In the last 50 years, the obesity rate in the United States has skyrocketed; now it’s over 30% of the total population. More people are dying from metabolic dysfunction and the effects of obesity than from starvation in the US. As Michele Simon, President of Eat Drink Politics, points out, “The food industry is really at the heart of this problem.” Moreover, as Dr. Robert Lustig, Professor of Pediatrics at UC, San Francisco, points out, the metabolic diseases associated with the obesity problem, diabetes, heart disease, lipid problems, strokes, and cancer, are all directly related to sugar consumption. Since 1977, US residents have doubled their sugar intake. Average US sugar consumption is over 40 teaspoons (160 grams) per day, vastly exceeding the American Heart Association recommended maximum of 6 to 9 teaspoons (24 to 36 g). Even more insidious is that sugar is as addictive as cocaine. Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, points out, “The US government is subsidizing the obesity epidemic,” to the tune of over $8 billion per year in agricultural subsidies. The power of the sugar industry is illustrated by the fact that the percentage of daily allowance for sugar is never indicated on the nutrition label for a product.
In 1946, the US government passed the National School Lunch Act because so many military recruits suffering from malnutrition were rejected in the WW II draft. Thirty-five years later, large reductions in government spending resulted in $1.46 billion in cuts to the child nutrition budget, enabling that same food industry that is causing obesity to move into preparation of our children’s school lunches. Today in over 50% of school districts in the US, children are served fast food for school lunches, and soda companies have deals with 80% of schools. “We are paying a very dear price in letting the food industry act at will in recruiting our children as loyal customers,” says Kelly D. Brownell, Dean of Public Policy at Duke University. “Some schools have become like a 7-Eleven with books.”
Over 40% of non-obese people have the same metabolic dysfunction that obese people have, meaning over 50% of Americans are chronically unhealthy. We can look to another industry for the model that the food industry is now using: the tobacco industry obfuscated and lied for decades in its attempt to sidetrack discussion about the dangers of cigarette smoking. Now one of the greatest dangers to our health in the United States is the industrial food sector. We can remove some of the influence that this industry is having on our children by getting our schools back into the business of making healthy lunches for our children.