The Dark Side of the Food Industry

"The 2011 QSR 50." QSR Magazine. N.p., Aug. 2011. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

Collectively, we can recognize, organize, harness, and use our power to reform the many apparent dangers and problems of the U.S. food industry.^{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10}

The ills of the industry are vast.^{11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20} And the food industry, unlike citizens, is protected by lobbyists, politicians and corporations.^{21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27} History has a way of repeating itself. If we look to the tobacco industry that publicly touted little health risk, the food industry is equally aware of which staples are detrimental to health, but publicly don’t bat an eye at our skyrocketing (and bankrupting) healthcare costs.^{28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37}

Type 2 diabetes is killing our economy, to the tune of $245 billion, per year.^{38 39, 40, 41, 42} In the U.S. alone, nearly one third of children and adolescents are overweight or obese, yet food and beverage companies continue to target them with advertising for the same products that contribute to their problems.^{43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48} To put the food industry’s hold on our health in proper perspective, realize that basically 10 companies control nearly our entire food supply.⁴

Bradford, Harry. "These 10 Companies Control Enormous Number Of Consumer Brands [GRAPHIC]." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 27 Apr. 2012. Web. 09 Nov. 2014.

Shao. Korean Society of Community Nutrition and the Korean Nutrition Society. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 21 June 2011. Web. 10 Nov. 2011

Bernhardt, Amy M.,Public Library of Science. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 28 Aug. 2013. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

Do you know who does the bulk of water purification, overseas? Coca-Cola. Remember the time when you didn’t have to pay $8 for a bottle of water, at the movie theater? ^{50, 51,} Remember the time when we weren’t buying bottled drinking water – at all? ^{52, 53} I sure do.

We used to rely on farmers, and their honest practices, to provide us with clean, organic, non-GMO food. Now we rely on multi-national corporations and mega-companies, who specifically target “heavy users” (their language, not mine) to provide them with the large majority of their profits.^{54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61}

Layman’s terms translation: “Heavy users” are the high-roller consumers of soda and junk food.⁶² The term “heavy users” was co-opted from the tobacco industry. Is this an implication of addictive product? We think so.^{63, 64, 65, 66} Tantalizing and deceptive marketing allowed limited nutrition and excessive sugar to enter the mainstream.^{67, 68, 69, 70}

Berman, Jillian. "You're Paying A Ton To Subsidize Fast Food's Poverty Wages." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 18 Oct. 2013. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

Worse yet, these ad campaigns target impressionable children, at peak times to maximize their visibility.^{71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 7,7 78, 79,80, 81} In spending billions of dollars to capture “market share” (i.e. your kid’s mouth, and your hard-earned dollar) to peddle sugary, salty products,^{82, 83, 84, 85} your kids become over-stimulated, sick - and left craving more.^{86, 87, 88, 89, 90}

On this issue, we have the opportunity to build bridges, not walls.

Rally together. Support what we all believe in: reform the food industry so they have our best interest and health in mind. Take action and responsibility and together we can fix the increasing health problems that plague us in the 21^st century.

In 2013, we spent roughly $2.8 trillion (almost 20% of our GDP) on healthcare.⁹¹ We are in the business of helping people, whether they’re ill, uninformed, injured - or all three.

De Vogli R, Kouvonen A, Gimeno D. The influence of market deregulation on fast food consumption and body mass index: a cross national time series analysis. Bull World Health Organ 2014;92:99–107A

Soon our country’s healthcare system will be bankrupt from all these diseases and illnesses – many of which are entirely preventable.^{92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101} Join the fight against the ills of the food industry, and ‘share’ this article with your family and friends. You have a voice, and you can make a difference.

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