Time To Pay A Price For Poor Food Choices

Mike Magee

A new study published in this week’s Archives of Internal Medicine had this headline finding: “Better access to supermarkets” does not “improve people’s diets.” The study tracked thousands of people in several large cities for 15 years. Specifically, researchers wanted to know if citizens ate any healthier if supermarkets were placed in their neighborhoods. They did not. According to the study, “Income — and proximity to fast food restaurants — were the strongest factors in food choice.” (1)

To put this in context, America’s willingness to subsidize corn and use high fructose corn syrup in nearly all processed foods and beverages, has resulted in hidden calories here, there and everywhere – especially if you’re pursuing alot of calories for a little cost. All of which would be fine if it didn’t condemn you to obesity and a chronic disease burden that will ensure a future life filled with death and disability.

Food processors market from night to day – packaging, airwaves, center aisles – it’s all a scam to support the lazy, unhealthy, and distinctly profitable American diet. But we need to get beyond that, because – as this study shows – it doesn’t help if you make food available if the citizens continue to shop processed in the center aisles, while avoiding fresh fruit and vegetables in the outer aisles.

Institute of Medicine’s senior scholar J. Michael McGinnis made the point several years ago that people who die early in America have mostly themselves to blame. Dr. McGinnis’s analysis revealed that 30% of early deaths are driven by genetics or inherited vulnerabilities; 20% are the result of poor environmental or social policy that create unhealthy and unsafe conditions; but a whopping 40% of the carnage is self induced by the unhealthy choices we make.(2,3)

Front and center is the American diet, which is bizarre on so many levels. Portion sizes are ridiculous. Processed food is everywhere – babies getting snack bars on the run rather then healthy foods. Are you kidding me? And normally intelligent people making food choices that promote anorexia on the one hand and obesity on the other.

The American food recipe is 1 part lazy, 2 parts rushed, and 3 parts ignorant. And ingesting this recipe, according to a recent article in Health Affairs costs each and every American household an average $1250 in extra costs a year.(3,4)

Most of that cost is tied to the treatment of diseases tied to obesity. If you look at all adult Americans, on average each carries 25 pounds of extra weight.(5) Carrying and supporting the extra luggage means more diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and cancer. Collectively and as individuals we pay the price in dollars and years lost.(6)

Now we’ve been saying this for awhile, and made little progress. In fact, during the current decade of dietary enlightenment, we’ve become both more rushed and more sedentary, more stressed and self indulgent, and more inclined to order out and buy junk food on the run for our families.

How to break through? The easy answer – take a note from the tobacco play book and tax poor nutrition. Cigarette tax policy created individual disincentives to individuals hooked to this killer behavior.(7) The same should be done for dietary products that are making Americans sicker and our nation poorer and weaker. Take soda for example. Bizarre as it might seem, this very effective carrier of liquid obesity actually costs a third less in real dollars then it did three decades ago.(3)

Americans pay attention to price. Until we figure out how to make bad food expensive and good food cheap, don’t expect a great deal of progress in our battle with obesity.

For Health Commentary, I’m Mike Magee.

References:

1. Boone-Heinonen et al. Fast Food Restaurants and Food Stores: Longitudinal associations With Diets In Young and Middle Aged Adults. Archives of Internal Medicine. July 11, 2011. http://bit.ly/noMV26
2. McGinnis, J.M., Gootman, J.A., Kraak, V.I. (Eds.) and the Committee on Food Marketing and the Diets of Children and Youth (I am a member of this committee). Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity? . Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, 2006. http://explore.georgetown.edu/publications/index.cfm?Action=View&DocumentID=20902

3. Leonhardt D. Fat Tax. New York Times. August 16, 2009. Magazine Section.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/magazine/16FOB-wwln-t.html

4. McGinnis JM. Think Local To Cut Fat. Health Affairs. 25, no. 6 (2006): 1744. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17102202

5. CDC. Americans Getting Taller, Bigger and Fatter. 2009.http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/healthcare/a/tallbutfat.htm

6. Eric A. Finkelstein, Ian C. Fiebelkorn, and Guijing Wang. National Medical Spending Attributable To Overweight And Obesity: How Much, And Who’s Paying? Health Affairs. May 14, 2003. http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/early/2003/05/14/hlthaff.w3.219.full/reply

7. CDC. Steady Increases in Tobacco Taxes Promote Quitting, Discourage Smoking. http://www.cdc.gov/Features/SecondhandSmoke/