Friday, January 16, 2004
Fat and Sugar - The New Ketchup
AP via Yahoo! News reports that US Health and Human Services opposes the World Health Organization's recommendations on reducing the level of obesity of the citizens of many of the world's nations.
Apparently WHO recommends eating more fruits and vegetables, eating less fat and sugar, limiting child-targeted food advertising, and encouraging citizens to eat healthier foods in general.
HHS objects to labeling fatty and sugary foods as targets for reduction, and prefers to emphasize that a healthy diet can include all foods, and prefers "emphasizing personal responsibility" in food and lifestyle choices.
My take on this: The WHO didn't say "eliminate all fat and sugar!" They simply said it should be reduced, and indeed I would say that "encouraging" people to eat healthier foods is encouraging people to assert "personal responsibility" in making those food choices. What would be the problem with providing people information with which they can make those responsibile food choices? The Bush administration's approach seems to be: Advertise the junk food all you want - people (especially children) should inherently be able to sense that the responsible choice would be to make healthy choices, which still includes fat- and sugar-laden foods of course, because there's a lot of money tied up in those industries.
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Apparently WHO recommends eating more fruits and vegetables, eating less fat and sugar, limiting child-targeted food advertising, and encouraging citizens to eat healthier foods in general.
HHS objects to labeling fatty and sugary foods as targets for reduction, and prefers to emphasize that a healthy diet can include all foods, and prefers "emphasizing personal responsibility" in food and lifestyle choices.
My take on this: The WHO didn't say "eliminate all fat and sugar!" They simply said it should be reduced, and indeed I would say that "encouraging" people to eat healthier foods is encouraging people to assert "personal responsibility" in making those food choices. What would be the problem with providing people information with which they can make those responsibile food choices? The Bush administration's approach seems to be: Advertise the junk food all you want - people (especially children) should inherently be able to sense that the responsible choice would be to make healthy choices, which still includes fat- and sugar-laden foods of course, because there's a lot of money tied up in those industries.
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Posted by Rogueslayer at 2:16 PM 
