Source (Feb. 2006) :Ethical Investment Research Services (EIRiS): Obesity concerns in the food and beverage industry
A soft drink is a drink that usually contains carbonated water, a sweetener, and a natural or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a sugar substitute, or some combination of these. One 440 ml can = 150 calories.
Scale of the obesity problem
The World Health Organisation (WHO) believes obesity has reached epidemic proportions. Globally, more than one billion adults are overweight, of whom at least 300 million are obese.
Obesity is associated with an increased risk of serious illnesses, including heart disease, type two diabetes, hypertension, stroke and certain forms of cancer. Obesity-related illnesses are estimated to account for as much as seven percent of total healthcare costs in the European Union. In May 2003, the US journal Health Affairs reported that in the US, the obesity health bill is estimated to be nearly USD 100 billion per year.
Childhood obesity is a particular source of concern. More and more children are either overweight or obese putting children’s long-term health at risk. Also, the risks of developing obesity-related diseases as an adult are increased considerably by being obese as a child.
US
In the US, nearly two-thirds of American adults are overweight, and nearly one third are obese. Around 30% of US children and teenagers are believed to be overweight (with 16% estimated obese), a figure that has more than doubled in the past 40 years.
Europe + UK
The situation is almost as critical in Europe. EU figures estimate that around 14 million EU children are currently overweight or obese, of which more than three million are obese. This figure is expected to continue to rise for the foreseeable future.
In Britain the incidence of obesity has almost trebled in the last 20 years. Ten years ago, 14% of the UK population were categorised as obese. Today, that figure has increased to 22%, with over half of women and over two-thirds of men either overweight or obese. Nearly one in six British children is overweight, six percent are obese.
Developing world
Although the US, Australia and Europe are still among the world’s worst affected regions, obesity is also increasingly prevalent in the developing
world – such as in Mexico, the Philippines and China – where the newly wealthy have increased access to imported ‘junk food’ which tends to be associated with status.
Causes of obesity
It is believed that a diet rich in calories, because of its high saturated fat and/or sugar content, and with poor nutritional value, contributes to obesity. The food and beverage products which make up such energy-dense diets are usually
referred to as junk food or fast food.
Although health experts recognise that the causes of obesity are diverse and complex, they unanimously refer to a sharp decline in physical exercise and
an increasingly sedentary lifestyle. The effects of increased car, computer and television use are believed to be compounded by a change in eating behaviour and diet, as well as by increased food availability and affordability.
Increasing numbers of people are consuming a substantial amount of energy-dense fast food, sugar-sweetened soft drinks and pre-prepared meals, which all tend to be high in fats and/or sugar. According to the British Medical Association (BMA), eating behaviours linked to obesity include snacking, binge-eating and eating out frequently.
These trends in inactivity and eating behaviour affect children in particular.
In the report ‘Preventing Childhood Obesity’ published in June 2005, the BMA claims that the diet and exercise regimes of children are mainly influenced by parental diet and behaviour, socio-economic status and the influence of marketing. With regard to the latter factor, the BMA argues that the modern economy encourages the consumption of foods (often processed) which are high in fat, salt and sugar.
The BMA believes that “it is difficult for parents to control their children’s food choices as advertisers, fast food chains, food manufacturers and schools are explicitly encouraging the consumption of unhealthy foods1. Parents are often overwhelmed by the demands of their children and give in to so-called ‘pester power’.”
Further, the BMA claims that “marketing is effective in influencing food choices made by children and parents, but unfortunately there is often a marked discrepancy between the nutritional quality of the foods
marketed at children and the requirements for a healthy diet. It is likely that some children are not able to make informed judgements about the advertisements they see.”
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Books
The Coke Machine takes readers deep inside the Coca-Cola Company and its international franchisees to reveal how they became the number one brand in the world, and just how far they’ll go to stay there.
Ever since its “I’d like to teach the world to sing” commercials from the 1970s, Coca-Cola has billed itself as the world’s beverage, uniting all colors and cultures in a mutual love of its caramel-sweet sugar water. The formula has worked incredibly well-making it one of the most profitable companies on the planet and “Coca-Cola” the world’s second- most recognized word after “hello.” However, as the company expands its reach into both domestic and foreign markets, an increasing number of the world’s citizens are finding the taste of Coke more bitter than sweet.
Journalist Michael Blanding’s The Coke Machine probes shocking accusations about the company’s global impact, including:
> Coca-Cola’s history of winning at any cost, even if it meant that its franchisees were making deals with the Nazis and Guatemalan paramilitary squads
> How Coke has harmed children’s health and contributed to an obesity epidemic through exclusive soda contracts in schools
> The horrific environmental impact of Coke bottling plants in India and Mexico, where water supplies have been decimated while toxic pollution has escalated
> That Coke bottlers stand accused of conspiring with paramilitaries to threaten, kidnap, and murder union leaders in their bottling plants in Colombia
A disturbing portrait drawn from an award-winning journalist’s daring, in-depth research, The Coke Machine is the first comprehensive probe of the company and its secret formula for greed.
COKE is a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company.
This book is not authorized by or endorsed by The Coca-Cola Company.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Blanding is an award-winning magazine writer whose investigative journalism has taken him around the globe. Based in Boston, he has written for The Nation, The New Republic, Salon, The Boston Globe, Conde Nast Traveler, and Boston magazine, where he is a contributing editor
****
This book:
- Answers the question, how did what is essentially flavored sugar-water come to mean so much and to have such devastating health and food policy consequences?
- Is the first to focus on the history, politics, nutrition, and health of soda, integrating public health science with historical and cultural research
- Helps readers understand how we created this food system, what its problems are, and what we can do to fix these problems
- Is illustrated with 70 figures and 50 tables
- Comes with a Foreword by Mark Bittman, food journalist and columnist for The New York Times
- Comes with an Afterword by Dr. Neal Baer, pediatrician and television writer and producer
Here are the book’s blurbs:
- “The soda industry is a powerful economic operator. Economic power readily translates into political power. Soda Politics is exactly the kind of carefully-researched investigative reporting needed to open the eyes of the public and parliamentarians to the health hazards of what is, as the author rightly notes, essentially liquid candy in a bottle.”
–Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General, World Health Organization - “No book in history has so completely laid bare the soda scourge that touches every corner of the world. Marion Nestle shows how this happened, its impact on human health and well-being, who the players are, and, most importantly, what might be done. This is the right book at the right time.”
–Dr. Kelly Brownell, Dean, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marion Nestle is a professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University. She is the author of Food Politics, Safe Food, What to Eat, and Pet Food Politics.
Nestle also holds appointments as Professor of Sociology at NYU and Visiting Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell. She is the author of three prize-winning books: Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health (revised edition, 2007), Safe Food: The Politics of Food Safety (2003), and What to Eat (2006). Her most recent book is Feed Your Pet Right: The Authoritative Guide to Feeding Your Dog and Cat. She writes the Food Matters column for The San Francisco Chronicle and blogs almost daily at Food Politics.
Articles by Marion Nestle at The Atlantic magazine:
https://www.theatlantic.com/author/marion-nestle/
