Almost two-thirds of supermarket baby food is unhealthy while nearly all baby food labels contain misleading marketing claims designed to "trick" parents. Those are the conclusions of an eyebrow-raising study in which researchers at Australia's George Institute for Global Health analyzed 651 foods marketed for children ages 6 months to 36 months at 10 supermarket chains in the United States.The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nutrients on Wednesday, found that 60% of the foods failed to meet nutritional standards set by the World Health Organization.'Our findings highlight the urgent need for better regulation and guidance in the infant and toddler foods market in the United States - the health of future generations depends on it.'In addition, 70% of the baby food failed to meet protein requirements, 44% exceeded total sugar recommendations, 25% failed to meet calorie recommendations, and 20% exceeded recommended sodium limits set by the WHO.The study said the most concerning products were snack foods and pouches."Research shows 50% of the sugar consumed from infant foods comes from pouches, and we found those were some of the worst offenders,” said Dr. Elizabeth Dunford, senior study author and an adjunct assistant professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.Sales of such convenient baby food pouches soared 900% in the U.S. in the past 13 years, according to the study. "These pouches are very worrisome. Children have to learn to chew, so they should be eating regular fruits, not pureed, sweetened things in a pouch. Often, these blends are not natural and much sweeter than real fruit, so the child’s being taught to only like super sweet things," said Dr. Mark Corkins, a University of Tennessee gastroenterologist and a chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition.Corkins noted that children not exposed to a variety of textures of food can "develop a texture aversion and will refuse anything but smooth, pureed types of foods."According to the study, "Snack and finger foods, such as fruit bars, cereal bars, and puffed snacks, made up nearly 20% of products available for purchase in 2023, yet had some of the lowest compliance rates across the WHO's nutrition and promotional criteria. These foods contained low levels of protein and high levels of energy, sodium, and sugar and frequently contained added free sugars and sweeteners."Dunford noted that consumption of processed foods in early childhood can set lifelong habits of poor eating that could lead to obesity, diabetes, and some cancers. She continued, "Time-poor parents are increasingly choosing convenience foods, unaware that many of these products lack key nutrients needed for their child’s development and tricked into believing they are healthier than they really are."The study also found that 99.4% of the baby food analyzed had misleading marketing claims on the labels that violated the WHO's promotional guidelines. On average, products contained four misleading marketing claims; some had as many as eleven.The authors of the study wrote, "Common claims included ‘non genetically modified (GM)’ (70 percent), ‘organic’ (59 percent), ‘no BPA’ (37 percent), and ‘no artificial colors/flavors’ (25 percent)."Dunford said these types of marketing advertisements can lead consumers to believe the product is more nutritious than it actually is. Dr. Daisy Coyle — a research fellow at the George Institute and one of the authors of the study — said these marketing claims create a "health halo" around these products."The lack of regulation in this area leaves the door wide open for the food industry to deceive busy parents," Coyle explained. "We saw this not only in the use of misleading claims but also in the use of misleading names, where the product name did not reflect the main ingredients found on the ingredient list."Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past three decades. There are nearly 15 million U.S. youths aged 2-19 years who have obesity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dunford declared, "Our findings highlight the urgent need for better regulation and guidance in the infant and toddler foods market in the United States – the health of future generations depends on it."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

A California Democrat is hoping to pass legislation that will allow location tracking technology on all "alternative" license plates and registration cards.Democratic Assemblywoman Lori Wilson is looking to replace existing legislation about digital license plates. In October 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law that allowed the digital identifiers.Wilson, who sponsored the bill, called the digital plates at the time "a product of convenience" and claimed she is "all about giving people choice here in the state of California."'Locating, tracking, watching, listening to, or otherwise surveilling the employee.'The plates boasted features predominantly pertaining to the digital renewal of registration as opposed to a traditional license plate sticker system or paper registration.NPR reported at the time that the plates were capable of being equipped with GPS tracking for employers or for the owner themselves. Now, Assemblywoman Wilson is advocating for new legislation, AB 3138, which would have any vehicle that is fitted with one of the digital plates include "vehicle location technology."Digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation told Reclaim the Net that the new bill "directly undoes the deal from 2022 and explicitly calls for location tracking in digital license plates for passenger cars."The bill goes on to state that if the tracking devices are used by an employer to "monitor employees," it can only be done during work hours or if it is "strictly necessary for the performance of the employee's duties."In the bill, "monitor" is defined as including "locating, tracking, watching, listening to, or otherwise surveilling the employee."The leading developer of the new digital plates is Reviver, who also happens to be sponsoring AB 3138. Reviver is a California-based company that offers the effective computer screens called the RPlate for $39.95 per month, or $699 outright.Its features are rather underwhelming, which include "light or dark mode" with custom banner messaging, in-app registration renewal, and "tamper-proof mounting."Reviver was hacked in 2022, according to Autoweek, with hackers allegedly able to see the real-time location and registration address of the plate owner. They could also delete or alter the owner's tag or mislabel the vehicle as stolen. Reviver responded by applying a patch to protect against the vulnerabilities that were exploited in its software.The company's website even features a page that asks "can [the RPlate] be stolen or hacked?"Its answer reads, "The RPlate Battery and RPlate Wired have tamper-proof mounting, robust built-in anti-theft features, and communicate using secure cloud communication. We have taken measures to deter hacking and ensure all information is secure."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Agents planning the July 13 Donald J. Trump rally in Butler Township, Pennsylvania, were encouraged by U.S. Secret Service headquarters not to ask for extra event security, a whistleblower told Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri.An Aug. 23 letter from Hawley demanded an explanation from acting Secret Service Director Ronald L. Rowe Jr., who earlier suggested before Congress that no security assets had been denied for the Butler event.“You must explain this apparent contradiction immediately,” Hawley wrote.A whistleblower “with knowledge of Secret Service planning” for the Butler event said agents in the Pittsburgh field office did not ask for more security resources in their manpower requests “because agents on the ground were told not to ask for them in the first place,” Hawley wrote.'These serious allegations suggest that the failures to protect the former president extended to top officials at the agency.'The senator demanded Rowe provide his office with a list of which security assets were left out of the request for the Trump rally and indicate if he was aware that Secret Service officials advised the Pittsburgh office to leave them out.“Importantly, these resources included counter-sniper teams and Counter Surveillance Division (CSD) personnel,” the letter said. “According to public reports, counter-snipers were ultimately approved, but only the day prior to the event—leaving them an insufficient amount of time to conduct a proper site assessment.”The whistleblower said the lead advance agent for a “protectee trip” typically submits manpower requests to the local Secret Service field office, which forwards them to the Office of Protective Operations for final approval.“According to the allegations, officials within this office preemptively informed the Pittsburgh field office that the Butler rally was not going to receive any additional security resources because Trump is a former president and not the incumbent president or vice president,” Hawley wrote.Hawley referenced a previous whistleblower who said Counter Surveillance Division personnel “would have handcuffed the gunman in the parking lot after he was spotted with a rangefinder, but they were not present that day,” the letter said.Nearly an hour before he opened fire on the rally, would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks was spotted by local counter-snipers using a rangefinder, a device utilized in sports and shooting to estimate distance to a target. Secret Service was responsible for the security failures at the July 13 Donald J. Trump rally while trying to blame local police, a district attorney said. Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images Crooks shot Trump in the right ear, killed volunteer firefighter Corey Comperatore, 50, and seriously wounded David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74. Crooks was killed by a counter-sniper’s bullet after he had fired eight times. A local SWAT operator fired at Crooks from the ground and struck the stock of his rifle, ending Crooks' shooting spree.At an Aug. 2 press conference, Rowe said the Counter Surveillance Division has a heavy workload in the National Capital Region securing permanent protective sites but goes into the field “when requested.”“I know that there's been allegations that that I personally cut or that I, let's see, that I denied requests,” Rowe said. “The Counter Surveillance Division has been out there supporting the former president's detail at some very high-profile events. They continue to provide that support, and they're out there providing support right now.”Hawley said the new allegations “suggest that CSD personnel, counter-sniper teams, and other critical security assets were not included in the manpower requests for the Butler trip because Secret Service officials told the requesting agents that they would be denied.”Rowe’s decision to place five field agents on leave as a result of July 13 is an insufficient response to the tragedy, Hawley said.“These serious allegations suggest that the failures to protect the former president extended to top officials at the agency,” he said.Hawley has written to Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security officials with whistleblower allegations numerous times since the shooting. In July, Hawley said the majority of security personnel at the Butler event were not from the Secret Service but from Homeland Security Investigations and were “unfamiliar with standard protocols typically used at these types of events.”On July 22, he said there had been an individual assigned to cover the roof from which Crooks launched his attack “but this person abandoned his or her post due to the hot weather.”Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

One of the weirdest moments in Star Trek history is that bit in the tenth film where Picard and Worf drive about a desert planet in a buggy. Now you can recreate that moment to your heart’s content in Starfield, with the Rev-8 vehicle giving you all the fun of four wheels. It’s safe to say that it’s a hit, with fans loving being able to pootle about on mysterious worlds or downtown in New Atlantis. This is a Bethesda game, however, so modders are already hard at work making this cool car even cooler. Continue reading Starfield fans waste no time launching mods for the RPG’s space car MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Starfield mods, Starfield outposts, Starfield traits

Created in the ancient city of Sippar in present-day Iraq, these Babylonian tablets feature the warnings and predictions of royal astronomers whose job it was to watch the night sky and report the omens foretold in the stars to the king. The post Researchers Decode 3,800-Year-Old Babylonian Astrological Tablets And Find Ominous Warnings appeared first on All That's Interesting.

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Valve has finally, officially announced Deadlock, in the most minimal way imaginable. The game now has a Steam page that lists Valve as its developer and publisher, and a simple notice: Deadlock is in early development with lots of temporary art and experimental gameplay. Access is currently limited to friend invite via our playtesters. Valve provides no other details, just an animated teaser image. (You can see a still screenshot of it above.) The system requirements only mention that the game requires a 64-bit processor and operating system. Some details about Deadlock trickled out in May from closed playtests, and by August, tens of thousands of people were playing the game as more players invited their friends to check it out. The... Continue reading…

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), a compound that is naturally found in the body, has been found to help protect against chronic diseases, such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Production of CoQ10 decreases with age, and taking certain medications and other factors can result in...