Who’s responsible for the obesity epidemic?
An excerpt from a column at Rationally Speaking:
The New York Times has recently published a long, fascinating article by Michael Moss (author of the forthcoming Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us) on the relationship between the food industry and the obesity epidemic. Yeah, I know, the first time I heard of someone blaming McDonalds instead of its customers for their bad eating habits I too thought oh cmon, but that was the same reaction many had when the tobacco industry began to be blamed for the health problems caused by smoking, and nobodys laughing dismissively at that any more.
Before we proceed, let me warn the reader that this post is going to be largely about the sins of the food industry, but this doesnt mean I dont think other actors bear responsibility. Indeed, Ill make the case by direct analogy with smoking by way of a very personal experience: my father died in 2004, aged 69. He got hit by four primary cancers in the span of five years or so, survived the first three, got killed by the last one. The ghastly and eventually lethal sequence which ruined the last several years of his life and likely significantly shortened the time he had to spend on earth was very likely the result of his life long habit as a heavy smoker. Do I blame the tobacco industry for his death? You bet, and Ive got well established evidence to back me up on that, from their sneaky advertising tactics to their purposeful campaigns of addiction to augment their customer base. But I also blame my father. At some point in his life, well before the onset of his first cancer, he was well aware of the risks posed by smoking, but he ignored them and never looked for help. He paid a high price for it, and so did our family.
So, yes, personal responsibility pretty much always plays some role in human decisions. But it would be naive to the utmost degree given the available evidence to think that the food industry doesnt bear some, likely even a great part, of the blame as well. And when we talk about responsibility we also usually talk about punishment and regulation, which means that what Moss is arguing in his article and book is literally worth billions of dollars.
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Heather MC
(8,084 posts)And still they get in. You cannot trust any of the major food manufacturers, in fact the food they market as "healthy" "lowfat" or "diet" foods are worse for you than the regular foods, it's. all design to make you keep eating because it never feels you up.
And it is very very difficult to stay one step ahead of their mind
games. Have you seen the latest Monsanto ads featuring Real farmers. Giving people the false idea that their food is fresh from the farm. Lots of people will fall for that bullshit and they know it.
But i also know lots of people who just don't care. They will say, well we gotta eat something, or organic food is too expensive, and the conversation ends.
Igel
(35,191 posts)They can't name the real problem: Human foolishness and stupidity.
"We're tricked," "we're sold on this product," "we're deceived."
Fool me once ... Sure, fool me again ... Sure, fool me again ... Sure, fool me again ... Sure, fool me again ... Sure, fool me again ... Sure, fool me again ... Sure, fool me again ...
Tobacco is bad for me? My confirmation bias says otherwise--I like to smoke, so how could those selling me the product be wrong?
Too much salt, sugar, and fat is bad for me? My confirmation bias says otherwise--I like to supersize my portions, so how could those selling me the product be wrong? Supersize ME! Bigger is better!
Too much debt isn't good for my fiscal outlook? What, a new, larger tv? A new phone? A new iPod? New clothes? Bigger house with lower income? Sure! I'll sign. All those nay-sayers have to be wrong if the credit card companies, Wally-mart, Verizon, clothes stores, and mortgage broker say otherwise!
What, the stock prices can't keep increasing year over year for the next 20 years? Pshaw, my confirmation bias says otherwise, surely it wouldn't turn against me? After all, I'm a master of critical thinking. Just look at that study saying that thing I don't like. Why, they mis-cited their 23rd reference, and didn't use the proper format. Moreover, they failed to account for something that is usually ignored, is of marginal relevance at best, but shows that they're not serious researchers like me. So what if they're tenured at MIT and Caltech, I'm smarter ... I went to my high school, after all, and worked for 23 years in entry-level jobs while completing my PhD in post-constructionist approaches to widget interpretation from a social-critical and quantum-mechanical viewpoint from Casaviecchia University in South North Hoople over the course of spring break.