Technology, Diet, and the Burden of Chronic Disease

saved1986

\r\n \r\n I taught at a bad high school in an impoverished area about 8 yrs ago. They had free breakfast for the kids and it was a sweet roll. As a chemist I just looked at the package with awe. Hydrogenated oil, HFCS, aluminum raising agents and assorted chemicals. In greece there is a law in which the schools must prepare the food daily from scratch.\r\n

Ted_Hutchinson

\r\n \r\n If we are what we eat, Americans are corn and soy
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\r\n \r\n To a degree some may find hard to swallow, science is proving the old adage "you are what you eat."
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\r\nProteins and fats in your food are incorporated into your body and brain with potentially profound effects on your health and even your behavior.
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\r\nTodd Dawson, a plant biologist at the University of California-Berkeley, can test a strand of hair to determine how much corn is in your diet or mine by looking for a form of carbon found in corn.
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\r\n"We are what we eat with respect to carbon, for sure. So if we eat a particular kind of food, and it has a particular kind of carbon in it, that\'s recorded in us, in our tissues, in our hair, in our fingernails, in the muscles," Dawson says.
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\r\nDawson tested a strand of my hair: 69 percent of the carbon came from corn.
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\r\nThis may seem high, but it is typical for Americans.
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\r\n"We\'re like corn chips walking because we really have a very, very large fraction of corn in our diets, and we actually can\'t help it because it\'s an additive in so many of the foods we find on the market shelves," Dawson says.
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\r\nFoods like ketchup, salad dressing, soda, cookies and chips all contain corn, usually high fructose corn syrup.
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\r\n"I think where the danger comes in with corn is that much of the corn grown now in North America is going into making high fructose corn syrup," Dawson says. "So it\'s not that corn per se is bad, but it\'s the sweetener made from corn that gets into many of the foods that Americans are probably consuming too much of, and we now see that showing up as obesity and heart disease and potential for type 2 diabetes."
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\r\nTo be fair, researchers say we\'re eating too much of all kinds of sugar, not just high fructose corn syrup.
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\r\nAnd the Corn Refiners Association points out that "many parts of the world, including Mexico and Europe, have rising rates of obesity and diabetes, despite having little or no high fructose corn syrup in their foods and drinks."
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\r\nEuropeans eat a diet with far fewer processed foods and corn-based sweeteners. Dawson tested his own hair after three months in Italy: 5 percent corn.
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\r\nAmericans also eat an extraordinary amount of soybean oil, another key ingredient in most processed foods. Checking labels during a recent trip to the grocery store I found soybean oil in everything from tortilla chips to fruit syrup.
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\r\nDr. Joseph Hibbeln at the National Institutes of Health estimates that soybeans, usually in the form of oil, * account for an astonishing 10 percent of our total calories in the United States.
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\r\nIn recent years, a form of soybean oil has been the primary source of trans fats, which raises levels of LDL, or bad cholesterol, in our bodies and is thought to contribute to heart disease.
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\r\nOur bodies need a balance of omega-6 fatty acids like soybean oil and omega-3 fatty acids like fish oil, Hibbeln says. Over the last century, our diets have shifted almost completely to omega-6 fatty acids.
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\r\n"It\'s quite likely that most of the diseases of modern civilization, major depression, heart disease and obesity are linked to the radical and dramatic shift in the composition of the fats in the food supply," Hibbeln says.
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\r\nOur brains are composed of fatty acids, and an absence of omega-3 fatty acids can actually change our behavior, according to Hibbeln.
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\r\nHibbeln\'s research suggests diets containing omega-3 fatty acids found in fish reduce depression, aggression and anger, while improving mental well-being.
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\r\nQuite literally, food for thought.\r\n \r\n

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Ted_Hutchinson

\r\n \r\n Commentary. The big issue is ultra-processing
\n‘Nutrient profiling’, and ‘fortified’ soft drinks for Africans
\nHere are a couple of quotes from the article.
\n Please read the whole article and not just the quotes before replying.
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\r\n \r\n Box 1
\nTransnationals must be regulated in the public interest
\n Before I start, I want to make one point very clear. I am not against industry and I am not against industry making profits.
\n What I am against, is gigantic firms making vast profits at the expense of population health, with ultra-processed products that are by their very nature bad for human health, and that taken together undermine meals and thus family life, wreck local economies, displace traditional food cultures, and contribute to the ruination of the environment and the planet.
\n What I am very specifically against, is Big Food and Big Drink, and Big Snack: transnational industries that do all this while at the same time claiming that what they are doing is healthy and responsible.
\n It is not. The so-called ‘market’ has failed.
\n The proof is here for us all to see: overweight and obesity, in partikcular among children.
\n Despite what they say, which is becoming increasingly believed, these firms, in fulfilling their obligations to their financiers and shareholders and thus to the bottom line, are behaving recklessly and irresponsibly, much as the international banking industry has done.
\n Also yes, what they are doing does have a disturbing resemblance to the policies and practices of Big Tobacco.
\n Big Food, Big Drink and Big Snack must be properly regulated in the public interest – and that means in the
\ninterests of those of us who are alive now, and also of our children and those who come after them.
\n Regulation designed to encourage and enable communities, families and citizens better to enjoy their lives, is a fundamental responsibility of legislators concerned with public goods, of which public health is one.
\n I believe that all of us who work in public health nutrition have a responsibility to see what is going on, and to speak out as best we can, personally and collectively.
\n Scientists are citizens too\r\n \r\n

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\r\n \r\n ‘Nutrient profiling’: My view
\n Heavily advertised products are almost all ultra-processed. In general, the more money that is spent on advertising and marketing any food and drink product, the worse it is for human health, including our personal health and that of our families; and also for the health and future of the planet. I will be glad to know of exceptions to this rule.
\n I advise us all to reject and ignore nutrient profiling. Avoid food and drink products that make or suggest claims based on their ‘nutrient profile’. In particular, do not buy such products for consumption by children. They are usually ultra-processed products (UPPs). What is typically significant about them is what is not included in the claims – such as high energy-density, heavy content of fat, sugar or salt, degraded basic ingredients, and use of chemical cosmetic and other additives to imitate real food.
\n Enjoy delicious meals and dishes prepared using fresh and minimally processed foods that are naturally rich in nutrients. Relish family meals. This advice is most important for the health of children, at the time and in later life.\r\n \r\n

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Ted_Hutchinson

\r\n \r\n The big issue is ultra-processing There is no such thing as a healthy ultra-processed product
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\r\n \r\n Healthy\' ultra-processed products: My view
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\r\nAs the title of this commentary states, in my view there is no such thing as healthy ultra-processed products. By their very nature they are unhealthy. There may be exceptions to this rule. If any readers think so, I will be glad to hear from them.
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\r\nTo say that a food or drink or product is unhealthy is not to say that it should never be consumed. Practically all diets, including those that overall are very healthy, include foods and drinks consumed preferably occasionally because they are delicious or stimulating treats. Feasts and parties usually include a lot of sweet or fatty foods and drinks. These are best prepared at home, or else purchased from shops where they are made on-site for immediate sale.
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\r\nIn countries and areas where most food is industrially processed, it would be tedious and impractical to avoid all ultra-processed products. I am not advocating this. It is a question of proportion. What we should do, as professionals and also as purchasers, is to make sure that ultra-processed products make up a relatively small proportion of food supplies and diets. If consumed, they should not be consumed daily, regularly, or in large amounts, but only sparingly and occasionally. With colleagues I am working on quantification of this recommendation.
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\r\nHealth claims
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\r\nSo what about ultra-processed products reformulated so as to enable claims or suggestions that they are healthy? While there may be exceptions, the best that can be said of such products is that they are less unhealthy.
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\r\nHere is one example of a multitude of others. Pepsi-Co, the world\'s leading manufacturer of snack products, has reformulated a \'light\' version of its chip (crisp) branded as Ruffles. This is known as \'Fit Chips\' in my country of Brazil. It is made with 100 per cent vegetable oil, with no trans-fats, and contains less salt than before. This product is basically no better or worse than many others that are now promoted as healthy and, by implication, fit to eat in unlimited quantities. But 62 per cent of its calories still come from fat, and it still has a massive energy-density of 540 calories per 100 grams, twice as high as condensed milk and higher than chocolate biscuits. It still promotes snacking over regular meals, for that is the business of industries in the snack business (3), and it still displaces fresh and minimally processed nutrient-dense foods. To repeat, this is not a point about Ruffles or Pepsi-Co but about all such products and their manufacturers.
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\r\nSo I think it is nonsense and indeed pernicious to claim or suggest that such products are healthy and as such are good to consume regularly. Indeed, the eventual impact of \'healthy\' ultra-processed products could well be to remove any existing restraints, whether in the form of regulatory vigilance or public concern. In this way, \'healthy\' ultra-processed products are liable to accelerate the replacement of whole, fresh or minimally processed foods, and also the obesity pandemic. This is and should be a matter of great concern to all concerned with nutrition and public health, including leaders in the United Nations system and national governments.\r\n \r\n

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I think it\'s important to read the whole article but here\'s the
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\r\n \r\n Conclusion
\r\nEspecially since the 1980s in high-income countries, and then globally, ultra-processed products have rapidly displaced previous dietary patterns and traditional meals and diets. None of this will be changed for the better by ultra-processed products that make health claims. To the contrary, \'healthy\' ultra-processed products may well accelerate the deterioration of public goods and public health.
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\r\nAs well as being convenient, not needing meal-times or even a table or plates and implements, ultra-processed products are formulated to be intensely palatable and even quasi-addictive. They are very profitable and marketed energetically, notably by transnational companies with vast budgets. Their main ingredients are typically very cheap, and some of the savings may be partially passed on to customers as relatively cheap prices. One result of all this � unsurprisingly � is the current uncontrolled pandemic of overweight and obesity, and rapid rises in diabetes and other associated non-communicable diseases. Prevention and control of NCDs is the topic of the Summit being held at UN headquarters next month, although � curiously � obesity is being downplayed.
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\r\nAll types of ultra-processed product are unhealthy. The most rational recommendation is that no such products, however reformulated, should be allowed to make or to imply health claims. Short of this, the relevant United Nations agencies should recommend, and international regulatory bodies and national governments should require, that by law, all ultra-processed products, whether or not claimed to have healthy qualities, be prominently labelled with a statement saying that they should not be consumed regularly or daily or in large\r\n \r\n

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saved1986

\r\n \r\n Ted, I jest you not! We have a site called people of wal mart and the sad thing is it is not a joke but real and if you go to wal marts in the states, you will see people like this and not occassionally but frequently to all the time depending on the store location. These people eat 100 percent processed food and the only veggies they get are corn and potatoes (if you consider those veggies).
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\nHere are some examples
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\nhttps://cdn.inquisitr.com/wp-content/...f-Walmart-.jpg
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\nhttps://funnydaze.net/wp-content/uplo....-30-22.16.jpg This one proves twinkies cause brain damage
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\nhttps://m5.paperblog.com/i/2/23426/be...-L-t_cqBq.jpeg
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\nIt is hilarious to see some of these people, especially the people riding the electric carts who weigh more than jumbo and their carts are loaded with twinkies, sodas, candies etc\r\n

Ted_Hutchinson

\r\n \r\n This is how the Swedish Diet Doctor Andreas Eenfeldt sees the USA Obesity problem.
\nWhy Americans are obese part 1 / 2 4 Part 5\r\n

saved1986

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\r\n Originally Posted by Ted_Hutchinson\r\n

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This is how the Swedish Diet Doctor Andreas Eenfeldt sees the USA Obesity problem.
\nWhy Americans are obese part 1 / 2 4 Part 5

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We had a cookie which came out 20 yrs ago snack wells no fat but all sugar. Also our serving sizes could feed a small country. I remember last yr going to this place everyone talked about and all it was was supersize serving sizes, the food sucked.
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\nA few months ago a friend and I went to "Melt", the most talked about new restaurant in Cleveland. I thought it was beyond bad. "Fancy" toasted cheese sandwhiches, rather large and a side of fries which was huge. But then again, cleveland has an obesity problem.
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\nTed, in the US you have to dig and search (unless you live in a large east or west coast city, minneapolis or chicago) to find great asian places. Nothing (in my opinion) beats vietnamese/thai/indian/sushi which are much more healthier than mcdonalds etc.
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\nTrue story: In 04 I was teaching on a carribbean island and was at happy hr with a russian and a polish guy. The polish guy says "Oh my God" and we turn around A 350 pound plus (each) couple were walking down the road and the russian guy goes "americans".\r\n

saved1986

\r\n \r\n https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/...m+-+Sneak+Peek
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\nGo to 28-29 sec and see if you notice something\r\n

Ted_Hutchinson · � #1 � 09-08-2011, 03:13 AM

Technology, Diet, and the Burden of Chronic Disease

Quite an interesting article re-enforces the need to be eating foods that have not been subject to modern processing techniques.

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Box. Example of Measures to Promote a More Appropriate Use of Food Technology
Government
Restructure agricultural subsidies to promote highquality foods (eg, vegetables, fruits, and legumes)
Regulate food advertising/marketing, especially to children
Adequately fund school lunch and related nutrition programs
Public
Buy fewer ultraprocessed products
Prepare meals from basic ingredients in the home
Give preference to restaurants that prepare meals from scratch
Schools
Prepare lunch and snack foods from whole ingredients
Institute a new “home economics” curriculum to promote cooking
Restaurants
Provide intermediate option between gourmet food and fast food—convenient, inexpensive meals prepared from
whole foods (eg, Chipotle Mexican Grill)
Industry
Use higher nutritional value ingredients vs commodities
Market minimally processed/traditionally processed products (eg, stone ground bread, steel-cut oats)
Use preservation methods that protect polyunsaturated fats

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