I watched a Documentary on Netflix the other day titled Fed
Up that was very thought provoking. The documentary was about the problem of
obesity in America. This is a much bigger problem than I ever knew it to be.
Today in America there are over 50,000 adolescence (under the age of 18) that
have type two diabetes. That number was
at 0 a mere 30 years ago. This is the first time that the newest generation is
predicted to have a lower life expectancy that the generation that came before
it. So with all the advances in modern technology and medical treatment you
might ask how this could be possible.
For the past thirty years there have been various scientific
findings that show sugar is a leading cause of the obesity problem in America,
but every time one of these articles is published or the government attempts to
change something in the health standards huge companies like Coca-Cola, Pepsi,
or Kellogg will step in and fund scientists to perform research that finds
evidence to the contrary of says that there isn’t enough proof. They also make
promises that they will make their products healthier or that they will release
new products that are healthier for us. So they go out and produce products
that are low fat or less calories. But the sugar content is ether kept the same
or even higher than it was before.
An interesting point was brought up in the documentary that
the last time we so actively and supportively advertised and consumed a product
that was so unhealthy was with cigarettes. It took over 50 years after the
first research showed cigarettes to be unhealthy for the public to become aware
of the dangers. How long will it take for people to realize how damaging the
ridiculous number of sugars we consume is to our health?
A study was performed in Harvard that proved sugar was more
addictive than cocaine. So with all these products being marketed to children
that contain high amounts of sugar these companies are acquiring customers for
life because they hook these kids at a young age and they will most likely
continue to buy these products for the rest of their lives.
The documentary ends without giving a definitive solutions
to this problem to me it seems that every time the government tries to step in
and make a change the huge companies That are making their profits off of sugar
step in and create a new way to ether distract or deter the government from
actually fixing the real problem. So one answer I came up with is that somehow
these scientists that know sugar is such a big problem need to find ways just
like this documentary to educate the public and especially the parents of our
society and from there hopefully they can lead their kids in the right
direction.
If you found what I was talking about interesting I highly
recommend watching the documentary Fed Up on Netflix it does a much better job
than I of explaining this problem.
I found it really interesting how the documentary compared sugar to cigarettes. I wonder how long it will take consumers to realize the negative health effects of sugar. If definitely took consumers a long time to realize the harmful of effects of cigarettes even after the research was presented. This post has definitely made me wonder how much sugar I consume. Thanks for the thought provoking material.
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