Ultra Processed Foods and obesity

[AuroraSaab]

A lot of people are emotional eaters and the jabs stop all that food chatter in your head. As you say, it's not really a satisfactory solution though if we don't reset our relationship with food long term. You can't be on £100 jabs for life. I think schools and the NHS do what they can to educate us but it's not working. Will we only stop when it hurts us immediately, like in our pocket, rather than 40 years down the line with our health? I can't think of anything else that would bring about swift change in diet.

 

[BoldonLad]

Indeed, i've mentioned this over on the other site over the years i think.

I kept things real simple. Porridge oats, whole foods and low fat. Eventually got on my bike and it all just came off.

Sadly, i mention this now and i can hear the groans. They really want me to say i've been on a high fat, low carb diet, eating weeds from the hillsides of Mount Fuji or something. I think that in part marks that emotional connection people make to food. You have to break that if you are to stand a chance. It is why i don't buy into all these pills, Mounjaro or whatever it is called... Sure, there may well be a medical use case for such pills, but i highly doubt these things will work long term.

In my own experience and research, people form emotional connections to their food, maybe even subconsciously and until you can tackle that, the bad connection with food will likely continue. It starts at a young age, kids are targeted first and foremost by aggressive marketing and again adverts. For example, Creating characters such as the milky bar kid and heroes who beat the bullies and eat a certain chocolate etc... Sure, there's the element of personal responsibility and parental control, but parents themselves are also targeted. But hey, that's my tuppence worth...

Interesting.

Two people in UK are not of course a statistically significant sample, but, that experience mirrors my personal experience (not losing as much weight as you, but, dropping a couple of stone, 12-13kg and, reducing BP).

Because it rekindled my interest in cycling, it also brought me to Cyclechat, and, here, so, not all good news 😂

 

[BoldonLad]

A lot of people are emotional eaters and the jabs stop all that food chatter in your head. As you say, it's not really a satisfactory solution though if we don't reset our relationship with food long term. You can't be on £100 jabs for life. I think schools and the NHS do what they can to educate us but it's not working. Will we only stop when it hurts us immediately, like in our pocket, rather than 40 years down the line with our health? I can't think of anything else that would bring about swift change in diet.

I don't know the answer, but, since even childhood obesity is now a problem, the education route will take years, indeed, a generation at least, to take effect. The effect on the pocket MAY help, but, I think the price of "unhealthy" food would have to be massively increased, to achieve that, based on the minimal effect which annual small increases in taxation of alcohol and tobacco had on consumption for most of my lifetime. There is also the danger that shifting from consumption of unhealthy, but likeable food, may cause a switch to something else, equally, or even more harmful to health. It may not be politically or socially acceptable, but, the only route to a swift change of eating habits, I think may work, is to make eating unhealthy food and/or being obese, socially unacceptable or dislikable (similar to drink driving and smoking).

 

[HMS_Dave]

A lot of people are emotional eaters and the jabs stop all that food chatter in your head. As you say, it's not really a satisfactory solution though if we don't reset our relationship with food long term. You can't be on £100 jabs for life. I think schools and the NHS do what they can to educate us but it's not working. Will we only stop when it hurts us immediately, like in our pocket, rather than 40 years down the line with our health? I can't think of anything else that would bring about swift change in diet.

I think financial incentives is one part of it, no doubt.

But, I think we need to look at advertising, i really do. When i was ill last year, i did some newspaper delving into my family and what not and advertising was a thing even in the 1800's. But it was a lot more reserved, mundane and on one small section of a page, quite often with no sketches or images. There was a mutual respect it seemed between businesses and people. But its pushed on to people now, fast food, cakes, chocolate the lot. Now, i understand that this is not the entire issue and wont fix it overnight but it is interesting as a society that the police will pursue drug pushers and dealers because of the catastrophic effects of drugs, but obesity which is a huge drain on society, these businesses get a free pass because they might pay a bit of tax. At some point we need to break that cycle. We don't need to ban chocolate or even fast food. What we need is a break from the incessant and relentless marketing campaigns that target your phones, newspapers, TV, Radio, Shop windows, Smart Devices and pretty much everywhere you look....

At the end of the day if marketing wasn't a big issue, the big corporations wouldn't spend billions on it...

 

[BoldonLad]

I think financial incentives is one part of it, no doubt.

But, I think we need to look at advertising, i really do. When i was ill last year, i did some newspaper delving into my family and what not and advertising was a thing even in the 1800's. But it was a lot more reserved, mundane and on one small section of a page, quite often with no sketches or images. There was a mutual respect it seemed between businesses and people. But its pushed on to people now, fast food, cakes, chocolate the lot. Now, i understand that this is not the entire issue and wont fix it overnight but it is interesting as a society that the police will pursue drug pushers and dealers because of the catastrophic effects of drugs, but obesity which is a huge drain on society, these businesses get a free pass because they might pay a bit of tax. At some point we need to break that cycle. We don't need to ban chocolate or even fast food. What we need is a break from the incessant and relentless marketing campaigns that target your phones, newspapers, TV, Radio, Shop windows, Smart Devices and pretty much everywhere you look....

At the end of the day if marketing wasn't a big issue, the big corporations wouldn't spend billions on it...

Hmm... interesting. I worked in Russia and Ukraine, shortly after the disintegration of USSR. One of the things which struck me was an almost total lack of advertising, not even logos and slogans on delivery wagons. It may well of changed now of course, and, at that time, food was in short supply. But, if the advertising "shortage" still applies, and food supplies have improved, I wonder if they have an obesity problem?

 

[AuroraSaab]

If all but very basic advertising, for everything, vanished overnight people would be happier. It drives consumerism and misery by having us constantly comparing ourselves to others. I still can't believe they allow gambling ads during the day when children are watching, with the ones aimed at women all centred around 'It's just a bit of fun... it's a bit of Me Time'.

 

[presta]

Judging by the way the variance of obesity is associated with economic development, I'd say that was a strong indication that the root cause of the problem is something not measured in the study:

...like inequality perhaps:

I wasn't in favour of a fat tax as it does feel a bit like a tax that will be mainly paid by the poor, but the 'nudging' method of gently getting us to stop eating crap isn't working.

According to Nnoaham et al, taxing unhealthy food alone is likely to increase mortality, to reduce mortality you need to use the tax revenue to subsidise healthy food as well.

 

[Psamathe]

If all but very basic advertising, for everything, vanished overnight people would be happier. It drives consumerism and misery by having us constantly comparing ourselves to others.

Bit off topic but it (advetising) also increases the cost of the product(s) purchased. The advertising needs to be paid for by somebody and the only person paying is the customer purchasing the product advertised.

Ian

 

[AuroraSaab]

I forget the % but a large part of the cost of a bottle of perfume is advertising and promotion. Less so with other stuff obviously.

 

[Ian H]

I forget the % but a large part of the cost of a bottle of perfume is advertising and promotion. Less so with other stuff obviously.

The packaging costs far more than the scent.

 

[briantrumpet]

The packaging costs far more than the scent.

I guess that purchasers also have to pay for the gallons that are pumped into the air assaulting the nostrils of anyone entering a department store.

 

[Beebo]

The big food manufacturers are the problem.

A clever video advertising Snickers to 5 different sectors. All with the same UPF product.


View: https://youtube.com/shorts/4uyo9NnX_bU?si=j-BXiz1Rh925pZjt

 

[matticus]

According to Nnoaham et al, taxing unhealthy food alone is likely to increase mortality, to reduce mortality you need to use the tax revenue to subsidise healthy food as well.

That certainly makes intuitive sense!