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California Senate Hearing: Exploring the Link between Sugar-Sweetened Drinks and Obesity

November 5, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Los Angeles City Council Chambers, City Hall
200 North Spring Street, Los Angeles

Web cast at www.lacityview.org

The Senate Select Committee on Obesity and Diabetes and the Senate Health Committee will convene a joint informational hearing on the link between sugar- sweetened beverages and obesity on Thursday, November 5.

The hearing will be chaired by Senator Alex Padilla, Chair of the Select Committee on Obesity and Diabetes and Senator Elaine Alquist, Chair of the Health Committee.

They will hear testimony from beverage industry representatives, researchers, health professionals, marketing experts, as well as community and foundation leaders.  State officials are also expected to testify.

Witnesses

Senators Opening Statements

1. Link between sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and obesity

  • Gale Woodward Lopez, MPH, RD, Associate Director, the Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Center for Weight and Health, University of California Berkeley 
  • Susan H. Babey, PhD, Research Scientist, UCLA Center for Health Policy Research 
  • Kelly D. Brownell, PhD, Co-Founder and Director, Yale University Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity

2. Health consequences of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption 

  • Francine Kaufman, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Vice President Global Medical, Clinical & Health Affairs Medtronic Diabetes, Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics and Communications at USC, The Center for Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
  • Michael I. Goran, PhD, Professor of Preventive Medicine, Physiology & Biophysics and Pediatrics, The Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Endowed Chair in Childhood Obesity and Diabetes, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
  • Glenn A. Lopez, M.D. Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA
  • Steven M. Levy, DDS, Wright-Bush-Shreves Endowed Professor of Research, College of Dentistry, the University of Iowa
  • Santos Cortez, DDS, Clinical Instructor, University of Southern California Department of Advanced Pediatric Dentistry

3. Industry representatives 

  • Maureen L. Storey, PhD – Senior Vice President of Science Policy, American Beverage Association
  • Marcy Zwelling-Aamot, MD FACEP – primary care practitioner in Los Alamitos, CA.   President of L.A. County Medical Association, Long Beach District 3.  Former president of the Los Angeles County Medical Association and a current CMA trustee
  • Margaret Leahy, PhD – Director, Health & Wellness Science, The Coca-Cola Company

4. Marketing of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and its Impact

  • Dale Kunkel, PhD, University of Arizona, American Psychological Association Task Force on Advertising and Children (2004), Committee on Food Marketing and the Diets of Children and Youth, Institute of Medicine, the National Academies of Science (2006)
  • Katie Woodruff, MPH, Deputy Director, Berkeley Media Studies Group
  • Neal Baer, MD, Wolf Films/Universal Television, Executive Producer, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," Board Member, Children Now

5. Industry representatives

  • Jim McGreevy – Vice President of State & Local Affairs, American Beverage Association
  • Danielle Greenberg, PhD, FACN – Director of Nutrition and Scientific Affairs at PepsiCo.  Former Associate Research Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at Cornell University Medical College

6. Cost of the Obesity Epidemic in California

  • Linda Rudolph Acting Chief Deputy Director, CDPH, Deputy Director, Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
  • Robert K. Ross, MD, CEO, California Endowment
  • Genoveva Islas-Hooker, MPH, Regional Coordinator, Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Program

7. Public Comment