The men who made us fat

skoshness

I just watched it, found it really interesting, it makes me angry that the big food corporations have no interest in giving people healthy food, it's all about profit, so they found substances to use eg. Corn syrup that is highly addictive and messes with the production of lectin in the body that tells you when you've had enough to eat. They put high amounts of sugar in "low fat healthy" foods, it's obscene

oops that should have been leptin not lectin

BeautifulArtemis

My husband destroys me on the weekends!

Florawanda

I saw the second part of the programme and read the article in the Guardian that preceded it, and would echo what has been said by those who have actually seen the programme.

One of the scary things the programme reported was that when the danger to health of putting too much sugar/corn syrup into processed foods was being raised by nutritionists who wanted the United Nations/World Health Organisation to put a limit on the percentage of sugar included in processed foods, the sugar industry put pressure on the UN to say they would press for a US grant to be withheld unless the proposal was withdrawn (think that was what the programme said happened). The programme said it was reminiscent of how the tobacco industry rubbished the evidence that there was a link between smoking and cancer, and lobbied the governments (of both US and UK) not to put controls on tobacco.

So the message really is to read the nutrition information really carefully before you choose to buy or eat!

JesterMFP

I've seen the first part and found it very interesting. The title of the programme is provocative and misleading. It's not about individual responsiblity or lack therof, it's about epidemiology and the possible social, political and economic factors in the massive rise in obesity levels.

Yes, I made me fat: no one else put that food in my mouth (not in the last 3 decades anyway) but that fact has nothing to do with the obesity epidemic, which is what the programme's about.

mandylooo

It was on BBC 2 on the 14.6.12 at 9pm
It's not really pointing the finger.. The first episode is about the invention of high fructose corn syrup and other new foods eg. frozen foods, but it focuses more on the cultural changes in the world around food. Such as snacking and eating more pre-prepared food. Also about how there are a lot of us that have no idea about food and what is in it. There is also some science in it, about the physical and mental affects on the body. I think that it was pretty well rounded. (is not good at explaining it)

Interesting concept........although I can't place the *blame* on any one person but myself,
those who've engineered food items like HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) have made a HUGE (no pun intended) impact
on the health of the consumer- to the negative side.

in regards to HFCS> I read up on the subject, and make it a point to steer clear of it as much as possible- just because I can find food items WITHOUT it, so I prefer to err on the safer side.
Don't FREAK out IF I eat it on occasion, but in the foods I buy, I choose NOT to eat it.
Even the hubs- who doesn't care what he eats- is losing belly fat because it's not in our main food supply anymore.
That confirms to me I'm making the right choice in that dep't.

So, NO, the guy(s) who engineered HFCS might not have "made me fat" but they played a role in it.

And I'd like to see him go broke now.
That's a fair payback I think.

That's a reasonably fair assessment. There's a lot to be said for accepting responsibility for yourself, but we don't live in vacuums so there are always external influences. Aggressive and misleading marketing will have an impact as much as the food industry would like to blame its victims.