Diabetes specialists seek to push WIC program away from juice
The twin epidemics of diabetes and obesity sweeping the country have forced a re-evaluation of the American diet, including the notion that fruit juice is a healthy alternative to soda. That topic was taken up in a recent op-ed in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The article was written by Harvard Medical School Assistant Professor Florence Brown, director of the Joslin-Beth Israel Deaconess Diabetes and Pregnancy Program; HMS instructor in pediatrics Elvira Isganaitis, a research associate and staff endocrinologist at the Joslin Diabetes Center; and Heather Ferris, a former Joslin research associate and now an assistant professor at the University of Virginia Medical School. The three recommended that fruit juice be cut from the federal WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) supplemental nutrition program for low-income families. The change would make the WIC program healthier for the 25 percent of pregnant American women and 50 percent of children it...