{"id":10452,"date":"2024-08-21T16:11:08","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T09:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=10452"},"modified":"2024-08-21T16:11:08","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T09:11:08","slug":"do-taxpayer-subsidies-play-a-role-in-the-obesity-epidemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=10452","title":{"rendered":"Do Taxpayer Subsidies Play a Role in 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>Why are U.S. taxpayers giving billions of dollars to support the likes of the sugar and meat industries?<\/p>\n<p>The rise in calorie surplus sufficient to <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/19828708\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">explain<\/a> the obesity epidemic was less a change in food quantity than in food quality. Access to cheap, high-calorie, low-quality convenience foods <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/26627085\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">exploded<\/a>, and the federal government very much <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/27379488\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">played<\/a> a role in making this happen. U.S. taxpayers give billions of dollars in subsidies to prop up the likes of the sugar industry, the corn industry and its high-fructose syrup, and the production of soybeans, about half of which is processed into vegetable oil and the other half is used as cheap feed to help make dollar-menu meat. You can <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/23953360\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">see<\/a> a table of subsidy recipients below and at 0:49 in my video <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/the-role-of-taxpayer-subsidies-in-the-obesity-epidemic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Role of Taxpayer Subsidies in the Obesity Epidemic<\/a><\/strong>. Why do taxpayers <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/23953360\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">give<\/a> nearly a quarter of a billion dollars a year to the sorghum industry? When was the last time you sat down to some sorghum? It\u2019s almost all <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/27379488\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fed<\/a> to cattle and other livestock. \u201cWe have<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/21092363\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> created<\/a> a food price structure that favors relatively animal source foods, sweets, and fats\u201d\u2014animal products, sugars, and oils. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-108532 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0-49-e1719398840839.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"801\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0-49-e1719398840839.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0-49-e1719398840839-960x401.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0-49-e1719398840839-1024x427.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0-49-e1719398840839-768x320.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0-49-e1719398840839-1536x641.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0-49-e1719398840839-1200x501.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0-49-e1719398840839-720x300.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0-49-e1719398840839-540x225.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The Farm Bill <\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem; background-color: #ffffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/22834044\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">started<\/a><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"> out as an emergency measure during the Great Depression of the 1930s to protect small farmers but was weaponized by Big Ag into a cash cow with pork barrel politics\u2014including said producers of beef and pork. From 1970 to 1994, global beef prices <\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem; background-color: #ffffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/21151043\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dropped<\/a><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"> by more than 60 percent. And, if it weren\u2019t for taxpayers \u201c<\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem; background-color: #ffffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20190613130001\/http:\/www.ase.tufts.edu\/gdae\/Pubs\/rp\/PB09-01SweeteningPotFeb09.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sweetening<\/a><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"> the pot\u201d with billions of dollars a year, high-fructose corn syrup would cost the soda industry about 12 percent more. Then we <\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem; background-color: #ffffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/24889953\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hand<\/a><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"> Big Soda billions <em>more<\/em> through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamps Program, to give sugary drinks to low-income individuals.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">\u00a0<\/span>Why is chicken so cheap? After one Farm Bill, corn and soy were <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20190923184536\/http:\/www.ase.tufts.edu\/gdae\/Pubs\/rp\/CompanyFeedSvgsFeb07.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">subsidized<\/a> below the cost of production for cheap animal fodder. We effectively handed the poultry and pork industries about $10 billion each. That\u2019s not chicken feed\u2014or rather, it is!\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This is <a href=\"https:\/\/econpapers.repec.org\/article\/agsuersfr\/234624.htm\">changing<\/a> what we eat.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As you can see below and at 2:03 in my <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/the-role-of-taxpayer-subsidies-in-the-obesity-epidemic\/\">video<\/a>, thanks in part to subsidies, dairy, meats, sweets, eggs, oils, and soda were all <a href=\"https:\/\/econpapers.repec.org\/article\/agsuersfr\/234624.htm\">getting<\/a> relatively cheaper compared to the overall consumer food price index as the obesity epidemic took off, whereas the relative cost of fresh fruits and vegetables doubled. This may help <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/19486715\/\">explain<\/a> why, during about the same period, the percentage of Americans getting five servings of fruits and vegetables a day dropped from 42 percent to 26 percent. Why not just subsidize produce instead? Because that\u2019s not where the money is.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-108534\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/2-03.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/2-03.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/2-03-960x540.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/2-03-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/2-03-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/2-03-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/2-03-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/2-03-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/2-03-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/2-03-540x304.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo understand what is <a href=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s10460-003-1206-6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">shaping<\/a> our foodscape today, it is important to understand the significance of differential profit.\u201d Whole foods or minimally processed foods, such as canned beans or tomato paste, are what the food business refers to as \u201ccommodities.\u201d They have such slim profit margins that \u201csome are typically sold at or below cost, as \u2018loss leaders,\u2019 to attract customers to the store\u201d in the hopes that they\u2019ll also buy the \u201cvalue-added\u201d products. Some of the most profitable products for producers and vendors alike are the ultra-processed, fatty, sugary, and salty concoctions of artificially flavored, artificially colored, and artificially cheap ingredients\u2014thanks to taxpayer subsidies.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Different foods reap different returns. Measured in \u201cprofit per square foot of selling space\u201d in the supermarket, confectionaries like candy bars consistently rank among the most lucrative. The markups are the only healthy thing about them. Fried snacks like potato chips and corn chips are also highly profitable. PepsiCo\u2019s subsidiary Frito-Lay brags that while its products represented only about 1 percent of total supermarket sales, they may account for more than 10 percent of operating pro\ufb01ts for supermarkets and 40 percent of pro\ufb01t growth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">It\u2019s no surprise, then, that the entire system is geared towards garbage. The rise in the calorie supply wasn\u2019t just more food but a different kind of food. There\u2019s a dumb dichotomy about the drivers of the obesity epidemic: Is it the sugar or the fat? They\u2019re both highly subsidized, and they both took off. As you can see below and at 4:29 and 4:35 in my <\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem;\" href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/the-role-of-taxpayer-subsidies-in-the-obesity-epidemic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>video<\/strong><\/a><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">, along with a significant rise in refined grain products that is difficult to quantify, the rise in obesity was <\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem;\" href=\"https:\/\/econpapers.repec.org\/article\/agsuersfr\/234624.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">accompanied<\/a><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"> by about a 20 percent increase in per capita pounds of added sugars and a 38 percent increase in added fats.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-108536 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-29-e1719399059486.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"518\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-29-e1719399059486.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-29-e1719399059486-960x259.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-29-e1719399059486-1024x276.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-29-e1719399059486-768x207.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-29-e1719399059486-1536x414.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-29-e1719399059486-1200x324.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-29-e1719399059486-720x194.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-29-e1719399059486-540x146.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-108538 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-35-e1719399088851.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"417\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-35-e1719399088851.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-35-e1719399088851-960x209.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-35-e1719399088851-1024x222.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-35-e1719399088851-768x167.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-35-e1719399088851-1536x334.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-35-e1719399088851-1200x261.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-35-e1719399088851-720x156.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-35-e1719399088851-540x117.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">More than half of all calories <\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem; background-color: #ffffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/27379488\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">consumed<\/a><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"> by most adults in the United States were found to originate from these subsidized foods, and they appear to be worse off for it. Those eating the most had significantly higher levels of chronic disease risk factors, including elevated cholesterol, inflammation, and body weight.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>If it really were a government of, by, and for the people, we\u2019d be subsidizing healthy foods, if anything, to make fruits and vegetables cheap or even free. Instead, our tax dollars are shoveled to the likes of the sugar industry or to livestock feed to make cheap, fast-food meat.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Speaking of sorghum, I had never had it before and it\u2019s delicious! In fact, I wish I had discovered it before <\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem;\" href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/how-not-to-diet\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>How Not to Diet<\/em><\/a><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"> was published. I now add sorghum and finger millet to my BROL bowl which used to just include purple barley groats, rye groats, oat groats, and black lentils, so the acronym has become an unpronounceable BROLMS. Anyway, sorghum is a great rice substitute for those who saw my <\/span><strong style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/how-risky-is-the-arsenic-in-rice\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">rice and arsenic video series<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"> and were as convinced as I am that we need to diversify our grains.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">We now turn to marketing. After all of the taxpayer-subsidized glut of calories in the market, the food industry had to find a way to get it into people\u2019s mouths. So, next: <\/span><strong style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/the-role-of-marketing-in-the-obesity-epidemic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Role of Marketing in the Obesity Epidemic<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">We\u2019re about halfway through this series on the obesity epidemic. If you missed any so far, check out the related videos below.<\/span><\/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>Why are U.S. taxpayers giving billions of dollars to support the likes of the sugar and meat industries? The rise in calorie surplus sufficient to explain the obesity epidemic was less a change in food quantity than in food quality. Access to cheap, high-calorie, low-quality convenience foods exploded, and the federal government very much played &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10452","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\/10452","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=10452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}