Making the World a Fatter Place

Minnie2361

Fascinating article
The export of turkey tails an unwanted by to Samoa and the impact on weight Why is the U.S so eager to export its fat? Well because the profits are huge, huge and the weights gains are equally as huge.
Taking pages from Big Tobaccos playbook.

http://mcalesternews.com/features/x1253343348/How-America-is-exporting-its-obesity-epidemic

WASHINGTON — With this summer's news from the United Nations that Mexico has surpassed the United States in adult obesity levels - one-third of Mexican adults are now considered extremely overweight - U.S. foreign policy has come into sharper, or perhaps softer, focus. Despite first lady Michelle Obama's continued emphasis on good diet and exercise, the United States seems secretly intent on fattening everyone else on the planet. Apparently, America has adopted the old piece of ursine humor as grand strategy: "You don't have to run faster than the bear to get away. You just have to run faster than the guy next to you." - See more at: http://mcalesternews.com/features/x1253343348/How-America-is-exporting-its-obesity-epidemic#sthash.znBfWApD.dpuf

At first blush, it might seem unfair to blame the United States for the stoutness south of its border. Surely, Mexicans (like Americans) are getting fatter because they are eating more, exercising less and spending too much time watching television. When one digs beneath the surface, however, it quickly becomes apparent that a complex web of American agricultural, trade, marketing and scientific practices together are helping drive a "globesity" epidemic. Many of these policies were designed to give U.S. firms a leg up in international markets, but the domestic economic benefits of this culinary oligarchy are increasingly being outweighed - literally and figuratively - by the toll on international health, particularly among the poor. The American taxpayer is directly underwriting a food-production system in which nutrition has become a distant afterthought.

Perhaps America is ultimately guilty of nothing worse than trying to remake the world in its own hefty image - a case of soft-power influence gone horribly literal. As the global costs of obesity continue to spiral, however, it is time to rethink the changes that the United States has brought to the table.



It is no accident that Mexico's weight gain has coincided with increased soft-drink guzzling. The country's national statistics agency estimates that Mexicans drink 43 gallons per capita annually, giving the country the world's highest rate of soda consumption. The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, a Minnesota-based think tank, has shown that the country's sharp spike in obesity and soda consumption correlates with the 1994 passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which opened Mexico to a flood of cheap junk food and soda pop: After the agreement took effect, there was a more than 1,200 percent increase in high-fructose corn syrup exports from the United States to Mexico between 1996 and 2012, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. (At one point, the Mexican government began taxing drinks sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, but the fierce objections of U.S. corn refiners prompted Washington to complain to the World Trade Organization and the tax was eventually struck down.)

- See more at: http://mcalesternews.com/features/x1253343348/How-America-is-exporting-its-obesity-epidemic#sthash.znBfWApD.dpuf

Phoenix_Warrior

It would be a shame if people took personal responsibility for their health.

Acg67

BeachIron

<<< Proud of making you all fat.

magerum

Because clearly people aren't responsible for what they eat.. Your rhetoric is old and boring.

NonnyMary

What ever happened to PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.

sheesh.. i cannot be blamed for Mexicos' population deciding to overeat.

Minnie2361

Really???

In many ways, Mexico's diet is being devastated by America's perverse economic incentives. The United States has long imposed relatively high tariffs on sugar imports and granted large subsidies for domestic crops such as corn and soybeans. In the 1970s, however, when sugar tariffs rose even further and technological advances from Japan helped perfect high-fructose corn syrup production, agribusinesses' use of the sweetener exploded. Suddenly, it was cheaper to put high-fructose corn syrup in everything from spaghetti sauce to soda. Coke and Pepsi swapped out sugar for high-fructose corn syrup in 1984, and most other U.S. soda and snack companies followed suit. U.S. per capita consumption of high-fructose corn syrup spiked from less than half a pound a year in 1970 to a peak of almost 38 pounds a year in 1999. As it did, American obesity spiked as well. The problem was not just that shoppers were more willing to buy (and consume) a cheaper product, but also that high-fructose corn syrup actually seems to be less healthy than natural sugar. Despite a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign backed by corn producers, with gauzy pictures of mothers assuring us that "high-fructose corn syrup is simply a form of sugar made from corn," there do seem to be important differences. Yale University researchers released a study this past January suggesting that fructose simply does not trigger the same sense of being satiated as glucose does. This builds on 2010 research from Princeton University scientists who found that rats ingesting high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those eating sugar, in addition to experiencing abnormal increases in body fat. Research released this year from Canada's University of Guelph found that a high-fructose corn syrup diet in rats produced addictive behavior similar to that from cocaine use. - See more at: http://mcalesternews.com/features/x1253343348/How-America-is-exporting-its-obesity-epidemic#sthash.Eg71H0w3.dpuf

taunto

I live in Saudia currently and heres the list of things I've been told that makes you fat.

- Coffee (it has some chemicals that makes you fat)
- Hummus. Which is basically chick peas mixed with seasame puree (it has some chemicals that makes you fat)
- Eating outside food (They add some chemicals that makes you fat)
- meats (it has some chemicals that makes you fat)
- Dairy (it has some chemicals that makes you fat)
- carbs (it has some chemicals that makes you fat)
- fat (its right in the name. HELLO!)

The only thing that don't make me fat is salad. But you can't add salt (bad for heart) or oil dressing (FAT) or anything to it. Just salad.

I would much rather be fat than live like bugs bunny. Actually, bugs had it better come to think about it.

ETA: Since I came here, I have lost a BUNCH of weight. People think I'm lying to them when I tell them that I eat ice cream daily, drink milk, eat carbs, eat outside all the time etc. They seriously say "if you don't wanna tell us then don't but don't say nonsense stuff". So, you can either be ignorant like these folks or take personal responsibility of your actions.

Contrarian

Doesn't looking for conspiracies everywhere get exhausting?

Iron_Lotus

What is with you?

Minnie2361

taking a page out of big tobaccos Playbook

Taking another page from Big Tobacco's playbook, whenever food companies and high-fructose corn syrup manufacturers talk about obesity, they rely heavily on language stressing "personal responsibility." They argue that kids around the globe just aren't exercising as much anymore and that consumers have every right to eat whatever they want to, using obvious truths to gloss over the fact that they are ruthlessly maximizing science and marketing to get people to embrace unhealthy lifestyles. As the Center for Consumer Freedom exclaims, "Eating a balanced diet and getting plenty of physical activity is crucial. Unfortunately, Americans have been force-fed a diet of bloated statistics hyping the problem of obesity." (The executive director of the Center for Consumer Freedom also happens to run a Beltway PR firm that specializes in defending corporate interests, and he has acknowledged that the center has received significant funding from food and restaurant companies.) - See more at: http://mcalesternews.com/features/x1253343348/How-America-is-exporting-its-obesity-epidemic#sthash.Eg71H0w3.dpuf

JenAndSome

I get fat every time I even think about Mexican food so I call BS!

verymissk

I actually blame Mexico for making me fat .... I love green chili and refried beans... and don't even talk to me about Al Pastor pork or tres leches cakes...

Minnie2361

How to hook your customer.

The big players in the U.S. food industry have certainly acted like the tobacco pushers as they have deployed an incredible array of scientific and marketing research designed to get people to eat more, often at the obvious expense of their health. In his book, "Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us," journalist Michael Moss offers a damning portrait of food companies that have entire research wings dedicated to creating the ideal "bliss point" so that brain receptors crave a food without ever triggering a sense of being satiated. More often than not, adding sweetness has been the easiest way to fool the brain, resulting in products like Yoplait yogurt, which tries to project a healthy image but, as Moss notes, has twice as much real sugar per serving as Lucky Charms cereal - the poster child for an unhealthy breakfast when I was growing up. - See more at: http://mcalesternews.com/features/x1253343348/How-America-is-exporting-its-obesity-epidemic#sthash.Eg71H0w3.dpuf

Contrarian

I actually blame Mexico for making me fat .... I love green chili and refried beans... and don't even talk to me about Al Pastor pork or tres leches cakes...

You are clearly on the payroll of Big Turkey Tail or Big Corn Sugar.

magerum

SoDamnHungry

Maybe everyone should stop eating so much goddamn fatty food and blaming it on everyone but themselves. HEAVEN FORBID!

PikaKnight

Minnie2361

Not so fast say the fast food giants

When desperate Samoan officials, facing a mounting public health crisis, banned turkey-tail imports in 2007, U.S. agricultural producers said, "Not so fast." Even as Samoan officials pleaded with the World Health Organization (WHO) for help in combating American poultry companies' food-marketing strategies on the island, the World Trade Organization (WTO) blocked Samoa's application for membership. The turkey-rump dispute bogged down Samoa's WTO bid for years, until it agreed in 2011 to open itself back up to turkey-tail imports. Sumner insisted at the time, "We feel it's the consumers' right to determine what foods they wish to consume, not the government's." The Samoans were rolled into accepting a compromise whereby they can maintain steep tariffs on turkey tails until 2016, when they hope to have better public health education in place. Meanwhile, nothing has been more American in recent years than exporting fast-food chains. McDonald's boasts that it now has restaurants in 118 countries. KFC is second only to the Golden Arches in global fast-food market share. The fried-chicken chain's parent company, Yum! Brands, which also owns Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, saw $13.6 billion in revenue last year alone and is focusing some 86 percent of its restaurant development in emerging economies. - See more at: http://mcalesternews.com/features/x1253343348/How-America-is-exporting-its-obesity-epidemic#sthash.tFXCK2s8.dpuf/'quote]

FredDoyle

I see you are only able to cut and paste with that tinfoil hat on.

BeachIron

taking a page out of big tobaccos Playbook

Taking another page from Big Tobacco's playbook, whenever food companies and high-fructose corn syrup manufacturers talk about obesity, they rely heavily on language stressing "personal responsibility." They argue that kids around the globe just aren't exercising as much anymore and that consumers have every right to eat whatever they want to, using obvious truths to gloss over the fact that they are ruthlessly maximizing science and marketing to get people to embrace unhealthy lifestyles. As the Center for Consumer Freedom exclaims, "Eating a balanced diet and getting plenty of physical activity is crucial. Unfortunately, Americans have been force-fed a diet of bloated statistics hyping the problem of obesity." (The executive director of the Center for Consumer Freedom also happens to run a Beltway PR firm that specializes in defending corporate interests, and he has acknowledged that the center has received significant funding from food and restaurant companies.) - See more at: http://mcalesternews.com/features/x1253343348/How-America-is-exporting-its-obesity-epidemic#sthash.Eg71H0w3.dpuf

So, which stocks should I be buying to take advantage of this world wide conspiracy? My investment portfolio could use your help. Thank you very much.