The Politics of Obesity

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The Politics of Obesity

A March, 2005 headline on CNN.com brought deeply disturbing news to the American public: “Report: Obesity will reverse life expectancy gains.” For the past 200 years, life expectancy steadily increased thanks to medical advances such as the discovery of antibiotics and vaccines, but this upward trend is no longer guaranteed.

Childhood obesity has already reduced the average life expectancy between four and nine months. “[T]oday’s generation will have shorter and less healthy lives than their parents for the first time in modern history,” warned S. Jay Olshansky, the University of Illinois researcher and author of the study (1). In 2004, the US Center for Disease Control found that at least 66% of adults were overweight or obese—double the percentage in 1980—and that more than 1/6 th of kids ages 2-19 were overweight. Type II diabetes, usually caused by an unhealthy lifestyle rather than genetics, has increased as a side effect of obesity and heart disease is also on the rise. In short, obesity is a national epidemic.

Accusatory fingers have been flying, each pointing to different possible causes for our tubby younger generation and their similarly overweight parents. Some blame video games that keep kids inside and sedentary and some see the shift toward desk jobs as the reason. Others claim that our car culture based on cheap gas is the culprit. Still others fault the fat-laden fast food, soda, and junk food that Americans consume by the ton. To be sure, these cultural phenomena are interconnected and no one cause can be blamed entirely, but one tiny acronym stands demurely behind this last category of diet-related causes: HFCS.

High fructose corn syrup, the favorite food additive of Coke, ...

... middle of paper ...

...ne wants to experience the pain and frustration of obesity, and surely we wish to protect our children from starting out life unhealthy and overweight. As consumers but more importantly as citizens, we must be informed about the HFCS and obesity for our children’s sake, and US agricultural and nutritional policy must reflect our concerns.

Sources Cited:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/diet.fitness/03/16/obesity.longevity.ap/

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/02/18/FDGS24VKMH1.DTL

Michael Pollan. “The (Agri)Cultural Contradictions of Obesity.” The New York Times Magazine. Oct 12, 2003.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A8003-2003Mar10?language=printer

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/79/4/537

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15234599&dopt=Abstract

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