Study Finds Exposure to Chemical Pollutants Increases Fat: Scientific American
Then there is the recent University of California study that indicates extra obesity risks from high fructose corn syrup. Contrary to the latter industry’s claims, it isn’t as safe as fruit juice and produces fat around the heart and tendencies to obesity. And American corporations put it in everything. See for further remarks on the U of Cal. study, which got far more press in the UK than in the US, here, and also at this site. High fructose corn syrup is a lobbyists’ scam and is the welfare queen of food additives.
I suspect this is only the tip of the iceberg. Our corporations are flooding our human environment with untested chemicals. Plastics are a witches brew. Give me glass or wood, every time.
We weren’t so fat in previous generations, and we shouldn’t have to constantly struggle with our weight. Corporations would love to say it is our own fault for lack of discipline. But it is increasingly obvious that corporate food is the culprit. And in turn, corporate food lobbyists have written our laws to promote unhealthy products.
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We can't completely dismiss discipline and selectivity. People still choose what we put in our mouths. Granted it can be damned difficult to find healthy real foods. Tax breaks for corporations amount to government subsidies for junk "food."
I find it incredible that schools are debating whether or not to remove soda vending machines. When did those go in? We always just had water fountains. Schools should be teaching good nutrition, not promoting soda pop. Even if school lunches weren't always very tasty at least they were nutritious, balanced meals back in the day. Now one reads about fast food chains selling their processed crap in the schools.
So sure, we can and should talk about discipline and making intelligent choices, but we also have to lay the groundwork in the schools, and switch agricultural policies to promote healthy eating, not GM, fatty, sugary, factory junk. "Sugary?" I wish. High Fructose Corn Syrup is such a nightmare that white cane sugar is promoted as a healthy alternative! Who ever thought we'd sink so low that "White Death" would be the good stuff?
Thank you for giving some column space to the issues of obesity and food chain contamination. As an RN engaged in graduate nursing studies, I can attest to the truthfulness of your observations. We are facing a global tsunami of chronic health problems directly related to that cost externalization machine we know as the corporate food culture. Add in environmental contamination, resource depletion, lack of clean air and water, and you have the perfect storm that is only now making landfall. It is disgraceful what the corporate food lobby is doing in Washington. So much for our vaunted free market economy and democracy.
Dr Cole,
If you ever get the chance, watch the documentary Food Inc.
It clearly explains why in the US the poorest people end up being the fattest..an interesting juxtaposition given the starving masses in other countries.
Its a deadly combination of syrup, grease and cheap fast food compared to the much pricier "real food" that leads to obesity among the poor. They thrive on it.
A simple, minor subversive act: when you read a label in the grocery store and find corn syrup among the ingredients, replace the item on the shelf, upside down and backwards.
It's better than nothing.
"American corporations put it in everything"- High fructose corn syrup is the result of US government agricultural policy.
It is our fault for lack of discipline. Corporations know we have little discipline and are happy to make money off that. That's what corporations do. We can protest, fight to get our government to regulate them, or we can get them where it really hurts, by not buying their product.
However, making a decision to not purchase HFCS isn't going to help by itself. They'll just adapt and produce a version of their product with sugar in it, and American's who avoid HFCS will get just as fat or almost just as fat. Self-discipline is an essential feature of the equation.
Put down the sweet stuff. You don't even need to read the label. It will do wonders for your health.
I think you can add in car culture as a contributing factor as well. Americans drive more and walk less than almost anyone else in the world. If everyone would walk ten minutes to a subway or light rail stop on their way to and from work, rather than walking to their garage and getting in the car, then walking two minutes from the parking lot into their work, which is more typical in the US than anywhere else, we wouldn't struggle so much to "find time to exercise" — at least some exercise would be part of everyone's normal day.
Not to mention the pollutants dumped into the atmosphere in the process of making and using so many cars. Even if the cars were all electric, the electricity has to come from somewhere, and you still have to build and maintain the roadways. Sorry Detroit Auto Inc.–ultimately the auto business probably isn't sustainable.
If you want to be scared to the bone:
link to endocrinedisruption.com
and the FDA claims not to have authority to regulate it.