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October 09, 2004
Fatland
When I went to the US in June for the Agile Development Conference, I was paranoid about putting on weight. I avoided all fast food, ate only at restaurants and was careful to eat small. It seemed to work. On previous trips to the US I have always put on weight. Two years ago I put on a whopping 5 kilograms in one week! (Perhaps I was in denial about my pre-trip weight).
What is it about the US that has this effect. Well a great book to read to find out is fatland 
The book argues that the late 70s ushered in two very low cost sources of empty kilojoules: Palm Oil and High Fructose Corn Syrup ("HFCS"). Palm Oil was a new import from South East Asia. Palm Oil is a saturated fat similar chemically to beef lard. HFCS is made from corn and is 10 times sweeter than sugar. Fructose also follows a different chemical pathway to sucrose. Long term use causes increased fat formation, high blood triglycerides, decreased glucose tolerance and too much insulin the blood.
It then argues that the food companies sought a way to take advantage of these changes. Coke and Pepsi changed from 100% sugar to 50% sugar and then 100% HFCS in their cola drinks. Research showed that over 4, humans lose the ability to take into account calories taken in in liquid form, not compensating for them when they ate solids. Other research showed that human satiety was flexible: they would eat more when confronted with wide variety and also when given more. Because of the high cost of labour but the low cost of these new sugars and fats, it was found that more margin per customer could be made by selling them more at an incrementally lower price. Along came value meals and supersize options. The growth in supersizing can be illustrated by the serving size of McDonalds fries. In 1960 200 calories, 1970s 320, 1990s 450, late 1990s 540 to the present 610 calories.
Accompanying this was a change to eat more meals out and do less exercise. Physical education had become curtailed in many schools. School districts were entering into lucrative 'pouring contracts' with softdrink manufacturers. Conditions often included unrestricted sales through the day and in-school advertising.
The health result of all this is still unfolding. About 25% of Americans are now obese, meaning they have a Body Mass Index ("BMI") of 30 or more. 60% are overweight, meaning a BMI of 26 or more. This in turn is associated with rapidly growing rates of diabetes, coronary artery disease, hypertension and stroke. This is leading to something of a windfall for drug companies who are seeing extra demand for drugs to treat these conditions. In time these diseases will drive up health costs and make insurance dearer. The US Surgeon General has warned that obesity is now a major threat to life in the US and may overtake smoking as a leading cause of preventative death. Australians and Britons tend to follow US trends. Lets hope we don't follow them on this one.
And what am I doing about this? Well I lost my appetite after reading Fatland. I am personally someone at risk of going this way. I have lost a few kilos in the last four weeks and now have a BMI of 27. Not obese but overweight. I also have two boys: one three and one almost two. A high correlation exists between children who are overweight in kindergarten and those overweight or obese in adults. So it is a family wide effort to all stay healthy. It makes it easier too to all me consistent.
And what is McDonalds doing now? In Australia this month they have started using Canola oil rather than beef tallow and Palm oil. And "low sugar" bread. I remember asking the manager of the Gladesville store what they cooked their fries in four years ago after reading in The Australian Newspaper that it was beef tallow, and being told it was vegetable oil. I think these changes are good. I was in the Milton store today to buy a coffee and saw that the supersize portioning is still in place. Fatland takes a rather cynical view that some of the pro health choices were only introduced to disarm the veto person.
Anyway I highly recommend this book.
Posted by gluck at October 9, 2004 05:00 AM