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School Children Are Now Too Fat to Fit In Class Chairs
A recent survey of 750 Australian schools has revealed that on average children have grown too large for their chairs and desks. From the article: "The Education Department said schools were running healthy eating programs. 'The department takes the issue of childhood obesity seriously and works with a number of agencies to address the issue,' a spokesman said. 'We have a number of initiatives to support school communities as well as promote healthy eating.' He said parents needed to enforce the message about healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle at home."
The Wikipedia page on HFCS summarizes the Princeton studies well:
The set of rats on HFCS 12 hrs/day gained 48 percent more weight than a set of rats on sucrose 12 hrs/day in young males over the short term, but less in adult females over the long term. They also reported that the rats on HFCS 24 hrs/day did not gain a statistically significant amount of weight when compared to the rats on sucrose or chow only. Additionally, no differences in blood-glucose levels were observed.
Another study was conducted for 6–7 months, and fat pads were removed from the rats and weighed. Fat pads for rats on HFCS 12 hrs/day weighed significantly more than rats on chow only, but weighed less, but not significantly so, than rats on sucrose. Fat pads for rats on HFCS 24 hrs/day did not have a statistically different weight than rats on chow only. The rats fed with 24h HFCS also had higher triglyceride (TG) levels than rats fed 12h sucrose or chow only, indicating signs of metabolic syndrome. TG levels were not tested for rats fed 24h sucrose, and other studies indicate that sucrose and HFCS have similar post-metabolic profiles. The study methodology has been criticized.
The study has some pretty big flaws and I really hope somebody repeats a more rigorous version of it.
Doing a bit of quick research I found:
Considerations
Wheat Chex contain 5 g of sugar per serving, which is equivalent to about 1.2 tsp. The American Heart Association recommends consuming just 6 tsp. of added sugar daily if you are a woman and 9 if you are a man. The sugars in Wheat Chex come from sugar, which is the second ingredient, and molasses, which is the fourth ingredient. The wheat variety of Chex is not gluten-free. The corn, rice, honey-nut, chocolate and cinnamon versions are, however.
Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/277650-wheat-chex-cereal-nutrition-information/#ixzz13h64D000
here. That's 5g per 38g serving. I'd bet that a lot of people eating it because it's a "healthy option" put a bit of sugar on the top as well. Where I live we have cereals packed with sugar all the way over to cereals with plain old wheat and nothing added at all.
Of course, I don't believe that the US has no popular options for a plain, boring, tamper free cereal but you really do have to read the labels, whatever you buy.