While surfing the stumbleupon health page I found a link to this YouTube video which was titled "How the Food Industry is deceiving you". The actual title of the documentary appeared to be "How to get fat without really trying", a Peter Jennings report, for ABC in 2004.

Though already 4 years old, the documentary is still just as relevant today as it was then. Food industry has been influencing what we eat for years and it still does today.

The documentary starts off with the question if there is a link between obesity in the USA and the USDA subsidies. (USDA = United States Department of Agriculture). Certain food sectors receive major subsidies to produce certain types of food, such as corn and meat, while healthier foods such as fruit and vegetables remain largely unsubsidized.

Corn is one of those products receiving huge amounts of subsidies. Corn obviously is healthy by itself. But when processed it becomes High Fructose Corn Syrup, which is a product very similar to sugar. High fructose corn syrup is used in most of our junk and processed food. Most of the corn produced is not used to sell the healthy natural corn, but for the processed high fructose corn syrup.

Because of the USDA subsidies, a massive overproduction occurs, making certain food products (such as High Fructose Corn Syrup) very cheap and therefore very popular. As a result, many Americans follow a diet plan influenced by the subsidy policies, which is a diet plan a lot different than advised by the USDA food pyramid.

The documentary visualized this by comparing the USDA food pyramid with a custom made "Subsidy pyramid". In this subsidy pyramid you see every food group as you'd find them in the official USDA food pyramid. The size of the food groups in the subsidy pyramid represent the amount of subsidies this sector receives. Normally, the higher in the pyramid, the less the food type should be consumed. Nonetheless, the USDA subsidies mainly go to the food groups highest in the pyramid (dairy, meats, fats and sugars, made from corn).

The documentary goes on discussing how commercials influence our consumption behavior, especially that of children. Marion Nestlé, author of the thought provoking Food Politics and What to Eat, talks about the "nag factor". Kids who see food commercials will nag all day long, encouraging their parents to buy these commercial food product. This makes children a very profitable target audience. Food companies greedily take advantage and US government does not forbid these commercials aimed at infants (which many other countries do forbid).

Overall, a very interesting and very insightfull documentary about the USDA subsidies and the food industry in general. About one hour in length, you can watch it at YouTube:

• How the food industry is deceiving you (part 1)
• How the food industry is deceiving you (part 2)
• How the food industry is deceiving you (part 3)
• How the food industry is deceiving you (part 4)
• How the food industry is deceiving you (part 5)

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Comments (1)

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