Where Ever America Might Now Be, Cheap Food is Blamed for an Obesity Crisis, in That Area of the Cosmos.

Why are North Americans so fat? A new study suggests we've been getting it all wrong.

“It's not that we don't exercise enough or spend too much time at the office, or that good, healthy food is too expensive, researchers reported Thursday. And it's not about socioeconomic status, race or geography.

Rather, the main reason we're getting fatter — all of us — is because we are surrounded by tasty temptations that cost very little, from fast food menus to processed snack foods, said the study's lead author, Roland Sturm, a senior economist at the RAND Corporation and a professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School.

Up till now, researchers have focused on group differences: between rich and poor, between those who live states like Colorado and Mississippi, or between blacks and whites, Sturm said.

But what we've really got to look at is changes over time for everyone," he explained. "People aren't becoming obese because they don't have enough money or because Southern hospitality makes you fat. And they aren't staying thinner because they live in a mountain state like Colorado. This is something that cuts across the whole population."

Sturm reviewed the all the available research for a study published in CA: Cancer Journal for Clinicians and concluded that everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity or socio-economic status, is gaining weight at about the same rate. His graphs clearly show parallel tracks of increasing flab among all groups.

If we want to solve the obesity problem, we have to figure out what has changed for everybody," Sturm said. "And the thing that pops out is our food environment. That's where the action is. And it's not just that food is now cheap relative to income it's also that it's so much more convenient."

Some researchers have suggested that part of the problem is the inaccessibility of healthy foods. But the data show that fruits and vegetables, for example, have become increasingly available and affordable over the past decade, he said.

Some researchers have suggested that part of the problem is the inaccessibility of healthy foods. But the data show that fruits and vegetables, for example, have become increasingly available and affordable over the past decade, he said.And while cheap, convenient food is a good thing, our biology and our social norms haven't caught up with the abundance. Foods that can be mass-produced and aren't perishable like potato chips, candy and sugar-sweetened drinks are prime culprits.

Sturm reviewed the all the available research for a study published in CA: Cancer Journal for Clinicians and concluded that everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity or socio-economic status, is gaining weight at about the same rate. His graphs clearly show parallel tracks of increasing flab among all groups.

If we want to solve the obesity problem, we have to figure out what has changed for everybody," Sturm said. "And the thing that pops out is our food environment. That's where the action is. And it's not just that food is now cheap relative to income it's also that it's so much more convenient."

We have a survival instinct that drives us to eat constantly because in human history starvation was the problem," Sturm said. "Also our social norms are guided by that. We've been brought up to believe that it's nice to offer food to guests. It's like smoking. There was a time when it was perfectly good manners when someone visited to offer them a cigarette."

While Sturm allows that Americans could eat more fruits and vegetables, he argues that wouldn't make them any thinner. That's because fruits and veggies wouldn't replace other, less healthy, choices, they would simply be consumed in addition to everything else.

But cost doesn't paint a full picture, says Marion Nestle, a professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, who was not involved in the research.

This study attributes obesity to only one cause: low food prices.It does not discuss relentless marketing of cheap 'junk' foods, nor does it discuss Consumer Price Index data on the relative cost of foods," she said, noting that the cost of fruits and vegetables has gone up more than the average food cost.

The higher prevalence of obesity among people of lower income and education can be explained by greater consumption of low-cost, high-calorie foods.

Other factors that seem to play into the obesity epidemic are the rise of electronic entertainment, increased reliance on cars and a shift away from physical jobs to more desk-bound ones. Although Americans aren't spending more time at work and have more leisure time today, they do spend more of that time sedentary, the researchers found.

Sturm may have offered up a new target, but he doesn't have a silver bullet to aim at it. He suggests small tweaks to prod people to make changes. For example, taxes on unhealthy food choices.”

Pretty good report, right; comprehensive and to the point; but, what is cheap food? Could cheap food, just possibly, include all of the major food groups-all of the foods that nutritionists, those doing such research, and even doctors point out as being  “healthy choices”.

1. “It’s not that we do not exercise enough” or spend too much time at the office.”

However:

·         We no longer ride, or drive, horses to and from work; so we no longer get exercise from having to care for, saddle or hitch them up.

·         Relatively few of us cycle to work and far fewer would even consider walking.

·         If we work in the office this researcher mentions; then, we are not doing much manual work; or getting much exercise; except possibly of our brain, and/or fingers.

·         It does not take a lot of expensive research to determine that lack of exercise is indeed a part of the problem; but, only a part.

2.“or that good, healthy food is too expensive, researchers reported”.

·         But, In Canada at least, healthy food may not be available at all;

·         If, ever found. Good healthy food may not be too expensive for some-economists, politicians, or those being paid for doing research; but how about the average working class citizen? Where would they even hope to find such a thing?

·         How many working seconds, minutes, or hours,(the only true measure of cost) does it take the average worker to earn enough to pay for a meal at a fast food joint? Is that more; or less, than the cost of buying cheap, convenience type, highly processed, fast food, in the 30s? Where would one have found it ?

3.“In the 1930s, Americans spent a quarter of their disposable income on food. The most recent data shows that share is now under one-tenth.

·         Yes,  not really a surprising statistic; in the 1930s and before; some, urban dwelling North Americans; especially those living in the eastern parts of the United States of the Americas; may well have spent 25% of their disposable income on food-what disposable income they might, occasionally, have-- families were much larger then. But on the other hand more people especially in the Western parts of the United states of the Americas; and in Canada; lived in rural settings. They mostly raised or shot their own food. It is my contention, that, even in our cities the vast majority of people had gardens and raised much of their own food; so this would be, indeed, rare AND THIS RESEARCHER HAS NOT PRESENTED A VALID ARGUMENT HERE. Further, in the 1330s, one of the parents usually stayed home, doing necessary household chores, and looking out for family affairs and family nutrition. True, this was, often, considered to be the woman’s chore-hence the terms “housewife” and “MOTHER”.

·         No, in the 1930s the average household did not spend a lot of income on entertainment or eating restaurants. Compared with today, there just were not that many sources of entertainment to spend money on. In the United States of the Americas there were the SPEAKEASIES; but that was in the 20s not the 30s. In the 30s, many urban people did not have any disposable income at all, the world was in one of the worst economic depressions ever—that is why they were called the  “Dirty 30s”. In "the world of today" our "modern society" most people do not have any idea-at all- of how much they actually spend on food; because  they buy from "Food Areas in Shopping Malls, out of Vending Machines and from Street Vendors while shopping; then stop for "something to eat on the way home. They buy lunch at their work, their children buy lunch in school cafeterias and then buy "snacks on the way home from school. In the world of today most people are eating food almost constantly but NONE OF THE EXPENSE IS BUDGETED AS FOOD COST and will usually be entered as "miscellaneous expenses" if at all. 

4.“Rather, the main reason we're getting fatter — all of us — is because we are surrounded by tasty temptations that cost very little, from fast food menus to processed snack foods,” said the study's lead author, Roland Sturm, a senior economist at the RAND Corporation and a professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School.

·         Cost very little for whom? They cost far, far too much for the elderly, mentally/physically handicapped, students, the already malnourished, even OFFICE WORKERS to be paying.

5.”If we want to solve the obesity problem, we have to figure out what has changed for everybody," Sturm said. “And the thing that pops out is our food environment. That's where the action is. And it's not just that food is now cheap relative to income it's also that it's so much more convenient."

·         But,obviously while there are “cheap” and potentially very deadly, foods conveniently available in the Canadian market place; they ARE DEFINITELY NOT INEXPENSIVE,relative to a workers income or otherwise. It also does not take a lot of expensive research to figure this personally observed and experienced truth.

6. “ Foods that can be mass-produced and aren't perishable like potato chips, candy and sugar-sweetened drinks are prime culprits.”

·       They are not healthy, and while they, like many products now manufactured in North America; be very “Cheap” they are not inexpensive.

7. We have a survival instinct that drives us to eat constantly because in human history starvation was the problem," Sturm said.

·         What can, or has, the fact that starvation was a problem in human history got to do with the survival instinct which all living things possess; all living things have and will always been faced with the possibility of starvation, in one form or another.

8.“Some researchers have suggested that part of the problem is the inaccessibility of healthy foods. But the data show that fruits and vegetables, for example, have become increasingly available and affordable over the past decade”, he said.

·         Fruits and vegetables may well have become increasingly available but that does not mean that they are “healthy” or that they are affordable, especially to “Baby Boomers” who may well be on an extremely. Well below the poverty line, fixed income.

9.“While Sturm allows that North Americans could eat more fruits and vegetables, he argues that wouldn't make them any thinner. That's because fruits and veggies wouldn't replace other, less healthy, choices, they would simply be consumed in addition to everything else.

·       Probably true, but there are also NO GUARANTEES that any of the available fruits and vegetables are any healthier or as healthy--that they are not potentially even deadlier than the processed and/or “ fresh, farmed and processed fish, mechanically tenderised, water, slime, and “flavour” injected “fresh” meats, or poultry--available in Canada.
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“But cost doesn't paint a full picture”, says Marion Nestle, a professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, who was not involved in the research. This study attributes obesity to only one cause: (NON EXISTENT) low food prices. It does not discuss relentless marketing of cheap “junk foods”, nor does it discuss Consumer Price Index data on the relative cost of foods," she said, noting that the cost of fruits and vegetables has gone up more than the average food cost.

The higher prevalence of obesity among people of First Nations, Inuit, Metis, metis, other visible majority, or peoples of lower income and education can be explained by greater consumption of low-cost, high-calorie foods- which are all they can often afford or that are available because they have no kitchen or cooking facilities available.

Other factors that seem to play into the obesity epidemic are the rise of electronic entertainment, increased reliance on cars and a shift away from physical jobs to more desk-bound ones. Although Americans aren't spending more time at work and have more leisure time today, they do spend more of that time sedentary, the researchers found.