Haley O'Brien UWRT 1103
Inquiry Project Spring 2015
Is our food now consuming us?
Some Statistics:
More than 33% of adults and over 17% of children are obese in the United States today.
9.3 % of the nation's population has diabetes.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the country, taking the blame for 25% of all American deaths.
On average, Americans eat approximately 3,800 calories per day.
Mcdonald's is now approaching 40,000 restaurants worldwide.
Less than 1/4 Americans eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. In fact, the typical American only consumes 5% of their calories from fruits and vegetables.
Our food culture has gotten out of control.
How?
Statistics show that typical American diets exceed recommended intake levels of sugars, refined grains (otherwise known as empty carbs), sodium, and fat. On the contrary, our diets are devoid of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy products, and oils. Since 1970, average daily calorie consumption has increased by 600 calories, and the number of fast food restaurants has doubled. 40% of the calories consumed by children ages 2-18 are “empty calories”, half of which come from only 6 sources; soda, fruit drinks, dairy desserts, grain desserts, pizza, and whole milk (source). Because of this, many people who overconsume are still malnourished, and suffer from all the health complications associated with that. This is because our cultural perception of food has changed. It has gone from a source of sustenance to a consumer product, and we are only seeing the start of the repercussions of that industrialization today.
So what?
The negative implications of poor diets are endless. Other than the aforementioned heart disease and diabetes, poor eating habits can result in tooth decay, high blood pressure and cholesterol, stroke, osteoporosis, depression, eating disorders, and several types of cancers (source). It also can lead to fatigue, slowed or slightly impaired muscle and brain function, weakened immune system, premature aging, severe bloating, dehydration, constipation and digestive issues, acid reflux, anxiety, erectile disfunction, kidney and other organ damage, concentration and behavioral issues in children, and hormone imbalance (source), just to name a few. Obesity is another problem associated with poor nutrition, which brings its own slew of issues to the table; migraines, infertility and premature birth, sleeping disorders, increased suicide risk, financial problems, increased risk of autoimmune diseases like MS, and impaired lung function (source), again to only scrape the surface of the potential threat obesity poses to our public health.
Why does this happen?
These problems most commonly come from chemically processed foods of any type.
This is for a number of reasons; for one, almost all processed foods are extremely high in sugars, even if they’re not sweet. However, your food labels don't tell you that; they might be called agave nectar, barley malt, brown rice syrup, or cane juice, but they're all sugar. These are taken from a list of 57 alternative names for forms of sugar (source).
They are also very high in artificial ingredients. If you read the label of many common household food products, such as pasta and cereal, the ingredients list is extensive and comprised of many chemicals rather than food items. Often, these ingredients are simply labeled as “artificial flavors”, which could be composed of anything. While naturally vibrant foods are often dense in nutrients, artificial colors are in many processed foods, and are extremely carcinogenic and hazardous to our health. They have been shown in countless studies to cause increased tumor development all throughout the body, allergic-like reactions, and hyperactivity in children. These colorings are mostly prevalent in children’s food, to make it more marketable and aesthetically appealing. This is necessary because processing often detracts from overall color, flavor, texture, and nutrition of food, leaving it in a very unappetizing and un-food-like state. These things are added back in to make it look and taste like food again— and they’re also addicting (source).
Junk food can seriously affect our brain’s biochemistry, releasing high levels of dopamine every time its consumed, leading to a physical addiction complete with cravings and withdrawals. Many studies have shown that the way sugar and other commonly processed ingredients react in the brain is very similar to that of cocaine (source).
They also take the place of vitamins, antioxidants, and nutrients, which are necessary for the body to carry out many of its daily functions. Malnutrition is a serious problem, even in obese people, and leads to severe debilitation of the immune system, body, and even the brain (source). It also leads to increased appetite, making people more likely to overeat. These issues are unavoidable in diets high in processed foods.
Another source of dietary trouble is meat; while meat is high in many important nutrients and seems like it should be healthy, it often is not. The meat industry has become severely commercialized as fast food chains have become corporate giants, causing it to lose its wholesomeness as well. Many animals are treated with artificial hormones that stay in their meat after they are slaughtered. These hormones alter our own, and have been suggested to be one of the causes of premature puberty, something that is becoming very prevalent in society today. Animals are also given lots of antibiotics and other drugs, which has been shown to contribute to antibiotic resistance, something that is also becoming a problem recently. They are also raised in very stressful conditions. Many chicken coups are stuffed to capacity, with boards over the windows. This means that the chickens are rendered immobile and spend most if not all of their lives in a dark, overcrowded, disease-ridden room. Many of them die here. If not, they are slaughtered in an assembly line, often while awake, and dissected by workers who are often unskilled and mess up, leading to unwanted bacteria and other materials in our meat. While this can be seen as incredibly morally unjust, it also can affect our health; these stressful conditions can seriously affect the biochemistry of the animals, which will in turn be transferred to the consumers. These animals are also malnourished and often fed only corn,
Taken from FOOD, INC.
Food, Inc. is a documentary available to stream on Netflix that exposes many of the horrors of the food industry, and focuses on the meat industry in particular. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning about what they are really buying and consuming. Below is an interview with the creator of this documentary about what he went through to make this film and what kind of repercussions he faced for exposing the truth.
Interview with Food, INC. filmmaker:
While some of this may sound surprising, it's really not a secret.
All it took was a simple google search to find all of these things. So, if all of these things are happening, and people know they’re happening,
The food industry doesn't want us to talk about it.
Food Industry Tricks:
something that is cheap and nutritionally deficient. This leads them to have many health problems that can affect consumers as well (source). For instance, there was an outbreak of E. Coli a few years ago. This happened because cows started eating corn, and the bacteria mutated. There was a 2-year-old boy who ate a hamburger and was dead in 12 days. To combat this, instead of changing their practices, many meat factories now use ammonia hydroxide as a meat filler to kill the bacteria (source).
Oprah Winfrey was sued in 1996 by the beef industry for saying she would never eat another burger on her show in response to outbreaks of Mad Cow Disease and other beef-related health problems, because it negatively impacted beef sales (source).
Did you know?
why are we still eating these toxic foods?
The food industry works very hard to mislead us. They spend up to $10 billion annually on marketing their foods. Bright colors, happy images, and buzzwords such as “lowfat” or “whole grain” are slapped onto labels to make foods more appealing to consumers, even if they’re not necessarily accurate. "Diet" food has become an industry of its own that is no more dietetic than other processed foods (source). For example, sugar-free, diet soft drinks are actually extremely high in artificial sweeteners and other chemicals that are potentially even worse for your health. Products are placed in TV shows and virtual games and billboards and just about everywhere you look, which can lead to intense cravings and the desire to ignore the downsides of junk food (source). Many studies are also conducted by the industry, and more often than not draw results that favor the food industry. Beyond that, studies that suggest otherwise are often put down by big corporations and are rarely as publicized as their more misleading counterparts. The food industry is also known to combat initiatives to reveal the dangers of certain toxic foods, as it will in turn reduce the industry’s profit (source).
The pressure from the food and marketing industry on the media and government is another reason why these problems are so prevalent. In many other countries, things such as artificial sweeteners and colors aren’t even legal, or at the very least come with big government warnings such as those on tobacco products in the U.S. There is a huge conflict of interest problem in the food regulating industry; many members of the FDA and USDA are closely linked with food industry corporation giants, such as Monsanto. Monsanto is a very large company that works with the agricultural industry to maximize its efficiency, according to its website. Their products include herbicides and GMOs, and are continuously linked with cancer and other problems. They also heavily influence the FDA; the current Deputy Commissioner of Food at the FDA held several Monsanto positions. It’s actually very common for someone to bounce between the two groups, something that many people find deeply unsettling (source).
Monsanto representative insists chemical is completely safe,
then refuses to drink it.
So what exactly are GMOs?
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are living organisms whose genetic makeup has been altered through genetic
GMOs are found in up to 3/4 of all commercially sold food (source).
According to the Non-GMO Project, foods are typically genetically modified to withstand the application of commercial products, such as herbicides. Therefore, increased use of GMOs leads to increased use of herbicides as well. Despite many industry promises, several studies and groups have proven that they are both capable of having harmful effects on human health. In fact, there are GMO restrictions and bans in over 60 countries worldwide, including all of those in the European Union (source). In spite of this, there is little federal regulation over GMO safety and use in this country.
The FDA is known to ignore the many studies that suggest GMOs negatively impact our health. According to an article published by Collective Evolution regarding credible studies that have shown negative impacts of GMOs, The Journal of Food and Chemical Toxicity published a paper in 2012 about the longterm toxicity effects of some Monsanto products. They had found a diet comprised of GM corn caused tumors in rats. In order for an essay to be published by this well known journal, it must go through an extensive review process by reputable sources. In spite of this, the journal retracted this essay. Many scientists were very upset by this, as they found the results of the study to be valid (source). Researches who were involved took this a step further, and answered many of the studies' criticisms in detail. To read these rebuttals, click here.
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Alfalfa (first planting 2011)
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Canola (approx. 90% of U.S. crop)
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Corn (approx. 88% of U.S. crop in 2011)
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Cotton (approx. 90% of U.S. crop in 2011)
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Papaya (most of Hawaiian crop; approximately 988 acres)
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Soy (approx. 94% of U.S. crop in 2011)
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Sugar Beets (approx. 95% of U.S. crop in 2010)
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Zucchini and Yellow Summer Squash (approx. 25,000 acres)
Common GMO Crops:
Did you know?
Due to current policies, it is up to the companies who develop GMOs to test their products for safety, environmental drawbacks, etc. Instead of conducting any tests, the FDA consults with the company. To read letters between the FDA and the companies who manufacture these GMOs, click here.
Health Problems Linked To GMOs:
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allergies to both GM and non-GM food
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liver problems
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infertility and infant mortality
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increased toxicity
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antibiotic resistance
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tumor growth and cancer
Many people have a hard time believing that the FDA and USDA would knowingly let us eat toxic foods. However, the evidence is hard to ignore; not only do they not test these products themselves or heed advice from very reliable sources, but they do not require GMOs to be labeled. The United States and Canada are the two only countries that do not require labeling of GMOs (source). Most polls and surveys conducted show that the majority of Americans prefer to not eat GM food, and support GMO labeling (source). However, majority does not rule here. Instead, the people who get to make decisions about what is in our food, what is labeled, etc. are often associated with companies such as Monsanto, who profit off sales of GMOs and herbicides. As mentioned previously, Michael Taylor, the current Deputy Commisionner of Food at the FDA worked with Monsanto for several years (source). This raises many questions, such as why we are being kept in the dark about what is in our food, and whose best interest is really being protected.
Who is Monsanto?
engineering (GE). This is not a natural process but is done in a lab, and results in genetic combinations and mutations that do not form in nature (source).
Monsanto is a chemical company that was founded in 1901. They are responsible for the production of many highly toxic chemicals, such as PCBs and Agent Orange, the deadly chemical used in the Vietnam war that led to birth defects in over 500,000 children. They have recently switched their
focus from chemicals to agriculture, and now produce and sell massive amounts of herbicides and pesticides, subsequently developing GMOs that are able to withstand the application
of these products and selling those seeds.
This company is entirely controversial. There is overwhelming support to take down this corporate giant, for several reasons; Monsanto's chemicals have been proven to be very harmful to human health time and time again, yet they continue to lobby for support of them, which some view as a crime against humanity. They are also a huge monopoly; it is estimated that 40% of US crops contain genes of Roundup, Monsanto's globally top-selling herbicide. They extend their patents to their second-generation GM seeds, forcing farmers to buy new ones each year. They also support private control of public water supply, which will pose many problems as population growth strains clean water supply, and their practices are said to further the world's food shortage rather than mitigate it. These are just a few of the many reasons people are rallying against this corporation (source).
Monsanto/FOX News Coverup:
Monsanto has extreme influence over both the media and government. To the left is a story told by FOX News investigative reporters, who created a program on the negative health implications of a Monsanto product that was found in much of the country's milk supply. Their superiors did not allow their segment to air due to the direct intervention of Monsanto (source).
So what can we do?
There are many ways to avoid the problems associated with the industrialization of food.
First and foremost, we need to educate ourselves and our children.
Food companies are only able to get away with all of this because we let them. People are willing to turn a blind eye to what they don't want to see, and that is a huge part of the problem.
The truth is not pretty. It is also reality.
Ask questions about what is in your food and from where it is coming. Do your own research rather than trusting other people to do it for you. Read your food labels; do you recognize every ingredient? Don't stop asking questions just because the answers aren't easy to find; they're hidden for a reason.
Tell your kids what you find.
Perhaps the biggest evil of the food industry is the way it preys on the impressionability of children. They are targeted by marketing campaigns more than any other group (source), because they are the most apt to believe what they see. Don't sugarcoat things for them; tell them exactly what they're eating, and why it's placed in their food. Teach them the difference between food that gives them nutritional value and food that can turn a profit, and teach them that food is meant to be fuel, not a product. Old habits die hard, and it is best to teach them the right way while they're young. Not only will it be better for their health, but it can actually make a change; they are the consumers of the future.
Companies can only sell what we buy.
Money talks louder than almost anything. As consumers, we have the power to decide where we spend our money. Instead of supporting these problematic companies and products, support local, organic farmers or grow your own food. It might not seem like a big difference, but if everyone stopped buying these toxic products, that market would have to fall. Everyone starts with one.
Think about it. Isn't what we eat important? Instead of ignoring these problems and letting them grow, we should be fighting them. We should be taking initiative and trying to get these toxic products outlawed. We should be starting education programs in schools. We should be asking questions. We should be in control of what we put in our bodies.
We should be talking about it.
Do your research. Spread awareness. Eat real food.