WHO: Governments should regulate fast food to slow obesity

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  • caminoslo
    caminoslo Posts: 239 Member
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    So here is an interesting article.

    http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/2/2/who-tighter-economicregulationneededtoreverseobesityepidemic.html
    "Unless governments take steps to regulate their economies, the invisible hand of the market will continue to promote obesity worldwide with disastrous consequences for future public health and economic productivity," said Roberto De Vogli of the University of California, Davis, who led the study.
    The researchers compared the number of fast food transactions with body mass index (BMI) in 25 high-income countries between 1999 and 2008.

    They found that, as the average number of annual fast food transactions increased from 26.61 to 32.76 per person, average BMI increased from 25.8 to 26.4.

    Thoughts??
    Doing my own research if people understood that the Food pyramid etc is a gimic to sell more food people would eat better.
    On the down fall we might have a food shortage and famine as well inflation.
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
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    I'm pretty sure private companies didn't have anything to do with lowering smoking rates.

    And increasing cost of smoking has a ton to do with it, actually. Increased cost is one of the most significant drivers of decreasing smoking rates.

    Of course, the reason cigarettes cost so much these days is principally because of taxes.

    and there you go, now we have the answer

    We tax people to get them to behave how we want......you don't see a problem with that???

    What do you think Obamacare is???
    The SCOTUS said it was a tax, and you yourself just said that taxes is why smoking costs more.
    So what do you think will happen with healthcare???

    Like I said.....healthcare/insurance costs are gonna go up far more and far faster due to government than due to obesity
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
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    I spend a lot more on food now that I buy less processed pre-made stuff and more fresh fruit, produce and meats. I had to stop buying organic due to cost. I follow the sales. I was so excited yesterday. I got asparagus fro $1.69 a pound yesterday! (normally in the 3-5 dollar range) that's one part of 1 meal. I still have to add in meat and starch and salad. We're way over what it would cost me buy 2 burgers and a bag of fries from a fast food joint. 3 bucks on the dollar menu.


    .

    There you guy...
    Never buy organic. :smile:

    I'll go back to organic as soon as I can afford it. The asparagus price was the non-organic price, the organic price was more.

    well if you want to pay more than go ahead...

    I think both products are organic myself....they both came out of the ground.....
  • caminoslo
    caminoslo Posts: 239 Member
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    I spend a lot more on food now that I buy less processed pre-made stuff and more fresh fruit, produce and meats. I had to stop buying organic due to cost. I follow the sales. I was so excited yesterday. I got asparagus fro $1.69 a pound yesterday! (normally in the 3-5 dollar range) that's one part of 1 meal. I still have to add in meat and starch and salad. We're way over what it would cost me buy 2 burgers and a bag of fries from a fast food joint. 3 bucks on the dollar menu.


    .

    There you guy...
    Never buy organic. :smile:

    I'll go back to organic as soon as I can afford it. The asparagus price was the non-organic price, the organic price was more.
    Isn't it scary to know the real market price for food that is organic and grown right has barley any profit. I raise my own chickens strictly for eggs if I was going to make any profit I'd probably have to sell them a dollar an egg.
  • Confuzzled4ever
    Confuzzled4ever Posts: 2,860 Member
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    Personal responsibility and self-control IS the issue...and right now, many parents don't teach it and hold kids accountable, schools can't or won't push it and so our society crumbles passing it off the the gov't to regulate.

    Public schools are the government.. don't kid yourself. it's not their job to teach our kids nutrition, it's ours. The parents. If the parents don't do it, that does not make it the governments job to force it on us. It's way over the boundaries of what they are supposed to do.
  • Redhead_23
    Redhead_23 Posts: 58
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    I think people need to just be more accountable and stop making excuses.

    This 10000000000X
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    I'm pretty sure private companies didn't have anything to do with lowering smoking rates.

    And increasing cost of smoking has a ton to do with it, actually. Increased cost is one of the most significant drivers of decreasing smoking rates.

    Of course, the reason cigarettes cost so much these days is principally because of taxes.

    and there you go, now we have the answer

    We tax people to get them to behave how we want......you don't see a problem with that???

    What do you think Obamacare is???
    The SCOTUS said it was a tax, and you yourself just said that taxes is why smoking costs more.
    So what do you think will happen with healthcare???

    Like I said.....healthcare/insurance costs are gonna go up far more and far faster due to government than due to obesity

    Obamacare is an effort to get more people paying into the system. The main tenets of Obamacare are the individual mandate (forcing everyone to buy insurance), removal of preexisting condition limits, and the health care exchanges.

    Anyway, I'm not advocating a tax on calories or anything. I am contradicting your claim that decreasing smoking rates have nothing to do with governmental intervention.

    You're all over the place here. Your arguments really aren't making any sense. You're firing blindly into the dark trying to justify a preexisting notion about government being bad.
  • Confuzzled4ever
    Confuzzled4ever Posts: 2,860 Member
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    I'm pretty sure private companies didn't have anything to do with lowering smoking rates.

    And increasing cost of smoking has a ton to do with it, actually. Increased cost is one of the most significant drivers of decreasing smoking rates.

    Of course, the reason cigarettes cost so much these days is principally because of taxes.

    and there you go, now we have the answer

    We tax people to get them to behave how we want......you don't see a problem with that???

    What do you think Obamacare is???
    The SCOTUS said it was a tax, and you yourself just said that taxes is why smoking costs more.
    So what do you think will happen with healthcare???

    Like I said.....healthcare/insurance costs are gonna go up far more and far faster due to government than due to obesity

    +1
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    I think people need to just be more accountable and stop making excuses.

    This 10000000000X

    It's a nice sentiment, but people AREN'T being accountable. And you can't just force them to be accountable. So back to the drawing board...
  • DamePiglet
    DamePiglet Posts: 3,730 Member
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    I spend a lot more on food now that I buy less processed pre-made stuff and more fresh fruit, produce and meats. I had to stop buying organic due to cost. I follow the sales. I was so excited yesterday. I got asparagus fro $1.69 a pound yesterday! (normally in the 3-5 dollar range) that's one part of 1 meal. I still have to add in meat and starch and salad. We're way over what it would cost me buy 2 burgers and a bag of fries from a fast food joint. 3 bucks on the dollar menu.


    .

    There you guy...
    Never buy organic. :smile:

    I'll go back to organic as soon as I can afford it. The asparagus price was the non-organic price, the organic price was more.
    Isn't it scary to know the real market price for food that is organic and grown right has barley any profit. I raise my own chickens strictly for eggs if I was going to make any profit I'd probably have to sell them a dollar an egg.

    not scary because i have at least a basic understanding of economics and scale.

    edited to be more concise.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    I spend a lot more on food now that I buy less processed pre-made stuff and more fresh fruit, produce and meats. I had to stop buying organic due to cost. I follow the sales. I was so excited yesterday. I got asparagus fro $1.69 a pound yesterday! (normally in the 3-5 dollar range) that's one part of 1 meal. I still have to add in meat and starch and salad. We're way over what it would cost me buy 2 burgers and a bag of fries from a fast food joint. 3 bucks on the dollar menu.


    .

    There you guy...
    Never buy organic. :smile:

    I'll go back to organic as soon as I can afford it. The asparagus price was the non-organic price, the organic price was more.
    Isn't it scary to know the real market price for food that is organic and grown right has barley any profit. I raise my own chickens strictly for eggs if I was going to make any profit I'd probably have to sell them a dollar an egg.

    No profit in organics?

    Uh.
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
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    Obamacare is an effort to get more people paying into the system. The main tenets of Obamacare are the individual mandate (forcing everyone to buy insurance), removal of preexisting condition limits, and the health care exchanges.

    Anyway, I'm not advocating a tax on calories or anything. I am contradicting your claim that decreasing smoking rates have nothing to do with governmental intervention.

    You're all over the place here. Your arguments really aren't making any sense. You're firing blindly into the dark trying to justify a preexisting notion about government being bad.

    Obamacare is a tax, plain and simple. SCOTUS ruled it was because that is the only thing the government can do.....
    Regardless of how you wish to sugar coat it...it is a tax, and it will cost us more

    You are all over the place, I am just following your posts and answering you.

    But my premise has been from the start, we don't need more government.
    You think we do.

    We disagree.....
    If you want all of this stuff, then you get together with others who think like you and open your check books and pay for it.
  • spartangod
    spartangod Posts: 14
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    Eating greasy food in large amounts over the course of one's life kill's just as many people as tobacco and is arguably just as harmful in the long run. I don't think it is lawfully right to tax food since it is not a drug like nicotine but I think raising the price obese people pay for healthcare would help motivate people to lose weight. Not only that, being obese costs everyone else more on the system because obese people run a risk of having more health problems even though they could fix this issue. It is a very difficult topic to talk about since a lot of Americans value freedoms and want to make their own choices in life. The problem is that when choices made affect the people around you in such a way that regulation is needed. Personal responsibility is the best option in an ideal world in my opinion but this isn't an ideal world and not everyone can be trusted to do what is best for themselves and their family.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    But premise has been from the start, we don't need more government.
    You think we do.

    Obesity rates are rising, and it costs you and me money.

    You have thrown in the towel and said there's nothing we can do about it.

    I reject that pathetic answer, because I know better and don't give up immediately.
  • Confuzzled4ever
    Confuzzled4ever Posts: 2,860 Member
    Options



    I spend a lot more on food now that I buy less processed pre-made stuff and more fresh fruit, produce and meats. I had to stop buying organic due to cost. I follow the sales. I was so excited yesterday. I got asparagus fro $1.69 a pound yesterday! (normally in the 3-5 dollar range) that's one part of 1 meal. I still have to add in meat and starch and salad. We're way over what it would cost me buy 2 burgers and a bag of fries from a fast food joint. 3 bucks on the dollar menu.


    .

    There you guy...
    Never buy organic. :smile:

    I'll go back to organic as soon as I can afford it. The asparagus price was the non-organic price, the organic price was more.
    Isn't it scary to know the real market price for food that is organic and grown right has barley any profit. I raise my own chickens strictly for eggs if I was going to make any profit I'd probably have to sell them a dollar an egg.

    not scary because i understand economics and scale.

    I know what it costs.. I helped my parents raised chickens and pigs for dinner and we had a garden that produced enough veggies to sustain us for most of the year.. and we had cherry trees and berry bushes and a crab apple tree for the horses. I just cant' afford a farm like that for myself. I wish I could!
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    If you want all of this stuff, then you get together with others who think like you and open your check books and pay for it.

    I actually am, because I'm a public health student who will be working in public health fairly soon. So, yeah, I'll actually be one of the people working on the problem as opposed to someone waving his hands in the air on the internet ranting about how people should just be less fat.
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
    Options
    I don't think it is lawfully right to tax food since it is not a drug like nicotine but I think raising the price obese people pay for healthcare would help motivate people to lose weight. Not only that, being obese costs everyone else more on the system because obese people run a risk of having more health problems even though they could fix this issue. It is a very difficult topic to talk about since a lot of Americans value freedoms and want to make their own choices in life. The problem is that when choices made affect the people around you in such a way that regulation is needed. Personal responsibility is the best option in an ideal world in my opinion but this isn't an ideal world and not everyone can be trusted to do what is best for themselves and their family.

    See this has been my point.

    Let the obese feel the weight of their decisions....
    When you separate the consequences of poor choices from the person, than they have no reason to rectify the problem

    And that is what happens when government gets involved....it separates the individual from the choices he or she has made.
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
    Options
    If you want all of this stuff, then you get together with others who think like you and open your check books and pay for it.

    I actually am, because I'm a public health student who will be working in public health fairly soon. So, yeah, I'll actually be one of the people working on the problem as opposed to someone waving his hands in the air on the internet ranting about how people should just be less fat.

    Good for you....
    But you need to actually spend your own money while working, instead of having the government take money from me to see your dream fulfilled
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    Options
    I don't think it is lawfully right to tax food since it is not a drug like nicotine but I think raising the price obese people pay for healthcare would help motivate people to lose weight. Not only that, being obese costs everyone else more on the system because obese people run a risk of having more health problems even though they could fix this issue. It is a very difficult topic to talk about since a lot of Americans value freedoms and want to make their own choices in life. The problem is that when choices made affect the people around you in such a way that regulation is needed. Personal responsibility is the best option in an ideal world in my opinion but this isn't an ideal world and not everyone can be trusted to do what is best for themselves and their family.

    See this has been my point.

    Let the obese feel the weight of their decisions....
    When you separate the consequences of poor choices from the person, than they have no reason to rectify the problem

    And that is what happens when government gets involved....it separates the individual from the choices he or she has made.

    Oh so now you're saying we should tax fat people? Or... what? Not allow them to have health insurance? How do you intend to make them "feel the weight of their decisions" when it's you and me who are paying for them?
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
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    How do you intend to make them "feel the weight of their decisions" when it's you and me who are paying for them?

    Exactly why you get government out of the picture....

    Get them out
    Let insurance companies evaluate the person and then set the cost of their policy accordingly.
    Let their be competition.....
    If the insurance company comes to said obese person and say, you know if you lose 50 lbs and keep it off, we will drop your premiums $50 a month.....
    There is incentive...and the obese person can make the choice.

    That is what happens with auto insurance....

    Should not I pay more for auto insurance if I have had multiple accidents, multiple tickets.....
    vs. you who have had no accidents or speeding tickets??

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