Heathly Eating, Obesity and Food Industry essay
Obesity is one of the major health problems nowadays. In general, obesity is defined as the excessive accumulation of fat and obesity is defined as abnormal accumulation of fat. According to the norms of WHO, the measure for the relationship of weight and height is body mass index (BMI) which is calculated as the relation of weight (in kg) divided by the square of height (in sq. m.) (White 100). According to WHO, persons who have BMI of 25 and more are considered to be overweight and persons whose BMI is 30 or more are obese (White 100). Excess weight and obesity have multiple negative consequences such as cardiovascular diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, diabetes, etc.
Scientists started speaking about the epidemics of obesity when the number of obese and overweight people started rapidly increasing. Since 1980, the rate of obese and overweight people in the world almost doubled (White 99). In 2008, approximately 35% of all adults were overweight (Rigby 4207). Furthermore, the majority of people (65%) live in the regions where excess weight and obesity cause more deaths than malnutrition and underweight (Rigby 4207). There are many factors contributing to obesity, but the main causes of it are the decrease in physical activity and the increase of high-calorie foods. An important role in preventing obesity belongs to healthy eating and the choice of the right products. However, modern food industry offers many preprocessed, high-calorie and carbohydrate-rich foods. The purpose of this essay is to discuss three essays devoted to the problems of obesity, healthy eating and food industry and to illustrate that food industry is one of the major causes of the obesity epidemics in the modern world.
The first essay explored in this paper is the study “Food access and obesity” by Martin White. According to White, one of the important causes of obesity is the availability of retailed foods and their accessibility (p.99). White reviews the studies devoted to social patterns of dietary intake and their relationships with retailing. It is notable that obesity correlates with low socioeconomic status. There might be different reasons of such correlation: the impact of local food choice on the diet, the impact of prices on the diet, the availability of healthier products, etc. White emphasizes the results confirmed by several studies: the availability of healthier products in supermarkets is higher than in convenience stores and local stores (White 101). This fact might partially explain the relationship between poor dietary habits and low socioeconomic status. Indeed, traveling to supermarkets and stores with better choice of products requires a car, and low-income households might not have a car or find it too expensive to travel such distances to purchase products.
One more factor which influences dietary habits is eating ready-prepared food. It was determined that there were more fast-food restaurants that restaurants with healthier options in low-income areas (White 103). Furthermore, low-income households are likely to choose less expensive ready meals, which are commonly less healthy (White 103). Therefore, White claims that although there are no studies directly showing the relationship between food industry, food retailing and obesity, the combination of socioeconomic factors and retail patterns contributes to the development of obesity, especially in low-income areas.
The second essay by Charles Marwick is named “Food industry obfuscates healthy eating message”. In this essay, Marwick shows how food companies erode the key idea of the health messages promoted by the U.S. government – eating less. While the key to healthy weight is eating less (taking in less calories), food companies encourage customers to “make their choice”. The slogans in advertisements of food companies are modified in such a way that the message to eat less is removed, and instead the message to choose other foods is promoted. For example, the call of healthcare professionals to reduce the intake of sugar was transformed into the message “choose beverages and foods that limit your intake of sugar” under the pressure of sugar industry companies (Marwick 121). Marwick illustrates how the pressure of business lobbyists affects the information exchange and media coverage of important food-related questions. He argues that the contact between regulatory agencies, researchers and the society should not be mediated by businesses, since the latter tend to obfuscate certain messages in order to avoid losses. Due to the conflicts of interest between food industry and healthcare institutions, the protection of health of U.S. citizens might be under threat.
The author of the third essay, “Eating and obesity – the new world disorder”, Neville Rigby, explores the onset of obesity epidemic and various factors contributing to the increase of obesity. Among the major factors mentioned by Rigby there are fundamental shifts in the nature of a typical human diet, the dominance of agribusiness corporations, new paradigms of consumption centered around foods combining sugars and fats. Rigby also points out that less evident factors might be the major causes of the obesity epidemic – epigenetics, environmental pollutants which mimic hormones and other biological causes.
Rigby, like Marwick, also criticizes the advertising used by food companies which encourages consumers to choose a balanced diet (while still eating non-healthy products). Furthermore, Rigby emphasizes that the interests of food companies are against public health, obesity prevention and other disease prevention. “What is clear is that the failure to implement effective measures to improve dietary health makes it certain that the obesity epidemic will remain one of the biggest threats to health in the 21st century” (Rigby 4209).
The key thesis of this paper is the following: food industry is one of the major causes of the obesity epidemics, and it is necessary to undertake actions at the international level in order to prevent further damage to public health and to stop the worldwide increase of obesity. Human brain evolved during the time when foods rich with fat and sugar were rare and when food was not so readily available. As a result, human beings tended to “label” foods with high concentration of fat and/or sugar as tasty. Currently the lifestyle of human beings has changed, and it is possible to get access to food when needed. However, a large number of foods is not healthy in the sense that these foods are very high-calorie. The instincts claim that these foods should be eaten first, and the sales of high-calorie foods soar. In reality, food companies are readily exploiting the associations of human brain to increase profits regardless of the impact of such food choice on public health.
Furthermore, food companies tend to erode the messages of healthcare institutions (Marwick 121) and disrupt the relevance of research studies by funding research studies with the results favorable for food companies. In this way, food companies are discrediting the scientific community and affect the mechanisms of protecting public health. Food and agricultural corporations tend to crowd out independent farmers who do not use aggressive agricultural technologies from the market; as a result, consumers are forced to purchase genetically modified foods, foods with nitrates and other chemical compounds. In addition, the expansion of fast-food companies and the limited choice of healthy food products in smaller retail stores leads to further deterioration of dietary choices, especially among low-income people.
Therefore, it is possible to conclude that food and agricultural companies have a negative impact on public health and significantly contribute to the epidemics of obesity which is taking place worldwide. It is necessary to adopt international regulations preventing food companies from aggressive practices and to combine these regulations with educating consumers about healthy dietary habits and the dangers of obesity.
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