Stuyvesant Standard

Fruit Juice: A Leading Cause for Childhood Obesity?

Rammiya Nallainathan — 18 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT-5

As a part of the NYC Council's Sports and Physical Education Report in 2003, vending machines promoting the sale of "junk food" products, such as soft drinks, have been removed and replaced by the water and "100% juice" products of Snapple Beverages. The DOE had received complaints involving the soft drinks being sold to students, stating that they were unhealthy for them because their sugar levels were too high. However, the story does not end because it is here where the irony lies - the sugar content in Snapple is greater than or equal to that of soft drinks.

Not only is Snapple an unhealthy substitute, but many other fruit juices in general may present harmful consequences. The main effect that is shown throughout several children between the ages of four and twelve is the long term development of obesity. Studies carried out by Andrea Sanigorski, Colin Bell, and Boyd Swinburn from the University's Faculty of Health, Medicine, Nursing and Behavioural Sciences show that children who ingested more than 500 mL of fruit juice per day had a higher chance of being overweight or obese than children who did not drink fruit juices at all. In fact, Dr. Sanigorski said that a child who drank more than 750 mL of fruit juice daily would be twice as likely to become obese as a child who didn't drink these juices. One reason this occurs is that parents are unaware of the amount of fruit juice that their children drink and the diet that their children follow. Dr. Sanigorski stated, "These drinks contribute high amounts of energy to kids' diets, yet they don't make them feel full."

Along with obesity, these drinks also assist in the development of diabetes and high blood pressure. This occurs due to the fact that they are laden with fructose, a type of naturally occurring sugar that can trigger obesity in humans, and in turn lead to diabetes and high blood pressure. Fructose does not alert the body to produce insulin, the hormone that "tells" the body that it is well fed. When this occurs, the body does not know when to stop eating and weight gain results.

There are many other alternatives to drinking fruit juice available to a dehydrated individual.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070326095500.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070518155859.htm

Gas Prices Encourage MTA Fares to Increase

Nada Elmansy — 18 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT-5

As the price of gas continues to soar, the cost of everything else increases as well. Unsurprisingly, just as your neighborhood grocery store is probably raising its prices, so is the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The MTA has decided to raise its prices in order to compensate for the increasing gas prices.

In fact, just last month, Westchester County raised its B-line bus fares for the first time in four years. To add to this conspiracy, the MTA has decided to raise all Metrocard prices by February or March. An expected increase of $0.25 would make the fare $2.25. The MTA is also proposing the increase of the multiple ride Metrocard, possibly raising the price of the 30-day card from $76 to $81 and offering a new 14-day Metrocard for $48.

These increased fares are expected to affect 46 percent of the riders who can only afford the one-ride Metrocard. However, the effect of this on Stuyvesant students appears to be minimal, if at all. Freshman Thomas Flagiello believes that this will not have an effect on high school students as a result of the student Metrocards provided by the city. Is it possible that the increased fare could affect the free student fare policy? Of course, for the average everyday rider, spending the extra money is going to be the only option.

Flagiello also believes that if your only option is taking the train or bus to work everyday, then you will pay the extra fare anyway. "All it will do will give them [the commuters] more reason to complain about the way things are being done. Anyway, most riders aren't going to be happy about paying extra to get to and from work everyday." As Westchester County puts its plans into action, the MTA is taking its proposal seriously in plans on putting it into effect by February.

As Thomas said, there is not much that can be done. In fact, most people will probably give into this reality in order to be able to get to work. It has to be clear that the MTA can't be entirely blamed for this. As gas prices increase, it's only normal that transportation prices go up as well.

Trouble in Pakistan

Abhimanyu Ghosh (Staff Writer) and Hesham Saleh (News editor) — 18 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT-5

Just four days before the new year, Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated while on a political campaign in the Rawalpindi region of Pakistan. While the exact sequence of events is still the subject of much debate, reliable sources say that Bhutto was greeting the crowds through the moonroof of her cruiser when her assassin fired multiple gunshots at her. After she fell back in, the assassin detonated bombs attached to himself, killing 21 people in the vicinity, and sending a shock wave around the area. Bhutto was then taken to Rawalpindi General Hospital, where doctors attempted to resuscitate her. Their attempts were futile, and Bhutto was declared dead at 6:16 p.m. local time.

Benazir Bhutto was an important political figure in Pakistan. She was the first woman to serve in a position of leadership in a country with Muslim majority. During her two terms as prime minister, she pushed for various reforms, mainly aimed at increasing the rights of women in Pakistani society, and modernizing Pakistan. Bhutto stood out as a symbol of hope and democracy, despite the turmoil of Pakistani politics. To many, she represented change, and move toward more liberal reforms to keep in step with modern times. Often, such beliefs led to fierce opposition, and multiple attempts on her life, the last of which tragically ended in her death. There is uncertainty about how Bhutto's assassination will affect the world. When asked if Bhutto's assassination will have any effect on the world, junior John Hossain said, "Not at all. Nations have serious problems, and despite the many governments which expressed that they were sorry over this, they won't do anything to help a Pakistan which desperately needs help." Junior Katrina Tarmidi had a different perspective on the issue. "It poses more of a threat for several countries," Tarmidi said. "The [United States] strongly supported Bhutto in hopes of working with her to get rid of Al-Qaeda who are supposedly in Pakistan. But now their only option is to work with [Pervez] Musharraf, who isn't as cooperative."