The Irresistible Impulse to Blame the Food for Obesity

The drumbeat is growing louder. “Public health policies to reduce ultra-processed food intake cannot wait.” These words from Mathilde Touvier summed up her presentation of evidence on these foods from epidemiologic and public health studies at Imperial College London last week. She opened six hours of scholars, politicians, and advocates presenting a compelling case. Clearly, the impulse to blame our food supply for the excess of obesity and its implications for health is irresistable.

All we need is to supply “good food, three meals a day, to every man, woman and child” and the present epidemic of obesity and diabetes in America will cease to be a problem. “Overnight.” These words from a nominee to lead U.S. health policy seem to earn him some support in polling.

Yes, the urge to blame the food and count on it to solve all our ills is strong.

Sue the Bastards

Following that impulse, obesity medicine physician Mike Albert has a modest proposal:

“When there is substantial evidence that food companies have contributed to the development of obesity – which seems inevitable – could we sue them and force them to subsidize obesity care programs?”

Another way to say this is sue the bastards and make them pay. We do a lot of that in America.

Hang On and Read the Fine Print

It may be foolish to stand in the way of righteous indignation about the quality of the food that spews out from global food systems. But we are here to advise caution. Half-baked food policies can have nasty consequences for human health. All you need to do is listen critically to Tourvier, Kevin Hall, and other presenters at the Imperial College conference and it is plain that knowledge of this problem is incomplete. Touvier says it clearly in her summary:

“Factors at play and causal mechanisms are not yet fully understood, but evidence is accumulating beyond nutrient pathways.”

Yet she and a chorus of many others cry for action.

The Fallacy of Jumping to Solutions

We do indeed have a problem with food. But our relationship with food is complex because it is so deeply woven into the fabric of our lives. It interacts with every aspect of life. So we don’t fully understand the problem. Daniel Markovitz explains in the Harvard Business Review that rushing to solutions for a misunderstood problem is a common mistake:

“Between our cognitive biases and our finite capacity for decision making, when our mental gas tank runs low on fuel, we tend to conserve energy by either avoiding decisions or rushing to solutions before we have a chance to fully understand the problem we’re grappling with.”

Here is an inconvenient fact. Obesity is rising because of more than just changes in our food supply. Chemical and drug companies are exposing us to endocrine-disrupting chemicals that contribute to the problem. Transportation and technology companies are overwhelming us with devices making our lives inactive. And then we ourselves participate in social and economic systems that fill our lives with stress and trauma. Turning food systems upside down will not fix all of those problems.

In fact, it could wind up making our problems with obesity worse. Remember the low-fat cookies? Or how about those oat milk lattes with a healthy halo?

We suggest looking before we leap to blame the food for all of our ills. Or count on it to solve them.

Click here to dig into all six hours of the Imperial College conference on ultra-processed food.

The Art of Cooking, charcoal sketch by Carlo Urbino / WikiArt

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December 2, 2024