The actors responsible for obesity: who are they?
Obesity is a public health issue that has become so important that, like a ping-pong ball, responsibilities are shifted from one actor to another. According to industrial firms, if the world’s population is overweight, it is more because it istoo sedentaryand does not practice any physical activity.
For other actors, such as that of the associative fabric for example, it is rather a question of poor information given to consumerswho thus become inexorably obese because of food intake too rich, too salty, too sweet. So what about it?
On the one hand, the agri-food industries …
According to them, obese subjects should practice a sporting activity and have a relationship to diet that is healthier, more balanced. They would no longer have a problem with their extra pounds.
In the article published on Metronews(1)we learn that in the United States, Coca-Cola finances an American organization that promotes sport. In France, Danone(2) organizes the “Danone Nations Cup”. The world leader in fresh dairy products is the initiator of one of the largest football events where young children between 10 and 12 years old participate. The same is true for many other multinationals which, without questioning the nutritional quality of their products, advocate the establishment of a regular body practiceto burn excess kilocalories.
So how do they argue in this direction?
For communication managers in food industries, obese people have not been able to properly and sensibly manage their nutritional intake regarding the management of sodas, chocolate bars, pizza portions or hamburgers.
Admittedly, the messages of international companies recommend moderation in everything and put forward some basic precepts such as those of eating calmly, slowly, chewing well and this within a maximum period of 20 minutes so that the brain has time to “get to the stomach” the “famous” feeling of satiety. These precepts are the same as those recommended by the WHO, which also emphasizes balanced meals.
… on the other their detractors
For the latter, if there are so many obese people, it is because food lobbying poisons us a little more every day by “loading” everyday consumer products withadded sugars and saturated fats. Thus, the fault lies with industrialists who have no qualms about dispensing “false good advice” to the world’s population by organizing symposia, conferences and nutrition days directly within schools to raise public awareness of eating better. But this is not the case!
On the French channel “FR3” the journalist Elise Lucet recently denounced in her show, Cash Investigation, the sugar industry and asks the question “How do manufacturers make us addicted to this substance”?
On the internet, hot topics relate that some dry cakes contain substances that make us addicted to sugar. The same is true for hamburgers and their various components. Thus, it is very difficult, under these conditions, to distinguish between true and false.
Admittedly, the agri-food industries are neither associations nor charities, but they must realize that it is not fashionable to “make money” with impunity on the backs of consumers even if, possibly, those they lack common sense and motivationto move their bodies. If these “victims” have trouble finding their way around in the calculation of kilocalories, this is not a sufficient reason to stuff them with substances that are harmful to their bodies.
Stephen Paul is the lead author and founder of My Health Sponsor. Holder of a diploma in health and well-being coaching with more than 200 articles in the field of health, he makes it a point of honor to offer advice based on reliable information, based on scientific research, and verified by health professionals.