[HN Gopher] Food companies 'sweetened the world' and increased t...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Food companies 'sweetened the world' and increased the risk of
       disease
        
       Author : YeGoblynQueenne
       Score  : 67 points
       Date   : 2023-07-14 20:51 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.theguardian.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.theguardian.com)
        
       | omginternets wrote:
       | They're now "vegetizing" the world with "plant-based" (read:
       | highly processed) products and lab-grown meats (ditto).
       | 
       | The sooner we realize that food industry are engaged in
       | capitalism and not public health, nor ecology, the better. What
       | the food industry pushes is best read through the lens of
       | patentable intellectual property and market disruption in an
       | economic sector with razor-thin margins. I would encourage all
       | conscientious people not to be their useful idiots.
        
         | jjtheblunt wrote:
         | Wouldn't eating a salad of all vegetables be "plant-based"? Are
         | you saying they use that phrase misleadingly too?
        
           | tester13894059 wrote:
           | I think that's the misunderstanding here. Things like Beyond
           | Meat aren't really any better for you than real meat. It's
           | just another push from the capital class to co-opt the
           | medical profession's message that we should all be eating
           | less meat. The ingredients, textured vegetable protein and
           | highly processed lentils, have had almost all of the really
           | healthy stuff removed from them and they serve only as a
           | substrate for particular flavors that mimic meat.
           | 
           | Insofar as it isn't recognizably an ingredient that is picked
           | from a field and marketed as a plant or animal part, it's
           | part of what's causing all of us to be really unhealthy in
           | the US.
        
             | dkdbejwi383 wrote:
             | That's fair enough, but it still has a far lower impact on
             | the planet, for those times when someone just really wants
             | a burger.
        
         | armatav wrote:
         | This is true - everything along the lines of plant based food
         | has an underlying capital cost transformation driving it, not a
         | cultural or environmental basis.
         | 
         | That's why they need to convince/mandate people to eat it; it
         | tastes worse and is worse for you.
        
       | helph67 wrote:
       | Some here may be concerned enough to consider this article
       | https://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/tips/a2471/suga...
       | 
       | The proteins in skin most prone to glycation are the same ones
       | that make a youthful complexion so plump and springy--collagen
       | and elastin. When those proteins hook up with renegade sugars,
       | they become discolored, weak, and less supple; this shows up on
       | the skin's surface as wrinkles, sagginess, and a loss of
       | radiance.
        
       | tayo42 wrote:
       | Seems like a headline that's going to get people riled up, while
       | its discussing misleading and lies in marketing of food towards
       | uneducated people in developing parts of India.
       | 
       | tough country to deal with problems in, idk how you reach
       | everyone to educate them.
        
       | ChrisArchitect wrote:
       | Plenty of related discussion over here:
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36728033
        
       | grecy wrote:
       | There is a really, really easy way to avoid all of this.
       | 
       | In the supermarket, only buy things that have one ingredient.
       | Only eat and drink things that have one ingredient.
       | 
       | As Michael Pollan says: "Eat FOOD, mostly greens, not too much."
        
       | bettercallsalad wrote:
       | Let's not give FDA, NIH and other standard and quality control
       | monitoring agencies pass while food conpanies did this. They also
       | purposely pushed "fat is bad" while the whole diet chart with the
       | carb/milk and dairy was plain misleading. And they knew they were
       | lying, most of their propositions were pushed by one guys
       | research. And of course big pharma always sponsored and benefited
       | these types of research.
        
         | api wrote:
         | When I see populist cranks getting traction in the culture and
         | in politics, I find myself being as angry at the establishment
         | for this as I am at the cranks or perhaps even more.
         | 
         | I feel like our main establishment entities like the FDA, NIH,
         | major universities, pharma companies, etc. still aren't willing
         | to take any responsibility for why people don't trust them
         | anymore.
         | 
         | Cranks are filling the vacuum, but the cranks didn't create the
         | vacuum.
        
       | adam_arthur wrote:
       | Regulation through voluntary goodwill never works in aggregate.
       | Blaming actors rather than regulators will always be futile in
       | the end as players in a system will almost always trend towards
       | self interest in the long run, as has been proven time and time
       | again
       | 
       | Of course many would argue there's no need to regulate at all,
       | and that's a fair position to hold too.
       | 
       | There's nothing inherently wrong with providing products that
       | offer a tradeoff between health and enjoyment. As long as
       | consumers are aware of the longer term costs
        
         | mahmoudhossam wrote:
         | Regulatory capture prevents regulators from doing their jobs,
         | and I'm not sure any amount of regulator blaming will change
         | that.
         | 
         | Naming and shaming companies, however, can make them change
         | their strategy.
        
         | 2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote:
         | In a competitive system is it selfishness or survival?
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2023-07-14 23:00 UTC)