Eating Less Meat And More Fruit Could Save Lives — And The Planet

• Report says eating more fruits and vegetables and less meat could reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• Global mortality could decline by as much as 10 percent.
• Over a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions arise from food production.

Millions of lives and trillions of dollars could be saved if people the world over ate more fruits and vegetables and less red meat, according to a new study. Such a shift in global eating patterns would also reduce the planetary burden of greenhouse gas emissions and help halt the worst effects of climate change.

Government Nutrition Program's Problems Driving Some Low-Income Women Away

WASHINGTON, Sept 19 (Reuters) - A government nutrition program for pregnant mothers and small children has not kept pace with technology and U.S. poverty experts say its paper voucher system is driving low-income women away from the program when they need it most.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, has seen a sharp drop in participation since 2010, unlike food stamps and other anti-poverty programs that ballooned during the 2007-9 recession and the economic recovery that followed, government figures show.

Are schools going too far in measuring student BMI and banning junk food?

It’s the takes-a-village question, applied to waistlines.

Around the world, children are being weighed and measured not just by their family doctors but by educators – and that information is being tallied alongside their grades on report cards. School nurses in such places as Arkansas, Malaysia and the United Kingdom have been measuring students’ body mass index and sending home assessments of their risk for obesity.

Is that going too far? Is it really a school’s role to make sure kids are physically healthy? Or is that solely the parents’ responsibility?

When Arkansas legislated BMI recording in 2003, many parents were outraged. “There were those who felt like it led to kids being teased and embarrassed, and placed an unfair burden on school districts to conduct the screenings,” said Seth Blomley, the communications director of the Arkansas Education Department. “Some felt that parents, not schools, should take the lead in making sure their kids were healthy.”