Definitions of Tragedy
When I mentioned in my last blog that everyone inevitably suffers tragedy, that’s not quite correct – some people do escape it – because tragedy refers to untimely death. The death of parents, even though it might feel tragic to their children, is not a tragedy (unless those children were really young) because it’s in the natural order of things.
But if the manufacturers of fast food and now of almost all food available in supermarkets continue having their way (making ever-expanding profits from addicting us to their ultra-processed food) we’ll all go to untimely deaths in the not so distant future due to our ever-expanding waistlines and list of diseases.
Over the past few generations we’ve started eating substances constructed from modified starches, invert sugars, hydrolised protein isolates and seed oils that have been refined, bleached, deodorised and hydrogenated. These calories have been assembled into concoctions using synthetic emulsifiers, low-calorie sweeteners, stabilising gums, humectants, carbonating agents, bulking agents and more. And it’s making us sick at rates that our health systems can’t cope with. It might be a slower tragedy than we usually think of as tragedy but in terms of people’s happiness and longevity, their quality of life and fulfilment of their unique potential, it is tragic.
These people are not our friends
Chris van Tullekin’s book is mandatory reading, giving the public the information it needs to make informed decisions about what to eat to prevent diseases like diabetes 2, obesity and heart failure. We’re advertised at from the minute we wake to consume high-calorie/kilojoule, low-nutrition, addictive manufactured food. That advertising works. In a Yale study, children consumed 45% more junk food while watching TV with fast food advertising compared with children watching the same TV programs but with advertising for non-food items. Kids’ social media and games are crammed with ads for junk food. McDonalds tries to cosy up to families, pretending to be a community hub, especially in poorer areas. We need to realise: purveyors of these toxic foods are not our friends.
It’s in the interests of our health to stop eating ultra-processed foods and it’s also in the interests of the planet’s health. Half of Indonesia’s forests have been destroyed for palm oil, which is in tons of these products. And if the label claims its palm oil to be ‘sustainable’ that is probably a lie: the American Food and Drug Administration has been so chronically under-funded for so many decades that such labelling has become largely self-regulating. It’s not measured in any formal way. We know how much we can trust companies to self-regulate from the Australian banks experience.
Meat eating requires destruction of tropical forests, which drives pandemic disease and climate change. Van Tulleken outlines many other reasons, such as plastic pollution, to avoid ultra-processed food, but the one I’m focusing on in a short blog is our health.
Deception
The manufactured food corporations fund research, scientific bodies and even national programs, pretending to be part of the solution. In 2015 Coca-Cola published a ‘transparency’ list of experts and projects it funded. When the author investigated, he found that for every author Coke disclosed, there were another four whom they didn’t.
The author reckons that even in the UK the formula industry fund research and the medical profession has been captured by it. It’s become a revolving door, just like Australian politics and the defence industry. Just before van Tulleken interviewed her, the president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health took a position on Nestlé’s scientific board. For every woman who wants to breastfeed, even in England, there are barriers and lack of support. If a woman’s mother and sisters have not breastfed it has become hard because all the information she can get has been sponsored by the formula industry.
‘Obesity and all diet-related diseases are commerciogenic – just like the illnesses caused by inappropriate marketing of infant formula around the world. This means those who seek to limit the harms of these companies must have an adversarial relationship with them.’ (p. 294) The British Nutrition Foundation is funded by Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Hersheys, Kellogg’s and Conagra. As the author points out, organisations that take money from companies like these and claim to be fighting obesity are actually extensions of the marketing divisions of Coca-Cola and its ilk.
We’ve become guinea-pigs
But what can we do? The author laments: ‘We’ve all become part of an experiment that we didn’t consent to, and it’s very hard to quit this food.’ I’d say that you should buy this book, which is as readable and funny as our own David Gillespie’s Sweet Poison (Viking, 2008) and Big Fat Lies (Penguin, 2016), which I wrote blogs about before. You could also do the online Yale Food Addiction Scale test. See https://rb.gy/7us8ww
This blog could be construed as badly timed – just after Christmas – but it’s also a time for new year’s resolutions. And indulging in your favourite things once in a while is okay. Where would be we without our treats? Careful which ones though because this ultra-processed food is definitely addictive. In David Gillespie’s books are recipes for treats without sugar or chemicals. See also Sarah Wilson’s books and online, respective URLs are: www.sweetpoison.com and sarahwilson.com
Also food scientist Jules Clancy has easy, quick, nutritious recipes and shortcuts for healthy cooking. See thestonesoup.com
Chris van Tulleken has a twin brother who quit cold turkey and lost 20 kilograms in a few months. The author recommends getting your family on board and steering clear of situations where you’re likely to feel out of control. He points out that it’s not just food – many other products are designed to be consumed in excess, like phones, apps and clothes – and abstinence from some of these is helpful too.
You could take up walking too, with its huge physical, mental and emotional benefits. These are entertainingly outlined in Annabel Streets’ 52 Ways To Walk (Bloomsbury, 2022). It’s inspiring and informative but it will have to wait till next blog. While I walk I sometimes like to listen to podcasts and Rob Reiner’s Who Killed JFK is the most riveting one I’ve heard. (Reiner directed some favourite films of mine like The Princess Bride and This is Spinal Tap. He really knows how to tell a story.) Crammed with new evidence and interviews, Who Killed JFK? is made and narrated by Reiner and journalist Soledad O’Brien. I neglected all else while I binged on it. Forget about food – this is addictive!
You can watch Chris van Tulleken on The Drum (6th December) https://rb.gy/5i2oa1
Leave a Reply