Obesity in America is
an epidemic. According to the Center for
Disease Control, “more than 72 million U.S. adults are obese. And approximately
17% (or 12.5 million) of children aged 2—19 years are obese” (“Overweight and
Obesity”). Anyone with an education knows that these numbers are very
high. One might be inclined to ask how
this has happened. There are several determining factors for obesity. Genetics, lack of exercise, and a poor diet are
partly responsible for obesity. One should consider the fact that more food is
“made” today, than it is grown. It is no
secret that a great majority of food in the United States of America is
processed. To realize this, it only
takes a walk through any super market. If
one compares the size of the produce, meat and dairy sections of the store to
everything else, the difference is astounding.
Clearly, mankind was never intended to consume soda, artificial cheese
product, or Fruit Loops. The consumer
can try reading the ingredients on these products. Not only are they unpronounceable, they are
unrecognizable. Michael Pollen describes
in his book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma,
the ingredients of McNuggets as “completely synthetic, quasi-edible substances
that ultimately come not from a corn or soybean field but from a petroleum
refinery or chemical plant. These chemicals make modern processed foods
possible” (111). Maybe somewhere, there are people who do not know not to put
petroleum or chemical products into their bodies. But, for the most part, that is common
knowledge. So, why are these products in
the food that is consumed and what damage does it cause? Moreover, are these manmade products causing people
to eat more processed foods and gain more weight? Do processed foods cause obesity? Science continues to prove that the more
processed foods America consumes, the fatter the population gets.
High
Fructose Corn Syrup is the number one processed ingredient in the United
States. What is High Fructose Corn Syrup? HFCS, according to Michael Pollen, in his
book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”, “is the process of refining corn into
fructose. The syrup is a blend of 55%
fructose and 45% glucose and tastes exactly like sucrose. Today it is the most
valuable food product refined from corn, accounting in 530 million bushels” (89,103).
With that much HFCS being produced, it has to go somewhere. Because of HFCS’s low price and its
overwhelming availability, the food industry found it necessary to put it in
everything. This leads to complete over
consumption. With over consumption of
any kind of sugar, comes the ever expanding waist line. Unfortunately, it is not common knowledge that
High Fructose Corn Syrup is over consumed, if even consumed at all.
It should be common knowledge that
too much sugar will cause obesity, leading one to believe too much HFCS will
also cause obesity. Since it is manmade,
and does not exist on Earth naturally, one would think these ingredients will
cause negative effects, especially after consuming so much. Consumers need to know what HFCS does to
their bodies causing them to get fat. Eddie
Childs paints a vivid picture of High Fructose Corn Syrup in her article “The
Consumption Conundrum”. She gives a brief history of the corn by-product, which
is not widely known. Most of all she
gives readers the exact reason why High Fructose Corn Syrup causes people to
become obese. Childs presents the concept of the differences between fructose
and glucose. She argues: “The real
problem is that glucose creates an insulin response and fructose doesn't, and
people can keep drinking or eating and not have the 'turnoff response [that
insulin provides]. So, this is one reason why [HCFS] is, in fact, problematic.
Because you don't have the biochemical response, people tend to consume more,
even though your body doesn't need it"(18). This is pertinent information
when looking at whether or not processed foods cause obesity. Because it is
man made, the human body does not have the same reaction it does to natural
sugars, therefore allowing it to consume more than the body should. Not only are the ingredients of processed
foods bad for humans in general, but they are specifically designed for
overconsumption. Inevitably HFCS causes
obesity.
Today, there are commercials on
television telling people HFCS is bad, it’s good and everything in
between. What the commercials do not say
is what foods contain it. Unless one lives without access to the media, the
evidence of the HFCS controversy is everywhere. Childs quotes Delma De La
Fuente, a certified educator at The Living Foods Institute and a student at
Life University stating: "’It's nearly impossible to avoid HFCS if you eat
processed foods, since the two often go hand-in-hand’"(16) This cannot be
good for anyone. Since HFCS is hard to
avoid if one eats processed food, the only option to knowing what ingredients
are in the food is not to eat processed foods at all. On page 18 of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”,
Michael Pollen presents the information the commercials do not. “Since the 1980’s virtually all the sodas and
most of the fruit drinks sold in the supermarket have been sweetened with HFCS”(18). Then on page 89 he gives the list of uses for
HFCS. “It is used for adhesives,
coatings, sizings, plastics, and sugars” (89) Due to the price being
considerably lower than other sugars (3 cents), HFCS is a fantastic substitute,
for just about anything. The food
manufactures find it cheap, and more than available, so they put it in
everything.
All processed food is JUNK FOOD. And, it is common knowledge today that junk
food is not good for the human body. Junk
food is high in fat content as well as sodium and other ingredients that people
do not want in their bodies if they want to be healthy. These unhealthy ingredients also make junk
food addictive like cocaine, heroin, and cigarettes. This is why Americans cannot get out of the
drive-thru lane. The human body
naturally craves carbohydrates, fats, and sugars because it needs them to work
properly. The fast food companies have
built their entire business on this fact.
Since the body already craves these products naturally, the more the
body will get. And the vicious cycle
begins. These foods that are so bad for
the body have tricked the mind into rationalizing eating them like a drug
addict does with each fix. The foods
that are the worst to eat cause the body to want to eat more. Here are just a few questions Laura Beil
attacks in her article “The Snack-Food Trap.”
Laura references Nora Volkow, head of the National Institute on Drug
Abuse. "There is a huge amount of research now going on in this area, in
general, especially in studies of rodents, the brain appears to uniquely draw
us to high-calorie, low-nutrient foods of the kind filling the shelves at every
Kwik Chek, 7-Eleven, and corner deli” (Beil). If this holds true for items sold
at the convenience store, it must be the same for the fast food establishments
as well. Stephanie Schomer interviews
Robert Lustig, MD about the dangers of sugar in her article “The Sweet
Lowdown.” She asked the doctor questions
that everyone should be asking such as: “How did we get hooked on sugary-foods to begin with? Dr Lustig answers; ‘we’re biologically programmed to like sweets --
our tongues and brains know that no food on the planet is both sweet and
poisonous. It was a test for our hunting-and-gathering ancestors: If a food is
sweet, it won't kill you. It's ironic because that's exactly what sugar is
doing to us now’” (Schomer). Schomer
also asks; “Why aren’t our bodies better at regulating appetite? Dr. Lustig replies; ‘studies indicate that when we produce excess
insulin as a result of our high-sugar diets, the insulin prevents leptin, a
hormone that helps control appetite, from telling our brain that we've taken in
enough energy. So in our head, we think we're hungry long after we're actually
full’” (Schomer). Once again, the issue of too much sugar
tricking the human brain into eating more appears. All of the huge food producers have scientists
and nutritionists working for them.
These effects cannot be an accident.
Processed food producers country wide know that the more sugar, whatever
the type that is in their foods the more people will eat them. Americans, being seduced by the food industry
with fats and sugars, perpetuate the growing epidemic of obesity. While America gets
fatter, the food producers get richer.
Next, the availability of healthy
foods must be reviewed. Nature provides a better substitute for processed and
fast foods. The only problem is the
healthier the foods, the more expensive and less available they are. In the
article “Healthy Bodegas: Increasing and Promoting Healthy Foods at Corner
Stores in New York City,” Rachel Dannefer argues: “Access to healthier food is
associated with a healthier diet.
Supermarkets, which tend to offer a larger variety of healthier foods
such as fresh produce, are especially important. People who do not live near a supermarket are
as much as much as 46% less likely to have a healthy diet than are people with
the most supermarkets nearby.” (Dannefer) Life is hard enough on a low income,
especially for a family. Calculate in these statistics and there is no surprise
that obesity is rampant in lower socio economic neighborhoods which have no close
supermarkets. Rachel Dannefer, Donya A. Williams, Sabrina Baronberg, and Lynn
Silver break down the concepts of inner city shopping with these facts:
Low-income
and minority communities, which bear a disproportionately high burden of
obesity, diabetes, and other diet-related diseases, generally have fewer
supermarkets than do other communities. National
studies found that low income areas had only 75% as many chain supermarkets as
did middle-income areas and that Black neighborhoods had roughly half as many
chain supermarkets as did white neighborhoods.
These areas are instead highly populated with smaller convenience or
corner stores. These corner stores are less likely to carry healthy foods such
as fresh fruits or vegetables, heavily advertise unhealthy products, and are
laden with convenience items that are often high in calories. The presence of corner stores has been
associated with increased risk of obesity, a finding which is particularly
relevant in New York City’s most underserved neighborhoods, where corner
stores, often termed bodegas, can make up more than 80% of retail food outlets.
(Dannefer)
This study gives a great description of
what foods are available around the country, especially in low income and ethnic
neighborhoods. Even if the inhabitants
of these neighborhoods wanted to eat better, the right foods are not available
to them. This stems from ingredients such as High Fructose Corn Syrup lowering
the costs of processed foods below the costs of natural, whole foods. Therefore, these people in these areas are
predetermined in a sense to become obese.
Children are
particularly vulnerable to manipulation in the obesity epidemic. The CDC shared the statistic that 17% of all
children are obese. Marketing companies play a very large role in what children
want to eat today. Children love sweets;
they love toys, so why not market with that knowledge. Childhood
obesity is not just an American problem.
Neither is the “industrial food industry” taking advantage of just
Americans. This is happening
worldwide. Ads, internationally, are
spewed at children to get them to buy their products. In her Melbourne, Australia, based article, “Kids Fed Junk Food Ads; TV Hard-Sell Linked to Obesity Crisis,” Jane Bunce discusses this
issue of marketing harmful, addictive foods to minors. Bunce demonstrates; “University of Sydney
researchers compared the number of ads for high-fat and high-sugar foods during programs popular with
children aged 5 to 12 and teenagers aged 13 to 17 to those in adult viewing
hours. They found there were many more junk food ads when children were watching.” Food production companies know that the more
they market this food to children, the more they will eat it. Children, unfortunately, are a large market,
and money drives the marketing. Bunce
goes on to state: “Children saw an average of nine junk food TV ads an
hour.” Of course, children want to eat
junk after all those commercials. In
turn, the bad eating habits are starting early, either causing childhood
obesity or putting children on the path to obesity as adults.
Most children spend a large
portion of their day in school. For years
children, especially ones from homes with financial struggles, could at least
get one solid, healthy meal a day from the school lunchroom. The school kitchen has disappeared and
cheaper, pre packaged, processed food has taken the place of a healthy lunch. Ashlesha
Datar and Nancy Nicosia state in their article “Junk Food in Schools and
Childhood Obesity”, “the
prevalence of childhood obesity in the United States is at an all-time high
with nearly one-third of all children and adolescents now considered overweight
or obese” (Ogden et al., 2010). This is due to what children are able to purchase
at school. Datar and Nicosia state; “competitive
foods are sold through a la carte lines, vending machines, school canteens and
stores, and fundraisers, and, in contrast to the federally reimbursable school
meal programs, are not subject to federal nutritional standards. (Nicosia,
Datar, 313,314) The two authors go on to
research the effects of these foods on the children and why the food is so
available. Once again the question is
asked. How is this happening in our
schools? Datar
and Nicosia argue; “sales of competitive foods have the potential to generate
significant revenues for schools. These revenues may in turn be supplemented by
on-site school stores and pouring contracts with beverage companies. While
availability and revenues were less common in elementary schools, nearly half
of elementary schools had pouring rights contracts. Competitive food sales from
fundraising activities were also common.” (Nicosia, Datar, 314) The schools are struggling for funding. The money is not coming in like it should, so
they sell the children foods the school knows they will buy for a profit. Exploitation for an education is just another
cause of obesity in America.
After all the facts argued above, healthy
food has to play a role in the obesity game.
In “Nurturing a Whole-Food Habit,” Leslie-Ann Berg gives out this
statistic: “’fruit and vegetable consumption makes up a mere 8% of overall
calorie intake in the average American diet while processed food consumption is
at an all-time high’ (NFVA 2010).
Americans consume 31% more processed foods than whole foods, and
approximately 50% of Americans rely on vitamin and mineral supplements.” (IDEA
Fitness Journal, p 66. May 2013). These
numbers are astounding. This means there
is more processed food being produced and consumed than natural, fresh, whole
foods. For those who do not know, here
is what Leslie-Ann Berg defines as whole foods and processed foods. She says; “by definition, a whole food is
processed as little as possible, eaten in its natural state and free of
additives. A processed food, on the other hand, is most often packaged, altered
from its natural state and consumed as an individual fragment of a whole food
or as a combination of whole-food fragments containing additives” (IDEA Fitness
Journal, p 66. May 2013). Now, consumers
should take another look at the grocery store.
They should think about the size of the natural food sections, including
the meat section, the vegetable section, and the dairy section. In comparison these sections are much smaller
than the rest of the store, which contains the foods that are pre-packaged and
filled with additives. While shopping,
once again, consumers should read the ingredients. In a comparison of a box of
cake mix to a whole chicken, the cake mix is full of additives and preservatives
and other ingredients that would take a chemist to decipher. Berg quotes Michael Pollan about shopping;
“’ask yourself the following questions: are there five ingredients or less? Can
I pronounce each of the ingredients; and are they familiar to me? Would my great-grandmother recognize each
ingredient’” (IDEA Fitness Journal, p 66. May 2013)? These are very simple questions with very
simple answers. If the answer is no to
any of them, then it is probably safe to stay clear of such products. Clearly, the more whole foods the body
consumes the less likely it is to become obese.
The science clearly points to processed
foods causing obesity. The human body
was created with the intentions of consuming foods inherent on the planet
Earth. Basic biology has proven that the
body cannot process manmade ingredients such as High Fructose Corn Syrup correctly. The reason is simple; humans are not supposed
to eat it. Because they are cheap,
additives such as HFCS have increased the volume of processed foods to the
point that they outnumber whole natural foods.
This also causes the prices of whole natural foods to remain
considerably higher than those of processed foods, keeping the healthy foods
out of the hands of those with less money.
In order to eat healthy and avoid obesity, one must be self disciplined,
have a wise pocket book and the knowledge to know what to or not to buy. Until Americans take notice and demand that
things change, processed foods, driven by the almighty dollar will continue to
be over abundant, and cheaper, than the food that keeps the body healthy. Until then, processed foods will remain
cunning and baffling, tricking the body into consuming more of exactly what it
wants but does not need. And the
epidemic of obesity will continue.
Works
Cited
Beil,
Laura. “The Snack-Food Trap.” Newsweek,
11/5/2012, Vol. 160 Issue 19, p44-47,
4p, Web. 26 June 2013.
Jun/Jul2012,
Vol. 41 Issue 3, p16-19, 4p Web. 26 June. 2013.
Dannefer,
Rachel. , Williams, Donya A., Baronberg, Sabrina. , Silver, Lynn.
“Healthy Bodegas: Increasing and
Promoting Healthy Foods at Corner
Stores in New York City.” American Journal of Public Health Oct.
(2012):
Vol. 102. No. 10. e27-e31. Web. 11
June. 2013.
Datar, Ashlesha. Nicosia, Nancy. “Junk Food in Schools and Childhood Obesity.”
Journal of
Policy Analysis & Management. Spring2012, Vol. 31 Issue 2, p312-337. 29p. Web. 26 June.
2013.
04/20/2007. Web. 26 June. 2013.
Nestlé, Marion.
Stuckler, David. “Big Food, Food
Systems, and Global Health.”
Pollan,
Michael. The Omnivore’s Dilemma. New
York: Penguin Group.
27 April 2012. Web. 15 July 2013.
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