Assignment 16- Hampton Jefferson

In the US, around 35% of all adults are obese. While this number says a lot on its own, what is even more alarming is that the obesity rate in the 1950s was only 10%. So what caused this change? Some of the blame has been placed on lack of exercising. However, in the 1950s, scientists discouraged exercising and even thought it would cause heart attacks. As studies came out proving this to be false, more Americans started exercising but at the same time the obesity rate went up. Now obviously exercising is not the cause of obesity, but the lack of exercising isn’t the main factor either. The main cause of the obesity epidemic is sugar. Sugar has become a problem in our society because of the lack of awareness of its effects, it exists in a multitude of products in a variety of forms, and there are no current solutions to reduce sugar intake.

One of the main reasons why sugar has been able to thrive in our society is because the general population doesn’t understand exactly what it does to the body. Sugar is dangerous because the body treats it differently than other nutrients. If someone were to eat 100 calories of something that is rich in fiber, such as oatmeal, their body would process it slowly leading to a low rise in blood sugar levels and not much, if any, fat created. Sugar is the complete opposite. If someone were to take in 100 calories of sugar, their body would process it immediately causing a high rise in blood sugar levels and forcing the pancreas to make fat as a place to put all that sudden energy. Sugar is also highly addictive. When using a brain scan, scientists are able to see that the brain responds the same way to sugar as it does cocaine and heroin, two of the most addictive drugs on the market. Not only that, but in a controlled experiment, cocaine addicted laboratory mice were given the option of sugar water or cocaine. 40 out of the 43 mice chose the sugar water. Combine the addictiveness of sugar with the effect it has on the body, and that is a recipe for a health crisis.

Now you may be wondering how people have never heard of these studies as they would seem to have importance in our daily lives. That is because companies who rely on sugar as their primary source of income such as Coke and Pepsi have spent millions trying to cover up the truth the same way big tobacco companies did with studies relating cigarettes to lung cancer. In total, Coke and Pepsi fund 96 public health organizations including trusted names such as Harvard University Medical School and the American Medical Association. The power of corporations like these was never more prevalent than in the 1970s when the first dietary goals in the US came out. These goals called for reduced intake of fat and sugar. The sugar, egg, beef, and dairy associations were furious and called for a rewrite of the dietary goals and were ultimately successful. In the rewrite, the words reduced intake were removed from the report entirely and the new report encouraged Americans to buy leaner products with less fat. However, the products with less fat in them didn’t necessarily end obesity, in fact, obesity rates were still rising. One would think that eating less fat would result in less fat people, so how was the obesity rate still climbing?

The answer is that when taking out fat, the product would taste terrible so companies needed something to substitute in to improve the taste. That something was sugar. Ever since those first dietary goals were written, sugar intake has doubled among Americans. There are 600,000 food items in America and 80% of them have added sugar. However, many people don’t realize sugar is in so many products. This is because sugar and artificial sugar can go by many names including fructose, glucose, maltose, lactose, and high fructose corn syrup. Even though the names are different, the body processes them the exact same. Corporations also use other clever marketing tools to make their products seem healthier, such as such as putting the word diet in front of their product or advertising it as low calorie when in reality that product is unhealthy because it still contains sugar. The hidden sugar in many of these products has made it hard for people to eat a moderate amount of sugar a day. The American Heart Association’s recommended allowance of added sugar is 6-9 tsp. The average intake of added sugar is 41 tsp. For those looking to have only the recommended amount of sugar, it is nearly impossible because the nutritional information does not have the percent daily value next to sugar. Sugar is the only ingredient that doesn’t have this and it is due to the successful lobbying of big sugar on the US government. There is also no universally accepted daily limit on sugar, although individual groups may have their own. This was attempted to be fixed in 2002 when the World Health Organization called sugar a major cause, if not the cause of obesity and recommended no more than 10% of calories come from sugar. Big sugar immediately lobbied two senators who convinced the Bush administration to withdraw the 406 million dollars the US was going to contribute to the World Health Organization if the document wasn’t taken back. This was essentially blackmail by big sugar, and it was successful as the 10% recommendation was taken back and currently there is still no recommendation from the World Health Organization on the daily intake of sugar. With no recommendation, people who attempt to watch their sugar intake don’t know how much they should limit themselves to, and with so much sugar in food today, it is difficult for them to moderate their consumption of sugar.

Sugar is clearly a problem in America, and it needs a solution. An easy solution is to fix the standard of what a vegetable is in school lunches. Right now, pizza and french fries can be considered vegetables in the school system although they are proven to be unhealthy. Part of the reason why pizza is considered a vegetable is because of lobbying from big sugar. Because of all the money they are giving Congress, it is unlikely there will be any change. Another more effective solution would be to cut out processed food and fast food from one’s diet and to mainly eat food from the local farmer’s market or food with little to no sugar. This solution would be difficult to implement as sugar is highly addictive. Also, this solution could not be required, but if someone is looking to lose weight, this is the best way possible. Brady Kluge, a 15 year old from South Carolina, weighs around 250 pounds. He and his family did a sugar detox where they cut out processed foods for six weeks. Brady lost 27 pounds. After this six weeks Brady stopped the detox and continued on with his normal diet. Six months later, he had gained the weight back. This is a short story but it shows that dramatic weight loss is possible, and it starts with a healthier diet with less sugar and processed foods.

Sugar is at the root of America’s obesity crisis, and the numbers prove it. Sugar and processed foods are unhealthy, and big sugar has pushed their product out in a multitude of ways. They have also made it difficult for people to get reliable information about their products by lobbying Congress and influencing much of the legislation about sugar. However, America doesn’t need the government to fix this problem. It starts at the dinner table by eating healthier and consuming less sugar. Big sugar can’t force people to eat sugar, and buying healthier, local products and non-processed foods is a step in the right direction.

Bibliography

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Boseley, Sarah. “Sugar, Not Fat, Exposed as Deadly Villain in Obesity Epidemic.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 20 Mar. 2013, www.theguardian.com/society/2013/mar/2 0/sugar-deadly-obesity-epidemic.

Soechtig, Stephanie, director. Fed Up. Fed Up, RADiUS-TWC, 2014, www.amazon.com/Fed-U p-Katie-Couric/dp/B00MRHFA72.

Taubes, Gary. “Is Sugar Toxic?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Apr.2011, www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html.