Name: Successful Government Dietary Regulations
Uploaded: 2022-11-08T00:24:47.000Z
Duration: 8 min 31 s
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"Successful Government Dietary Regulations"

The public health community appears to have all but given up

The latest World Health Organization goals include

a 2025 obesity target of just trying to shoot for no further increase.

Even such a modest-sounding “low bar” may represent one of the greatest

challenges facing global health, one in which we are failing.

Though there has been isolated pockets of patchy progress,

no country has yet reversed the epidemic.

Blame has been laid at the feet of the food industry lobby.

The promotion of the overconsumption of high-calorie,

low-nutrient foods and beverages has been identiﬁed as

the major driver of the obesity pandemic.

Now that we have rid much of the world of pestilence and famine,

some public health proponents have gone as far as to suggest

that the “new vectors of disease” are taking the form

of “trans-national food corporations that market salt, fat, sugar,

and calories in unprecedented quantities.”

It's considered the world's biggest industry.

The processed food makers may alone bring in trillions.

“Put simply,” concluded a senior director at a global health institute,

“the enormous commercial success enjoyed by the food industry

is now causing what promises to be one of the greatest

Corporations just do what they're set up to do.

Their goal is not to make people fat, just to make people money.

The food industry manipulates ingredients such as

salt, sugar, and fat, and spikes in caffeine and

ﬂavor-enhancing chemicals for reasons no more nefarious

It's just to exploit our natural biological vulnerabilities.

Markets often incentivize companies to cater to

The food and beverage CEOs are not out doing victory laps

in children's hospital halls to revel in their handiwork.

They may simply have a fiduciary responsibility to maximize

quarterly profits for their shareholders.

But why do the corporations sell Apple Jacks instead of apples

To quote from the apocryphal Slick Willie Sutton answer on

why he robbed the banks: “That's where the money is.”

The reason some of the unhealthiest foods are marketed

is one of simple economics, real food goes bad.

Why would even a broccoli grower put an ad on TV for broccoli

when you'd likely just buy their competitor's broccoli?

What kind of profit margins can you get on a sweet potato?

Shareholders don't want dirt, they want dirt-cheap commodities

discounted by taxpayer subsidies they can mix with carbonated water

Dollar menu burgers are thanks in part to hundreds

of billions of dollars of federal subsidies for cheap feed.

Those who resist calls for “heavy- handed” government regulation

may not realize those heavy hands are already

pressing down the scale on the side of big business.

Even without regulations the market can be rapidly responsive,

The gluten-free craze is a great example.

How many people had even heard of the word ten years ago,

and now some surveys suggest as much as 30 percent

This has led to a 10,000+ explosion in products labeled gluten-free,

including from major players such as Tyson Foods launching

Ironically, gluten-free products may be less healthy,

with more sugar and salt, and less fiber,

but are mostly just different shades of the same processed junk.

A gluten-free doughnut is still a doughnut.

A nutritional analysis of foods marketed to children found that

about 90 percent of products— both gluten-free and not—

The invisible hand is more than happy to hand us

any kind of junk we want:  low-fat junk, low-carb junk,

and especially ironic: processed paleo junk.

They can make money off of any fad, except food.

Shareholders can profit off of any kind of Funyuns

Within a narrow scope of commodity components and chemicals,

endless reformulations can fit any fashionable flavor of the month.

The market even prevents food manufacturers from taking

small steps to make their products less detrimental,

Any deviation from the levels perfectly engineered

for maximum craveability will get you immediately undercut

How then was England able to so successfully lower sodium intake,

associated with a dramatic drop in stroke and heart disease deaths?

McDonald's Chicken McNuggets have two and one-half times