bite my words

Dispelling nutrition myths, ranting, and occasionally, raving

Tag Archives: food industry


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Man vs food industry

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A recent “article” – actually a “commentary” which apparently does not need to be grounded in reality – by Patrick Luciani refuted the view that the food industry is at the root of the obesity epidemic.

He begins by pointing out that BMI is flawed (which is true) but this does not mean that we don’t have an excess of overweight and obesity in Canada as Mr. Luciani would have us believe. Just because the measurement tool isn’t accurate doesn’t mean that we don’t have a problem.

Luciani continues by suggesting that some people choose to be fat and are content with their weight. Yes, there certainly are people who are overweight and are perfectly content and healthy. However, there are also many others who are unhappy with their weight and who are suffering negative consequences both social and health.

His third argument is that humans have always been gluttons and that the onus is on us as individuals to control our eating; not on the food industry. These three arguments don’t seem all that cohesive to me.

I certainly agree that the food industry is not entirely to blame for the state of obesity in our country. It’s got many different causes and the food industry is but one of them, albeit a large one.

For once I was really impressed with the comments on this article. Rather than rephrase them I’m going to share a few below:

1. The writer is promoting a harmful line of thought when he says:

“And modern medicine has made it easier to carry around that extra weight. Cholesterol-controlling statins, diabetes and blood-pressure medications and bariatric surgeries have lowered the medical costs of those few extra pounds.”

What we take from this is that an unhealthy life-style is no problem – just take some pills.

The treatments he casually mentions have their own limitations and side effects. Aside from this, many older people are suffering from weight exacerbated joint problems that severely impair their mobility and/or require costly surgery.

 

2. Some of us like the way we are just fine. Some of us don’t.

I didn’t…

 

3. Such paper thin arguments piled up to justify the author’s agenda. The BMI is flawed (which it is) so there is no obesity epidemic? There were some overweight people 300 years ago so we can ignore the things that are leading to so many of us being overweight now. There was a poorly designed tax in another country that didn’t work so we should just give up on broader solutions. People are overweight because they simply choose to eat more and that’s uninfluenced by our evolutionary drives, our upbringing, or our environment that encourages overeating (research would beg to differ).

The insinuation that public health advocates are inflating the crisis for their own benefit is a typical projection by those who do view the world from a “what can I gain” perspective, not the “how can we best help people help themselves” approach advocated by those who want to do something.

It’s no wonder the author’s book was nominated for a Donner Prize as it furthers the Donner Foundation’ agenda to denigrate what communities and governments can do and put the blame on the individual.

 

4. This author’s opinion is truly a stretch. What percent of the population do professional athletes make up? Definitely not enough to impact the overall obesity statistics. There are many, many reasons for people gaining weight, but all age groups are getting heavier and this needs to be addressed. In our current lifestyles making the healthier choices is the more difficult choice and any way we can change this is worthwhile. Trying to deny or explain away the obesity statistics is not helpful.

 

 


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Follow Friday: Survey on Canada’s Food Guide

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Okay, readers… Here’s your chance to submit your thoughts on Canada’s Food Guide. Everyone can participate, not just those who use the Food Guide in their work. Most of the questions are multiple choice but at the end you can submit comments. A great opportunity to say that you would be more onboard with the CFG if it were based on scientific evidence and the food industry was not allowed at the table. Or whatever you want!

The survey closes on May 17th so you have a week to complete it. It only takes about 5 minutes. Please share it with others so that as much useful feedback can be submitted as possible.


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Follow Friday: Dietitians for Professional Integrity

I started this blog as an outlet to rant about nutrition myths and other nutrition-related topics that raised my ire. I may not always state things in the most diplomatic manner. My goal is to get people thinking and questioning things and sometimes I voice my opinions in a provocative manner to do so. If I’m wrong about a topic or if there is no “right” or “wrong” but you have a differing opinion I’m happy to hear it and will post it in the comments section for others to obtain additional viewpoints.

One of my top ranting topics has been Dietitians of Canada and their symbiotic relationship with the food industry. As such, I’m more than happy to throw my support behind an initiative out of the US (who are experiencing similar issues with their national dietetic organization: the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics) called Dietitians for Professional Integrity. Please go and “like” their Facebook page. If you are a dietitian, I urge you to consider contributing a Statement of Concern or simply to share your personal experiences on their wall.

It took me a few weeks to muster up the courage and write my Statement of Concern (posted below). The retweets, comments of support, and new followers help me to feel confident that I’m doing the right thing. If we don’t stand-up for ourselves and what we believe in we will never see the change that we desire. Let’s work together to make our national dietetic organizations what we need them to be. Kudos to RD Andy Bellatti for spearheading this campaign.

Statement of Concern:

I’ve had a couple of fellow RDs ask me to submit a statement of concern to support the efforts of Dietitians for Professional Integrity in their efforts to pry Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) and Dietitians of Canada back out of the pockets of the food industry. A recent event has made me feel both less comfortable with doing this and obligated to do this.

 

When I was student I was a member of DC. I wanted to be involved and obtain current nutrition information from our national organization. It was also an asset when applying to internship programs. However, I was disgusted with the amount of propaganda I received in the mail. Every single package I received from DC contained information from food industry sponsors. I received numerous coupons (includes ones for bologna!), which I was suggested to “share with clients”. After I was accepted into the internship program I allowed my membership to lapse, as I was uncomfortable with the ties between DC and the food industry.

 

I have been vocally critical of DC on my personal blog over the past year and a half. I don’t think that it’s appropriate for an organization that is comprised of nutrition professionals and students to receive sponsorship from the food industry. I view this as a major conflict of interest. How can we be viewed as credible providers of nutritional best practice if we’re funded by the food industry?

 

Apparently, I’ve stepped on some toes with my comments. That brings me to the recent event that compelled me to add my voice to this cause. It was suggested to me, by my provincial dietetic association, that I remove my comments about DC from my blog. I was told that these comments were unprofessional and did a disservice to dietitians (among other things). After much consideration I decided that this attempt to silence me would instead provide me with the impetus to raise my voice more loudly. If we are not allowed to have a critical discourse, and not allowed to comment on actions of an organization that is meant to represent us, how will we ever see positive change?


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Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq continues to raise my blood pressure

Even after more than a year the Sodium Working Group is still coming back to bite health minister Leona Aglukkaq in the artery. I find this whole saga frustrating for a few reasons. One, as a taxpayer, I’m annoyed that my tax dollars went to fund a working group whose recommendations were ignored. Two, as a healthcare professional I hate to see the health of Canadian citizens be disregarded for the benefit of the food industry.

For those unfamiliar, the Sodium Working Group was a group made-up of food industry representatives, Health Canada “experts”, and scientists. The group advised that sodium intake of Canadians should be reduced through education, and ensuring that food companies were adhering to more stringent sodium content amounts. These recommendations were presented to the health minister, and the public, in a report back in 2010.

Current sodium recommendations for adults in Canada are no more than 1, 500 mg a day. However, food labels use the upper limit of 2, 300 mg as the %DV on food labels. This makes it appear that you are consuming less of your maximum recommended daily allotment of sodium than you actually are. Keeping in mind that recent research has shown that food labels are highly inaccurate, even if you do the math you may be consuming considerably more sodium than you think.

The NDP and Liberals are pushing for a bill that would see at least some of the recommendations of the Sodium Working Group see the light of day. A representative speaking on behalf of Ms. Aglukkaq actually had the audacity to respond with the comments that: ““Because it addresses processed foods, the NDP could spend millions on a sodium registry but Canadians who want choice can still pick that up and put the salt on their food,” said Carrie, referring to a salt shaker. That’s why our voluntary approach is better, especially with the education and the collaboration.” This despite the fact that the vast majority of our sodium intake (about 77% according to the Sodium Working Group) comes from packaged food and restaurant meals. And we can see from the current inaccuracy of food labels that we cannot actually rely on a voluntary honour-system of food labelling.

So, we can’t rely on the government to lookout for us. We certainly can’t rely on the food industry either. Your best bet: prepare as many of your own meals as possible using as many minimally processed ingredients as possible. When reading food labels don’t just look at the nutrition facts panel; look at the ingredients panel as well, the numbers only tell part of the story.

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