Why can't we solve the problem of obesity in the U.S? Michael Moss, in his book, "Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us" tells us, in no uncertain terms, why our government will not help, and, in fact, is complicit in making this epidemic worse. By focusing on the three things that make food most appealing, Moss shows us how the giant corporations who control our food supply have made it nearly impossible to have a healthy diet.
"The transition of food to being an industrial product really has been a fundamental problem," according to Walter Willett, the chair of Harvard's Department of Nutrition. "First, the actual processing has stripped away the nutritional value of the food. Most of the grains have been converted to starches. We have sugar in concentrated form, and many of the fats have been concentrated and then, worst of all, hydrogenated, which creates transfatty acids with very adverse effects on health."
"Kelly Brownell, a Yale professor of psychology and public health, says, 'As a culture, we've become upset by the tobacco companies advertising to children, but we sit idly by while the food companies (owned by the tobacco companies) do the very same thing. And we could make a claim that the toll taken on the public health by a poor diet rivals that taken by tobacco.'"
"The transition of food to being an industrial product really has been a fundamental problem," according to Walter Willett, the chair of Harvard's Department of Nutrition. "First, the actual processing has stripped away the nutritional value of the food. Most of the grains have been converted to starches. We have sugar in concentrated form, and many of the fats have been concentrated and then, worst of all, hydrogenated, which creates transfatty acids with very adverse effects on health."
"Kelly Brownell, a Yale professor of psychology and public health, says, 'As a culture, we've become upset by the tobacco companies advertising to children, but we sit idly by while the food companies (owned by the tobacco companies) do the very same thing. And we could make a claim that the toll taken on the public health by a poor diet rivals that taken by tobacco.'"
One of the most important factors in my giving up cigarettes was watching the government grilling of the 7 heads of the biggest tobacco companies and seeing them sit there and tell lie after lie. They all innocently claimed they had no idea that smoking was harmful! At that moment, I swore I would never again give a dime of my money to those lying bastards. And I thought that I hadn't given any more money to them. I was wrong.
Not satisfied with killing people with cigarettes, Philip Morris acquired General Foods and Kraft. Now it could kill people with fat and sugar - it would just take a bit longer. But that was all right because the longer people lived, and the fatter they got, the more money Philip Morris would make. Moss says, "By 1990, Philip Morris had all but cornered the market for cigarettes. With the purchase of General Foods and Kraft, it had also become a consumer goods goliath, posting $3.5 billion in annual profits on $51.2 billion in sales. Half of its revenue came from food."
So now I swear again that I will never give those liars another dime of my money. Here is a short list of products I bet you didn't know were made by the same folks that brought you Marlboro cigarettes:
Capri Sun juice boxes
Jell-O
Kraft Singles
Maxwell House
Oscar Meyer
Philadelphia (cream cheese)
Velvetta
Cadbury
Next entry, I will talk about why each of those products should be labelled as "dangerous to your health."
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