A four part series examining the United States Government’s relationship with the agricultural industry and how that directly affects your family’s health
In part 1, we discovered CORN is the most heavily processed food in the nation and high-fructose corn syrup is killing us, by making us the most overweight nation in the world. Because the US Government subsidizes farmers to produce more corn, eventually to be processed, but does not compensate farmers to grow fruits and vegetables, we are a nation that is doomed.
Government Is Not Concerned
Our national “Dietary Guidelines,” are developed by the Department of Health and Human Services, in conjunction with the United States Department of Agriculture. The HHS and USDA form an “advisory committee,” which is made up of 12 medical doctors, a vice-chairman and chairperson. This committee makes recommendations based on scientific evidence and nutrition research. However, I cannot locate a single study or report discussing the correlation between these dietary guidelines and our subsidized agricultural industry. We need such research to see the impact of subsidized foods, such as corn, soybeans, sunflower and vegetable oil have had on our health. If our tax dollars are being used to grow, process and distribute these crops, shouldn’t we be figuring out how they affect our health?
Remember, former Health and Human Services secretary, Tommy Thompson does not believe there is a correlation between our subsidy programs and how we have become the most obese country in the world.
Direct Impact on Your Health
To explain how subsidized foods directly impact your health, look no further than your local theater.
CORN – cheap raw material –subsidized
POPCORN – processed corn, which has been subsidized
OIL – is used to pop the corn, which has been subsidized
VEGETABLE OIL is used to process the butter put over the popcorn- subsidized
SODA – that you buy has been made with HFCS – which has been subsidized
CANDY – those milk-duds are made with artificial sweeteners – subsidized
All these items at the movie theater have been processed and subsidized by the government and have an unreasonable amount of calories.
“Big Food” and Government Control Food
The 10 largest food companies in the United States control more than half of all food sales domestically and a growing percentage of packaged food and beverage products on store shelves worldwide. Ranked by food sales, PepsiCo, Inc., is the largest food manufacturer in the U.S., followed by Tyson Foods, Nestlé, JBS USA, and Anheuser-Busch, according to a 2013 list published by Food Processing magazine. The most highly concentrated food industries in the country included cane sugar refining, breakfast cereals, bottled water, and cookie/cracker manufacturing.
Ms. Nestle concludes these cheap, processed ingredients fill our food supply with sugar, starch, fat and artificial flavors and coloring. These foods have been scientifically linked to cause chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease, which are pitted against the economic interests of the powerful food industry.
In her book Food Politics, Marion Nestle takes a fascinating look at the food industry and how it influences our nutrition and health. She concludes, when it comes to the mass production and consumption of food, strategic decisions are driven by economics–not science, not common sense, and certainly not health.
Marketing and other strategies of the food industry have been compared to those of the tobacco industry at the height of its influence in the consumer marketplace. Therefore, several current studies are exploring processed foods containing high concentrations of sugar, refined carbohydrates, fat, salt and caffeine for addictive properties. I will keep up with this research and report about it.
In 2012, City College of New York physicist Hernán Makse, found correlations between the obesity epidemic, geography and food distribution patterns. Makse stated, “We found there is a relationship between the prevalence of obesity and the growth of the supermarket economy.”https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120614131207.htm
We will discuss the Grocery Manufactures of America impact on our food and health.
PART 1 – Government Subsidizes Our Food
PART 2 -Does the Government Decide What You Eat
PART 3 – Distribution of Our Food
PART 4 – Marketing of Food to Our Children