The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) is worried about “controlling the global obesity epidemic.” A recent report from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on “The State of Food and Agriculture” frets over obesity almost as much as it does malnutrition.
The U.N.’s increasing attention to this issue have conservatives worried about another threat to our sovereignty. “The last thing the world needs is yet another anti-liberty, wealth-redistributing response to an alleged crisis,” says Michael Tennant, a writer for the New American, which is published by the John Birch Society.
The Antiplanner isn’t too worried about the United Nations trying to control what Americans eat. But the same type of UN people who want to “control” obesity inhabit the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other federal agencies. Moreover, their agenda is often less oriented to fixing obesity than it is toward using obesity as an excuse for regulating land-use patterns.
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The news that obesity in Mexico is rising fast thanks to exports of high-fructose corn sweetener (HFCS) from the U.S. helps to dispel the notion that obesity results from land-use patterns and too much driving. Mexico’s GDP per capita and vehicles per capita are both about a third of the U.S. But thanks to cheap HFCS, Mexico has the highest consumption of carbonated beverages of any country in the world.
As much as I hate to agree with the John Birch Society, Tennant has it right when he says that the appropriate response to obesity is to “Get government out of the business of subsidizing crops.” He points out that, “If food prices were dictated solely by the market rather than by politics, it is likely that fruits and vegetables would be less expensive than processed, unhealthful foods.”
So who should cure the obesity epidemic? Not WHO, but instead Congress and other legislative bodies that contributed to it by subsidizing production of HFCS and other sweeteners.
” …legislative bodies that contributed to it by subsidizing production”
of HFCS and other sweetenerscampaignbribescontributions.“The last thing the world needs is yet another anti-liberty, wealth-redistributing response to an alleged crisis,”
Sadly, this template has all-too-much traction.
The obesity epidemic is an interesting indicator for the divide between the haves and the have nots, industrial agriculture (lobbyists and HFCS and farm bill subsidies), and the changing nature of work and leisure.
To me, it is an excellent indicator of how poorly we run our personal and public affairs.
DS
1. The switch between the world starving and the world getting obese was not foreseen by any planners, although planner suddenly claim to know the cause the cure. The planners all predicted massive starvation and a future of “Soylent Green.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green
2. Tons of data and theories blaming corn HFCS, but the US heavily protects cane sugar itself, and that didn’t stop obesity.
3. The US is now turning on emphasizing DHMO, despite all the scientific discoveries that EPA and Obama are ignoring. http://www.dhmo.org
Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) is a colorless and odorless chemical compound, also referred to by some as Dihydrogen Oxide, Hydrogen Hydroxide, Hydronium Hydroxide, or simply Hydric acid. Its basis is the highly reactive hydroxyl radical, a species shown to mutate DNA, denature proteins, disrupt cell membranes, and chemically alter critical neurotransmitters. The atomic components of DHMO are found in a number of caustic, explosive and poisonous compounds such as Sulfuric Acid, Nitroglycerine and Ethyl Alcohol.
Yes, Sandy Teal, but I’m not sure if its the Dihydrogen Oxide in Diet Coke, or the other strong solvents that substance contains courtesy of the Coca Cola international conglomerate, that scour the enamel on my teeth and well, make them seem cleaner than they really are…
On the other hand, it is certain that DHMO has no impact on obesity because it has absolutely no nutritional value.
Er, the Dihydrogen monoxide…
Just a matter of time I suppose before the punkass troll makes a snide comment attacking me on this slight typo.
Sandy, your remark about Planners not forecasting the rise in obesity is, pardon the pun, “food for thought.”
In Portland and other cities, the Planners are hallucinating things called “food deserts” where the residents don’t have access to enough healthy food. In Portland, public funds are being used to
decorate a food market in a “food desert.” Problem: there is a large supermarket and a great produce stand within ten blocks of this “Oasis in the food desert.” Unfashionable food vendors (Walmart) are ignored in the mapping for food deserts.
When your only tool is a hammer, every problem is a nail. When all you have is a tired old template “increase density and low-capacity rail” then that becomes the answer to obesity. Personally, I would bring back gym in the schools, and supervision on the playground after school is out. Kids love to play outside- and that is an easy & cheap thing to encourage. But wait- it doesn’t enrich developers …..
“Kids love to play outside”
Not as much recently. While children still spend about two hours outdoors each day, electronics occupy a larger percentage of that share, thereby cutting into physical play. According to an abstract, “Electronic media consumption and parental involvement in outdoor recreation activities seem to be important factors influencing children’s time outdoors.”
Perhaps the biggest factor that no one has yet raised about obesity is genetics. Recent studies have discovered a single obesity gene. Yes there are environmental factors, but without the gene, they’d be irrelevant.
Not a scientific measure–but go to any supermarket and there appears to be a marked correlation between obesity and people receiving food stamps and governmental assistance.
My city and most cities in the Northeast have inner-city farmers markets where people can use food stamps to buy heavily subsidized fresh products at great discounts. It does not seem to have cured th obesity epidemic since the vast majority of food stamps are used for other “less healthy” products–buying what these people actually want to eat.
Either act in a draconian manner and control everything that can be purchased with food stamps (Bloomberg advocates that)–or greatly reduce the amount of food stamp funds available. Eating less will lead to lower obesity.
1. The problem with obesity discussions is that obesity has grown fast in the last few decades, so anything that correlates with the last few decades will correlate with obesity. So you can just pick your desired evil thing from the last few decades — HFCS, TV, electronic games, fewer kids, suburbs, Costco, schools dropping PE, lower food prices, helicopter moms, giant sodas, fast food, etc. It will all correlate.
2. The “food deserts” idea is a wonderful invention and naming by food activists. These people think that there is a large group of consumers who want to pay lots of money for foods their local stores don’t carry, but somehow the stores don’t know that unless government intervenes. I think a real economist would just advise to work on the creating the demand for healthy foods and not worry about the free market getting the message, or looking at how government stops the free market from meeting the demand. These same people fight every Wal-Mart because it somehow makes people buy things they don’t want for prices that are too low.
I suspect that the reason supermarket chains don’t have stores in certain areas has to do with shoplifting. Not an expert in this area, but I understand that groceries are a low profit-margin business, and that controlling shoplifting is a huge deal.
Rather than letting city planners do the job of Kroger and Safeway executives re: locating stores,
I suspect that many neighborhoods would have better grocery options if a city would put resources into prosecuting whatever shoplifters the stores catch.
But increasing police coverage isn’t part of the New Urbanist agenda. Doesn’t enrich special interests.
“I suspect that the reason supermarket chains don’t have stores in certain areas has to do with shoplifting.”
Not really. I have a family member who is an executive with a major Texas based grocery chain. Believe it or not the shoplifting crime that most stores are worried about is very sophisticated and certainly not confined to low-income areas. Your run of the mill shop lift of some candy or basic food items doesn’t affect the margins that much. The pros go after things like baby formula, expensive vitamins/medicines and batteries. They then sell these items at flea markets are on the web. His company has a fraud division that not only tries to catch the crooks in the stores but also in the point of sale outside the store. The crime is organized and so is the companies response.
These companies spend lots of time and money in market research when it come to store locations. In poor areas stores are equipped with extra security, but also extra staff at the customer service area where people can cash checks and pay utility bills (with a service fee of course). From what my relative has told me, the stores serve different functions in different areas. The products offered are relatively the same. I can’t speak for the other chains but petty crime isn’t the biggest concern for my relative, despite the fact that they go after shoplifters with the full weight of the law.
For most of my life I’ve liven in Denver and Austin. I’m unaware of any “food deserts” in these cities. All neighborhoods have big grocers if not multiple chains. I’m going to have to side with the libertarians on this one. The rise in obesity in America is due to people making poor lifestyle choices. If your obese, it’s nobody’s fault but your own. I want to say that there is a correlation between education and class, but at least here in TX, there are just as many rich well educated white folks who are obese as any other cohort (not scientific, just an observation). Eating delicious fatty foods and being sedentary is easier than the alternative I suppose.
I realize this thread is long dead, but a student’s recent trip to the government school cafeteria shows where blame should be placed.