as calculated by the
> U.S. government, which says the average American should eat between 2,000
> and 2,500 calories a day.
>
>
>
> The CSPI called on restaurants and ice cream parlors to list the fat and
> calorie content of food on menus.
>
>
>
> The CSPI's Michael Jacobson said the report supported his group's argument
> that restaurants carry at least some responsibility for the obesity epidemic
> in the United States.
>
>
>
> More than two-thirds of Americans are overweight and 30 percent are obese,
> both of which raise the risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other
> big killers.
>
>
>
> "It is clear that companies are using every means that they can devise to
> get us to eat more and bigger products and therefore to spend more in their
> shops," Jacobsen said. "The least they can do, the least they must do, is
> provide customers with factual information."
>
>
>
> Ben & Jerry's spokeswoman Chrystie Heimert said calorie and nutritional
> information is available online or in notebooks kept in stores, but it is
> hard to calculate how much each customer gets from a cone with various
> toppings.
>
>
>
> "It would be tough to provide that information since it's a kind of
> scooper's choice," she said in a telephone interview. Asked if she knew that
> a chocolate-dip waffle cone contained 320 calories, she responded: "Well
> yes, but I may not be the right person to ask because I work for an ice
> cream company."
>
>
>
> Jacobson said even food that is labeled contains hidden fat. "Cold Stone
> Creamery offers fat-free frozen yogurt, or so they would have you believe,"
> Jacobson said. CSPI tests showed a small, 7 ounce serving contained 11 grams
> of fat and 7 grams of artery-clogging saturated fat.
>
>
>
> "Ice cream is an indulgent dessert, and like any indulgence, is meant be
> enjoyed in moderation," Cold Stone Creamery spokesman Kevin Donnellan
> responded in a statement.
>
>
>
> Baskin-Robbins is owned by British food and drink group Allied Domecq Plc,
> Anglo-Dutch group Unilever owns Ben & Jerry's and Haagen-Dazs is marketed by
> Swiss food giant Nestle .
>
>
>
> In the past CSPI has put out reports publicizing the health-threatening
> qualities of other popular foods, including Chinese take-out meals, burgers
> and popcorn.
>
>
>