Welcome back to the blog, I truly wish everyone had a fun and eventful Christmas. This week, I wanted to write about a topic that’s been on my mind frequently due to a podcast episode I listened to last week.
Intro: My Beef with America’s Food Industry
I’ve touched on this in some previous blog posts, so you all know my beef with the American food industry. I understand that the food system in this country is not at its best, and our health is suffering because of it. It is shocking that America has worse health outcomes compared to peer countries yet spends nearly double the amount of money. Why are we spending more and seeing inferior outcomes? A big component to consider is the quality of food people are consuming. Food is medicine and a major component of our well-being. If the foods that serve us well are less appealing, accessible, and affordable, where does that leave us? And if the ultra-processed foods that are appealing, cheap, and efficient contain ingredients that are proven to have negative consequences on our health, how do we navigate that challenge?
I want to dive into this issue and unpack a lot of what I consider to be the major issues with America’s food industry. Where is policy lacking? Where is corporate greed screwing us over? And what lessons can we learn from the countries that are doing it better?
The Health of America is Suffering
To begin with, let’s consider a few facts. In 2023, America spent roughly 4.9 trillion dollars on healthcare. Compared to other high-income countries across the globe, America ranks last or near last on many quality measures such as access, equity, and life expectancy. In the U.S., we have the most technological, pharmaceutical, and medical advancements we’ve ever seen, yet we’re the sickest we’ve ever been. The United States has the highest prevalence of diagnosed cancer. The United States has the highest chronic disease burden out of all the developed and high-income countries. Additionally, Americans are also more likely to have autism, food allergies, diabetes, and auto-immune diseases than any other country. And I know that correlation does not equal causation and this and that and whatever. But we should at least think about the associations. We must consider why this is and at least try to solve the issue. Because a lot of people are sick and a lot of people are suffering. And this isn’t just a healthcare problem; this is a problem of inequity and injustice. Low-income communities suffer at disproportionate rates because ultra-processed low-quality foods are cheap, more accessible, and more available to these communities.
And you know, if people got just as upset and pissed off about this systemic problem as the mother fuckers causing an uproar over a potential ban of big-gulp sodas, I think I’d be a little bit more proud to be an American. That was a joke. I love being American, but of course, it pisses me off and can be incredibly discouraging at times.
Policy Uproar: Big Gulp Sodas
But seriously, in New York City, the mayor tried to ban sodas over 16 oz from being sold in restaurants, movie theaters, delis, and other similar settings because the companies that produce it have been profiting from giving Americans chronic diseases for decades. The response? People decided to protest. God bless America and everything, but I don’t think the Founding Fathers would give a flying fuck about your 50 oz liquid sugar comma. Anyway, back in 2012, there was a scheduled protest called the “Million Big Gulp March” at City Park Hall in New York. The idea was that they were protesting more about the government dictating how people should live and less about the Big Gulp itself. I still think it’s bullshit regardless. Like, “fuck you, government, I’d like to keep my rights to type 2 diabetes and heart disease”. That’s the noise I’m hearing from this crowd. I understand protesting for a cause, but how addicted to sugar does a person have to be to cause a massive fucking scene over a damn Big Gulp? Only America. That’s for sure.
Previous NYC Mayor Bloomberg put it eloquently when he said, “If the government’s purpose isn’t to improve the health and longevity of its citizens, I don’t know what its purpose is.”
Now that I’ve finished my Big Gulp tangent, I want to give another opinion that nobody asked for: this one concerns the lack of regulation in America’s food industry.
Lack of Regulation in America’s Food Industry:
European countries are a really good example of what a healthy amount of government regulation looks like. For example, in the U.K., companies are required to put a warning label on their foods stating “May Have an Adverse Effect on Activity and Attention in Children” if it contains dyes. Most food companies don’t want this warning label on their products and simply choose to color their foods more naturally using fruits and vegetables or spices such as paprika. Another good example of this regulation is that Europe does not allow known or suspected carcinogens in their food. Now, there’s a crazy idea. The EU, Canada, and Brazil banned Potassium Bromate from food products because of its association with cancerous and non-cancerous tumors in several animal studies. The U.S. did not see this evidence as compelling enough, and this ingredient is still used in many of our products today. Another worrisome point is that Azodicarbonamide, a compound used in products such as flip-flops and yoga mats, is used in cereal flours in the U.S. Make it make sense.
There is no other highly developed and high-income nation in the world other than the U.S. that allows food corporations to decide how safe certain chemicals are. This fact points to an alarming deficit of regulation within America’s food industry. Chemicals such as red dye 40, blue dye 1, and yellow dye 5 and 6 are banned in a handful of European countries yet considered safe in the U.S. despite being linked to neurological issues, allergies, and brain cancer. Why the FDA approves these dyes, I’m not sure. I couldn’t tell you. The FDA also approves Glyphosate, a highly toxic chemical that is known to cause cancer, to be used as a herbicide on fruits and vegetables being sold in grocery stores all around the U.S. This sucks because eating produce, a habit inherently healthy, can have negative impacts on your body because America’s lack of regulation on harmful herbicide and pesticide use. One more nail in the coffin—the FDA doesn’t require safety testing for any GMO foods being sold at markets and stores in the U.S. This is shocking because, in 64 other countries, GMO products are either banned or must be labeled because of the known health risks they are associated with such as infertility, immunity problems, and changes to major organs. How lovely.
During my research, I came across a quote from the Slow Food Movement International that summarizes the harm of using GMOs in food production. It states that the use of GMOs has “reduced biodiversity, polluted landscapes, threatened the future of small-scale farming, and reduced the food security of the world’s poorest people. They have not fed the world but rather concentrated profits and power into the hands of a few ruthless companies”. Well said, in my opinion.
Same Product, Different Ingredients:
Now, jumping into the corporate greed aspect of this issue, companies such as Kellogg’s and Quaker sell identical products overseas but with different ingredients. And guess which country gets the inferior product? Yep, America. An example of this is McDonald’s fries. In the UK, they are made with potatoes, vegetable oil, dextrose, and salt. In the U.S., however, the fries are made with these same ingredients, including a “natural beef flavor” (whatever the hell that means), sodium acid pyrophosphate, and then fried in an oil laced with dimethylpolysiloxane, which happens to be the main ingredient in silly puddy. Another example is Heinz ketchup. In the U.S., this contains high fructose corn syrup and natural flavoring, which happens to be heavily processed and have an addictive component. In the U.K., however, this same brand of ketchup is made of tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, salt and spice, and herb extracts. One last example I’ll mention is Frosted Flakes. The ingredients are almost the same in America as they are in Europe, with the major difference being the use of butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) in American Frosted Flakes. This compound is a known endocrine disrupter and is also linked to cancer. Europe banned the use of BHT in their cereals, so Kellogg’s had to reformulate the recipe to sell overseas.
So, why is it that higher quality products of the same foods are sold in the U.K.? Why isn’t the same product sold worldwide? It’s because America takes a backward approach to food safety. Ingredients and chemicals are allowed in food until they are found to be harmful, rather than banning additives from the get-go to avoid making the public into guinea pigs for the harmful effects of these compounds. Unfortunately, it can take years and years of research and association to see the harmful effects of certain ingredients. Years and years of American consumption, that is.
Lack of regulation ties into this because there is no incentive to sell the safer product in America. Processed, cheap, and unhealthy sells, so that’s what these companies will continue to provide us with. If a company is allowed to use a cheaper ingredient, they will, regardless of whether it negatively impacts our health. A well-functioning government would step in to prevent citizens from the physical harm that the foods on our shelves cause. In a country that prioritizes profit over people, this can seem far off. It is crucial, though, that the government does step in. The FDA should have never approved some of the compounds and ingredients being used in our foods in the first place. And as an American, I’m concerned that so many have been.
Food Quality and Health:
Another point I want to make is that other countries better understand and put into practice the interconnectedness between the quality of food, human health, and environmental health. This is evident in policy and attitude alike. America currently has a food production system that causes harm to the planet and the people living in it. To sustain human existence, we rely on the resources of the earth, such as oxygen, food, and water. Our practices and policies need to better reflect the value of wanting to buildup and take care of the world we live in so that we can better take care of our health. This country must do better. Why not see the ways other countries are doing good and learn from it? There is nothing wrong with adopting systems and policies from countries that see enhanced health outcomes and make them our own. For instance, I think the federal government needs to take a moment. They need to take a step back and look at the blue zones. We see what works, and we must then learn from that and implement policies that align with that way of life. Simple as that. But until we can get a grip and ban the products that destroy our health and our planet, we may not ever see things improve.
Wanting to Eat Healthy While Not Fearing Food: My Approach
Lastly, I want to address this issue from the lens of another prevalent issue in American culture: eating disorders. A lot of what I’m discussing in this post can induce feelings of fear around food. This is absolutely not the goal of this post, and I want to make that known. Food is fuel, and intuition is our best guide when it comes to eating. Fear-mongering is not the intent of addressing the many issues prevalent in America’s food system but rather awareness. Being an informed consumer should be important to everyone. Knowing what’s going into our bodies and how certain chemicals affect our bodies shouldn’t be a riddle or puzzle to solve. It should be inherently clear. The fact of this matter is that some things, point blank, should not be in our food supply. I advocate for balance and moderation, but when it comes to herbicide and titanium dioxide, not so much. Toxic chemicals, hormone disrupters, and carcinogens probably shouldn’t be the subject of a balance and moderation mindset. If these things aren’t present in the food supply, people can truly eat intuitively with balance and moderation without fear of food or the harmful effects of certain ingredients.
To be somewhat helpful, I want to talk about my personal approach to this issue. I struggled with disordered eating habits through most of college, and when things started to get better, I read this book titled Deep Nutrition by Catherine Shanahan. This book highlighted the importance of a human-based diet and traditional foods. It also introduced me to some of the problems with sugar and seed oils. I hyper-fixated on the dangers of seed oil because my dessert-loving ass completely ignored the chapter on why sugar is bad for you. Because I didn’t and still don’t give a fuck. I love sugar. But anyway, I read this book and decided to hyper-fixate on seed oils to a point where it was a little obsessive and possibly worse for my health, considering the stress or fear I faced when eating anything containing ingredients such as canola or soybean oil. While yes, these are not great for you, and there is plenty of research supporting this claim, some things are out of my control. Sometimes homecooked meals, lunches with friends, and my birthday cake have vegetable oils. I think I’ll live. Where it is in my control, however, I do avoid it as long as I feel that it is not coming from a place of deprivation and a dieting mindset. I read ingredient labels before I buy things and will find a product I want with simpler, health-enhancing ingredients. However, if I’m craving a slice of cake and all the options at the store contain vegetable oil, I still may decide to purchase it to fulfill that craving. I never want to feel deprived of the fuel my body needs. My body is intelligent, and there is a good reason my body is craving more carbs and fats some days. So my advice is—be honest with yourself when choosing to cut something from your diet. When things are in your control, make the intuitive choice you feel is right. Trust your body and trust yourself when making food-based decisions. And when the ingredients in a meal are out of your control, take a breath and let it go, man. Let that shit go. All is well. Don’t let it stress you out because that’s arguably worse for your health.
Closing:
The bottom line is that the food industry doesn’t give a singular fuck about our health, only their own bank accounts. And considering I can’t shit Skittles or snap my fingers to solve this issue that affects the entirety of the American population, I think the government needs to step up. Increased regulation is sincerely the only way to solve this problem. America must do better.
Alright. That’s that. I’m gonna write again next week because this shits so much fun.
<3