{"id":10442,"date":"2024-08-21T14:30:10","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T07:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=10442"},"modified":"2024-08-21T14:30:10","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T07:30:10","slug":"should-we-take-any-responsibility-for-the-obesity-epidemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=10442","title":{"rendered":"Should We Take Any Responsibility for the Obesity Epidemic?\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>The power of the \u201ceat more\u201d food environment can overcome our conscious controls. <\/p>\n<p>Food and beverage companies <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/22834044\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">frame<\/a> body weight as \u201ca matter of personal choice.\u201d Even when we aren\u2019t distracted, the power of the \u201ceat more\u201d food environment may sometimes overcome our conscious controls of overeating. One look around the room at a dietician convention can tell you that even nutrition professionals are vulnerable to the aggressively marketed ubiquity of tasty, cheap, convenient calories. This suggests there are aspects of our eating behaviors \u201cthat defy personal insight or are below individual awareness,\u201d flying below the radar of conscious awareness. Appetite physiologists <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/21872749\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">call<\/a> the result of these subconscious actions \u201cpassive overconsumption.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Remember that brain scan study where the thought of a milkshake<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/21464344\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> lit<\/a> up the same reward pathways in the brain as substance abuse? That was triggered just by a picture of a milkshake. Dopamine gets released, cravings get activated, and we\u2019re motivated to eat. Intellectually, we know it\u2019s just an image, but our lizard brain sees survival. It\u2019s just a reflexive response over which we <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/18586908\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">have<\/a> little control, which is why marketers ensure there are pictures of milkshakes and their equivalents everywhere.<\/p>\n<p>As I discuss in my video <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/the-role-of-personal-responsibility-in-the-obesity-epidemic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Role of Personal Responsibility in the Obesity Epidemic<\/a><\/strong>, maintaining a balance between calories in and calories out feels like a series of voluntary acts under conscious control, but it may be more akin to bodily functions, such as blinking, breathing, coughing, swallowing, or sleeping. You can try to will yourself power over any of these, but by and large, they just happen automatically, driven by ancient scripts.<\/p>\n<p>Not only are food ads ubiquitous, but so is the food. The types of establishments selling food products <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/21219166\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">expanded<\/a> dramatically in the 1970s and 1980s. Now, you can find candy and snacks at the checkout counters of \u201cgasoline stations, building material outlets, auto parts stores, drug stores, and home furnishing stores\u201d and more. The largest food retailer in the United States <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/26714934\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">is<\/a> Wal-Mart. You can <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/18586908\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">get<\/a> that jolt of \u201cdopamine and the associated arti\ufb01cially induced feelings of hunger in modern society\u201d around every turn. Every day, we run the gauntlet.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also become \u201csocially acceptable to <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/22893739\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">eat<\/a> food at any time of day and anywhere\u2014in cars, in your hand, on the street\u2014places where eating had never been acceptable.\u201d We\u2019ve become a snacking society. Vending machines are everywhere. Daily eating episodes seem to have <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/21738451\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">gone<\/a> up by about a quarter since the late 1970s, increasing from about four to five occasions a day, potentially accounting for twice the calorie increase attributed to increasing portion sizes. Snacks and beverages alone <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/21219166\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">could<\/a> account for the bulk of the calorie surplus implicated in the obesity epidemic.<\/p>\n<p>And think of the children. Here we are <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/18057334\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trying<\/a> to do the best for our kids, role-modeling healthy habits and feeding them healthy foods, but then they venture out into a veritable tornado of junky food and manipulative messages. A commentary in <em>The New England Journal of Medicine<\/em> asked: \u201cBut why should Mr. and Ms. G.\u2019s efforts to protect their children from life-threatening illness be undermined by massive marketing campaigns from the manufacturers of junk food?\u201d Pediatricians are now <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/25386360\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">encouraged<\/a> to have the \u201cFrench Fry Discussion\u201d with parents at the 12-month well-child visit instead of waiting until their kids are two\u2014though even that may be too late. As you can see below and at 3:35 in my <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/the-role-of-personal-responsibility-in-the-obesity-epidemic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">video<\/a><\/strong>, two-thirds of infants are being <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/18829829\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fed<\/a> junk food by their first birthday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-108552\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-35.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-35.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-35-960x540.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-35-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-35-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-35-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-35-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-35-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-35-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-35-540x304.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Dr. David Katz may have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.semanticscholar.org\/paper\/Obesity\u2026Be-Dammed%21%3A-What-It-Will-Take-to-Turn-the-Katz\/e9d455663abc1fb9134b2329500926c058f267a1?p2df\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> it best in the <em>Harvard Health Policy Review<\/em>: \u201cThose who contend that parental or personal responsibility should carry the day despite these environmental temptations might consider the implications of generalizing the principle. Perhaps children should be encouraged, but not required, to attend school and tempted each morning by alternatives, such as buses to the circus, zoo, or beach.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It may be helpful to take a step back and think of what\u2019s at stake here. We aren\u2019t just talking about being manipulated into buying a different brand of toothpaste. The obesity pandemic has resulted in millions of deaths and untold suffering. If you aren\u2019t mad yet, brace yourself for my next video: <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/the-role-of-corporate-influence-in-the-obesity-epidemic\">The Role of Corporate Influence in the Obesity Epidemic<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>This is the ninth video in my 11-part series. If you missed any of the previous ones, see the related posts below.<\/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>The power of the \u201ceat more\u201d food environment can overcome our conscious controls. Food and beverage companies frame body weight as \u201ca matter of personal choice.\u201d Even when we aren\u2019t distracted, the power of the \u201ceat more\u201d food environment may sometimes overcome our conscious controls of overeating. One look around the room at a dietician &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10442","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\/10442","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=10442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}