Ranting

On Friday, former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, David Kessler, gave a lecture well worthy of being documented in this blog. Kessler's execution of his speech seemed parallel to the way our Foods class is taught: we are always specifically asked to think about food through many layers and lenses of political, economical and cultural aspects. Soon, we realize that there is not just one answer to our issues, but in fact a web of causes and affects that are entangled within our society. Kressler approaches the contents of his lecture - obesity - in a similar manner.

Obesity, Kessler says is not just a simple matter of overeating. Instead it is a philosophical, psychological, social, and scientific issue that affects at least a third of the US population - 80 million people.

Kessler recalls listening to an obese woman on the Oprah show saying, "I eat before my husband comes home. I eat after my husband comes home. I eat when I'm happy. I eat when I'm sad. I eat when I'm hungry. I eat when I'm not hungry."

Listening to her testimony as if he were her doctor, Kessler concludes three things. Obesity is:
1. a loss of control over eating
2. a lack of satiation
3. obsessive thoughts

What does this sound like?  A psychological compulsive disorder.

But what really is going on in the brain? In other words, what is the science behind the issue? Kessler goes on to explain that dopamine is commonly known to produce pleasure but other than that, it not only deals with attention but is part of many important neural pathways that in essence, form our lifestyles and personalties by setting concrete our neural circuitry involving learning, memory, habits, and motivation. Unfortunately, humans are wired to focus attention on the most salient stimuli, meaning that we have a heightened awareness to things that jump out at us. If anything, we've learned about the power of sugar in our Foods class - yes, "Sweetness drives wanting," Kessler says. Fats, sugar, and salt each stimulate food intake, and the amygdala, responsible for emotions, unlike in lean folks, stays activated in individuals with higher BMI's.

If anything, the food industry knows maybe too much about our human nature and how to use it for their needs - and these days, foods are literally injected with fat, salt and sugar.

So what is it? If we're programmed to focus our attention to these foods, are we as individual consumers responsible for a nation of obesity? "Are the brains of 80 million people just not functioning right," Kressler exclaims. Are we as paralyzed as Nestle makes us out to be in a supermarket? Is the problem the food that is given to us, or just our representation of the food in front of us? Do we actually have a choice about what we eat? Do we actually have free will -- (when did this issue become philosophical?)

No matter how I think about it, or how much I think the government can implement new policies, I keep coming back to what Harper said at the panel. There is something about the American mindset -- the thought that bigger is better, more is better, newer is better, faster is better, (you get the point!) -- that allows our current food industry to perpetuate. If we do not implement a policy that changes our fundamental thinking on the above said factors of efficiency, I don't think we can battle obesity and its many other related diseases.

In light of Nestle's, "Food Politics," I am in even more unease as she sheds light into USDA's dual obligation to protect the health of Americans and to appease the meat and diary industry. Unless both sides have the same aims, this cannot be done. And it now bothers me that we have such an organization that plays such an intermediary role. Can't the scientists themselves strongly, politically back up their own research, which in many cases is in opposition with food industries? What does the USDA really lose when they anger the meat and diary industry? What are they afraid of? Can obesity be resolved in such a capitalistic model?

On a related note, my posts will never be complete without something relating to Japan. Here is an interesting CNN news clip on what the Japanese government implemented in order to battle the rise of weight in Japan. Highlights: Japanese companies now measure the waist size of every employee and if you are above a certain circumference, you've got to pay a penalty -- literally!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbtEEQbBfmo