Has the food industry been the cause of the increase in depression, obesity, infertility, heart disease, and diabetes? Researchers have been paid by the food industry to produce the desired outcomes. In September of 2022, the White House hosted a conference focusing on nutrition and health in America. Dariush Mozaffarin, the dean of the Tufts School of Nutrition stated that data collected over three years showed that Lucky Charms breakfast cereal is healthier than common proteins, including steak, eggs, and ground beef. Studies like this are making us in the nutritionist profession question whether some financial interests are a contribution to the problem.
Let’s compare the two. Beef and eggs are a great source of essential amino acids from proteins, vitamins, and minerals. While Lucky Charms is a cereal having 10 grams of sugar 22 total grams of carbohydrates and 2 grams of protein. I guess the real question is how does the food industry expect us to believe them? This is just one of many studies done where the food industry has paid for these studies. Or can we call them bribes?
This has been leading to a food industry crisis. Instead of being called out by the medical industry, the blame falls on the American public for being unhealthy. Most Americans have a more sedentary lifestyle tending to spend more time in a seated position and little physical exercise. Due to busy schedules, fast food, pre-prepared meals, and unhealthy snacks are more readily available, not to mention the marketing of getting a good fast food deal for a dollar.
This has been done to us. The largest food industries and pharmaceutical companies make more money when people are addicted to processed foods that contain added sugars and are mostly carbohydrates when they are sad, depressed, or in fear. Since carbohydrates trigger our endorphins, our pleasure-sensing hormone, this causes American people to purchase more food and eat more. The overall responsibility still falls on the consumer, but this is a contributing factor.
It is by design of the food industry that there have been over 50,000 different nutritional studies in the past two years. Findings state saturated fats are the cause, no sugars, are the cause, or not eating enough balanced meals. I believe that the overall goal is to provide so many different conclusions of these studies to confuse the general public. This is a collusion of many of the different food industries working together for increased profits.
Luckily, society is slowly learning this, but we need to get more truthful information out there to the rest of the public.
The major of healthcare treatment is a reactive response to a health problem rather than focusing on the proactive actions that cause us to go in an unhealthy direction. Medical problems, like diabetes, will slowly occur over time before being diagnosed. The good news is that with proper nutrition (I won’t use the word “diet”), it can be reversed. The bad news is that most medical professionals’ treatment isn’t to teach the knowledge of improving health but to put the person on a medication that will need to be taken over their lifetime. Who does this benefit? Money has always been a contributing factor, especially with the pharmaceutical companies.
Let us get back to marketing. Marketing strategies in business is to first reach as many customers as possible and persuade them to buy a product or service. Companies will promote brand messaging, and stress the value. When I was thinking about how I was going to stress marketing, I remembered an infomercial from the 1980’s. “The original Ginsu knife”. The ad focused on all you were getting with the set and the guarantee. The reason why I remember it so well is because of the additional sales pitch that the knives were so durable you could cut through a rubber pipe, a tennis shoe, or even a nail. “The more you use it the better it cuts” was the sales slogan. Marketing strategy is to convince you that you need this item, without questioning why you would use it this way. For a laugh, watch Ginsu II knife set – ad from 1981 (youtube.com). Products like Cellular phones and computers are released each year with a small upgrade in order for the general public to buy. I recently switched back to the cheaper streaming services with ads and I have been shocked by how many ads I have seen. Sadly, most of the time it is not a variety of ads but the same ones over and over again. Combining the ads with the influencers and trending topics on the internet, it is easy to see the amount of money that the industry pays in marketing.
Check out Are We Slowly Being Poisoned by the Food Industry – Part 2
