Twinkies. Nutty bars. Powdered donuts.

For 10 weeks, Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, ate one of these sugary cakelets every three hours, instead of meals. To add variety in his steady stream of Hostess and Little Debbie snacks, Haub munched on Doritos chips, sugary cereals and Oreos, too.

His premise: That in weight loss, pure calorie counting is what matters most — not the nutritional value of the food.

The premise held up: On his “convenience store diet,” he shed 27 pounds in two months.  His body mass index went from 28.8, considered overweight, to 24.9, which is normal. He now weighs 174 pounds.

But you might expect other indicators of health would have suffered. Not so.

Haub’s “bad” cholesterol, or LDL, dropped 20 percent and his “good” cholesterol, or HDL, increased by 20 percent. He reduced the level of triglycerides, which are a form of fat, by 39 percent.

“That’s where the head scratching comes,” Haub said. “What does that mean? Does that mean I’m healthier? Or does it mean how we define health from a biology standpoint, that we’re missing something?”

Twinkie diet helps nutrition professor lose 27 pounds – CNN.com

“Today, preschoolers see 21% more fast food ads on TV than they saw in 2003, and somewhat older children see 34% more, said Harris.

According to the study, 40% of kids ages 2-11 ask their parents to go to McDonald’s at least once a week. 15% of preschoolers ask to go every day.

This incessant advertising is working. 84% of parents with kids ages 2-11 reported taking their young child to a fast food restaurant at least once in the last week.

While fast food restaurant commercials may hawk healthy sides like apple slices and low-fat milk, the study found restaurants like McDonald’s and Burger King serve french fries with kids’ meals at least 86% of the time, and soft drinks at least 55% of the time.

The healthy sides are rarely served as a default; they have to be requested.

Plus, it seems healthy foods never have a chance to be seen as tasty on their own. At McDonald’s, where apple slices can be switched out for fries in a Happy Meal, they’re routinely seen with a side of caramel sauce for “dipping.” The idea the apples should be dipped in something is so strong, the slices are called “Apple Dippers.”

Fast Food Restaurants Market Non-Healthy Menu Items Heavily To Kids

British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is bringing his battle against obesity to Australia, setting up his “Ministry of Food” in the Queensland town of Ipswich, he announced Monday.

Oliver said that diet-related disease was the biggest killer in the country, where two-thirds of men and half of women are estimated to be overweight or obese, according to a Sydney University study.

“Let’s be frank, obesity is killing us,” she told reporters. “This is about educating young Queenslanders about how to prepare nutritious meals and help them lead long, healthy lives.”

AFP: Jamie Oliver brings obesity food fight Down Under

The crisis is now official. Obesity is the leading cause of preventable death in Australia, overtaking smoking. The new findings published this month in the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Public Health have escalated the seriousness of obesity in this country.

The study from Western Australia revealed that more than 60 percent of adults and one in four children are overweight or obese. These results are expected to reflect the population across the nation.

Losing Weight to Beat the No. 1 Preventable Disease: Obesity | Health | Epoch Times

According to a new study, fat kids actually eat healthier than their skinny classmates, which has led researchers to believe that the obesity problem has more to do with exercise than junk food.

The Telegraph reports that the study surveyed over 900 kids in Norway, and found that obese children ate fruits, vegetables, low fat cheese and yogurt, and brown breads more often than their skinny counter parts. The study shows that a good diet is not enough to prevent weight gain.

Fat Kids Eat Healthier Than Skinny Kids, New Study Shows – Indyposted