{"id":10434,"date":"2024-08-21T13:27:35","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T06:27:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=10434"},"modified":"2024-08-21T13:27:35","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T06:27:35","slug":"obesity-and-a-toxic-food-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=10434","title":{"rendered":"Obesity and a Toxic Food Environment\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Implausible explanations for the obesity epidemic serve the needs of food manufacturers and marketers more than public health and an interest in truth. <\/p>\n<p>When it comes to<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/25602888\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> uncovering<\/a> the root causes of the obesity epidemic, there appears to be manufactured confusion, \u201cwith major studies reasserting that the causes of obesity are \u2018extremely complex\u2019 and \u2018fiendishly hard to untangle,\u2019\u201d but having just reviewed the literature, it doesn\u2019t seem like much of a mystery to me.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the food.<\/p>\n<p>Attempts at obfuscation\u2014rolling out hosts of \u201cimplausible explanations,\u201d like sedentary lifestyles or lack of self-discipline\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/21219166\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cater<\/a> to food manufacturers and marketers more than the public\u2019s health and our interest in the truth. \u201cWhen <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/19298423\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">asked<\/a> about the role of restaurants in contributing to the obesity problem, Steven Anderson, president of the National Restaurant Association stated, \u201cJust because we have electricity doesn\u2019t mean you have to electrocute yourself.\u201d Yes, but Big Food is effectively attaching electrodes to shock and awe the reward centers in our brains to undermine our self-control.<\/p>\n<p>It is hard to eat healthfully against the headwind of such strong evolutionary forces. No matter what our level of nutrition knowledge, in the face of pepperoni pizza, \u201cour genes <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/29315131\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">scream<\/a>, \u2018Eat it now!\u2019\u201d Anyone who doubts the power of basic biological drives should see how long they can go without blinking or breathing. Any conscious decision to hold your breath is soon overcome by the compulsion to breathe. In medicine, shortness of breath is sometimes even referred to as \u201cair hunger.\u201d The battle of the bulge is a battle against biology, so obesity is not some moral failing. It\u2019s not gluttony or sloth. It <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/21872736\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">is<\/a> a natural, \u201cnormal response, by normal people, to an abnormal situation\u201d\u2014the unnatural ubiquity of calorie-dense, sugary, and fatty foods.<\/p>\n<p>The sea of excess calories we are now floating in (and some of us are drowning in) has been <a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1002\/erv.482\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">referred<\/a> to as a \u201ctoxic food environment.\u201d This helps direct focus away from the individual and towards the societal forces at work, such as the fact that the average child is <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/8904941\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">blasted<\/a> with 10,000 commercials for food a year. Or maybe I should say ads for pseudo food, as 95 percent are for \u201ccandy, fast food, soft drinks [aka liquid candy], and sugared cereals [aka breakfast candy].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wait a second, though. If weight gain is just a natural reaction to the easy availability of mountains of cheap, yummy calories, then why isn\u2019t everyone fat? As you can see below and at 2:41 in my video <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/the-role-of-the-toxic-food-environment-in-the-obesity-epidemic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Role of the Toxic Food Environment in the Obesity Epidemic<\/a><\/strong>, in a certain sense, most everyone <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/29164096\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">is<\/a>. It\u2019s been estimated that more than 90 percent of American adults are \u201coverfat,\u201d defined as having \u201cexcess body fat sufficient to impair health.\u201d This can occur even \u201cin those who are normal-weight and non-obese, often due to excess abdominal fat.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-108560\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/2-41.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/2-41.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/2-41-960x540.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/2-41-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/2-41-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/2-41-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/2-41-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/2-41-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/2-41-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/2-41-540x304.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>However, even if you <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/26627090\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">look<\/a> just at the numbers on the scale, being overweight is the norm. If you look at the bell curve and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/nchs\/data\/hus\/hus17.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">input<\/a> the latest data, more than 70 percent of us are overweight. A little less than one-third of us is normal weight, on one side of the curve, and more than a third is on the other side, so overweight that we\u2019re obese. You can see in the graph below and at 3:20 in my <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/the-role-of-the-toxic-food-environment-in-the-obesity-epidemic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>video<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-108562\" style=\"font-size: 1rem;\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-20.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-20.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-20-960x540.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-20-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-20-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-20-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-20-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-20-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-20-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-20-540x304.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>If the food is to blame, though, why doesn\u2019t everyone get fat? That\u2019s like asking if cigarettes are really to blame, why don\u2019t all smokers get lung cancer? This is where genetic predispositions and other exposures can weigh in to tip the scales. Different people are born with a different susceptibility to cancer, but that doesn\u2019t mean smoking doesn\u2019t play a critical role in exploding whatever inherent risk you have. It\u2019s the same with obesity and our toxic food environment. It\u2019s like the firearm analogy: Genes may load the gun, but diet pulls the trigger. We can try to switch the safety back on with smoking cessation and a healthier diet.<\/p>\n<p>What <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/2336074\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">happened<\/a> when two dozen study participants were given the same number of excess calories? They all gained weight, but some gained more than others. Overfeeding the same 1,000 calories a day, 6 days a week for 100 days, caused weight gains ranging from about 9 pounds up to 29 pounds. The same 84,000 extra calories caused different amounts of weight gain. Some people are just more genetically susceptible. The reason we suspect genetics is that the 24 people in the study were 12 sets of identical twins, and the variation in weight gain between each of them was about a third less. As you can see in the graph below and at 4:41 in my <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/the-role-of-the-toxic-food-environment-in-the-obesity-epidemic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>video<\/strong><\/a>, a similar study with weight loss from exercise <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/16358397\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">found<\/a> a similar result. So, yes, genetics play a role, but that just means some people have to work harder than others. Ideally, inheriting a predisposition for extra weight gain shouldn\u2019t give a reason for resignation, but rather motivation to put in the extra effort to unseal your fate.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-108564\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-41.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-41.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-41-960x540.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-41-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-41-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-41-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-41-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-41-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-41-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-41-540x304.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Advances in processing and packaging, <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/25345082\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">combined<\/a> with government policies and food subsidy handouts that fostered cheap inputs for the \u201cfood industrial complex,\u201d led to a glut of ready-to-eat, ready-to-heat, ready-to-drink hyperpalatable, hyperprofitable products. To help assuage impatient investors, marketing became even more pervasive and persuasive. All these factors conspired to create unfettered access to copious, convenient, low-cost, high-calorie foods often willfully engineered with chemical additives to make them hyperstimulatingly sweet or savory, yet only weakly satiating.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As we all <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/25602888\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sink<\/a> deeper into a quicksand of calories, more and more mental energy is required to swim upstream against the constant \u201cbombardment of advertising\u201d and 24\/7 panopticons of tempting treats. There\u2019s so much food flooding the market now that much of it ends up in the trash. Food waste has progressively <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/19946359\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">increased<\/a> by about 50 percent since the 1970s. Perhaps better in the landfills, though, than filling up our stomachs. Too many of these cheap, fattening foods prioritize shelf life over human life.<\/p>\n<p>But dead people don\u2019t eat. Don\u2019t food companies have a vested interest in keeping their consumers healthy? Such naivet\u00e9 reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the system. A public company\u2019s primary responsibility <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/22915664\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">is<\/a> to reap returns for its investors. \u201cHow else could we have tobacco companies, who are consummate marketers, continuing to produce products that kill one in two of their most loyal customers?\u201d It\u2019s not about customer satisfaction, but shareholder satisfaction. The customer always comes second.<\/p>\n<p>Just as weight gain may <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/21872749\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">be<\/a> a perfectly natural reaction to an obesogenic food environment, governments and businesses are simply responding normally to the political and economic realities of our system. Can you <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/12574583\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">think<\/a> of a single major industry that would benefit from people eating more healthfully? \u201cCertainly not the agriculture, food product, grocery, restaurant, diet, or drug industries,\u201d wrote emeritus professor Marion Nestle in a <em>Science<\/em> editorial when she was chair of nutrition at New York University. \u201cAll flourish when people eat more, and all employ armies of lobbyists to discourage governments from doing anything to inhibit overeating.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If part of the problem is cheap tasty convenience, is hard-to-find food that\u2019s gross and expensive the solution? Or might there be a way to get the best of all worlds\u2014easy, healthy, delicious, satisfying meals that help you lose weight? That\u2019s the central question of my book <em>How Not to Diet<\/em>. Check it out for free at your local library.<\/p>\n<p>This is it\u2014the final video in this 11-part series. If you missed any of the others, see the related posts below.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"et_social_bottom_trigger\"\/>  <\/div>\n<p><script>\n            !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n            {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n                n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n            if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n            n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n            t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n            s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n                'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n            fbq('init', '1582627921973608');\n            fbq('track', 'PageView');\n        <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1675549\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Implausible explanations for the obesity epidemic serve the needs of food manufacturers and marketers more than public health and an interest in truth. When it comes to uncovering the root causes of the obesity epidemic, there appears to be manufactured confusion, \u201cwith major studies reasserting that the causes of obesity are \u2018extremely complex\u2019 and \u2018fiendishly &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}