Posted on 02/26/2006 11:51:35 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
MONTREAL (CP) - It may take a special tax to help fight what one Canadian sociologist calls the "obesogenic food environment" - the junk food that's prominently displayed in supermarkets and schools.
Anthony Winson of the University of Guelph said high-sugar and high-fat products are "aggressively promoted" every week in grocery stores.
"You can have maybe 20 special displays in a supermarket that are around every corner promoting types of high-sugar, high-fat products, whether they be candy bars or soft drinks," Winson said in an interview.
He said the displays are advantageous for retailers because they bring in extra revenue.
"If you look at the trade magazines of the industry, they claim that high-sugar, high-fat products are typically among the most lucrative in the supermarket...they get the highest returns," Winson said at a recent food conference sponsored by the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada.
"And the corporations that are promoting these products are extremely powerful in the food system."
Winson defines the "obesogenic food environment" as the penetration of supermarkets and schools with junk food.
He suggested a tax on low-nutrition food products might help "because the price for society in the long run is going to be extremely high."
"A lot of this is nothing new. We've done it with tobacco. We can do it with junk foods and low nutrition foods," Winson said.
He suggested the tax revenues could be put into promoting healthy eating.
Nick Jennery, president of the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors, defended the promotions and said supermarkets are not in the health-regulation business.
"We're in the business of giving consumers choice, and if you walk into pretty much any grocery store, you will see a lot of choice, whether it's low fat or low sugar or fresh product," Jennery said.
He said there is more fresh product on the floors of supermarkets than there has ever been "in the entire Canadian grocery history."
"We are not going to tell consumers what they should and should not eat," Jennery said.
"It's the consumer who has to make choices, not the grocery store," he said.
Winson said he conducted a survey of supermarkets in the Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge and Guelph area of southwestern Ontario.
He said the survey found that "something in the range of 30 per cent of shelf space ... is devoted to high-fat, high-sugar products."
"The latest innovation of supermarkets are massive displays of ice-cream products, both high sugar and high fat," Winson added.
Mary Bush, head of Health Canada's Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion, was non-committal when asked if the federal government should intervene and adopt legislation - especially when it comes to junk food advertising aimed at children.
"I think we need to understand better the issue.
"One doesn't take those kinds of measures until you have a good understanding of what the issue is and it's influence," Bush said.
Winson also complained about vending machines in schools.
He pointed out that high schools get much-needed revenues from junk food and he blames governments for putting them in that position.
Another example of a "food" that tastes different from what it used to is Coke.
When they switched to corn syrup, it became "sweeter" somehow, and nowhere near as satisfying. Pepsi had made the switch to corn syrup earlier.
Now, the only REAL Coke you can get comes from Mexico.
Who da thunk it.
I think we need a really BIG tax on cretinogenic university professors too.
Me too. I eat whatever I want. Real butter, whole milk, prime rib, steak, pork, ribs, lobster, crab, lamb, potatoes and gravy. And I weigh the same at the age of 56 as I did when I was 18.
You must have a job that expends a lot of calories or you are very lucky. Congratualtions on not being sucked in to the current obesity epidemic. I just lost 100 pounds, and it is one of the best things I ever did. I went from obesity to slightly underweight. I feel about 10 years younger.
We need a punitive tax on Piled High and Deeper types that attempt to "fix" things that people don't want or need "fixed".>>>>>>>>>>>>
A two week open season would probably work better, imagine what you could charge for a permit!
from: "1984" Book One, Chapter 8
"…to do anything that suggested a taste for solitude, even to go for a walk by yourself, was always slightly dangerous. There was a word for it in Newspeak: ownlife…" —pg 70
:)
"Not even 300 years and we are rapidly returning to what our founders rebelled against. (all in the name of Public Health, of course.)"
An EXCELLENT point that should be obvious to all Americans; but of course it isn't because public schools teach some sort of weirdly altered "history." *Rolleyes*
Yes, HFCS is a low quality sweetener that has ruined a lot of products that were once good. This change has been forced on us by those who feel it necessary to protect domestic sugar farmers who can't compete with lower cost suppliers. For that reason, American manufacturers are forced to pay two to three times more than the world price for sugar. They choose to use HFCS instead of paying higher prices.
This change, although to a lesser degree, was also forced on manufacturers by the food police who saw the amount of sugar used in food and beverages as deleterious to the consumers health. Manufacturers, in addition to containing costs, were also trying to placate the food police by moving to HFCS.
Sugar (sucrose) is half glucose and half fructose. HFCS is about 80% fructose and 20% glucose. HFCS is much sweeter than sucrose so less of it is used compared to sucrose. Consuming the small amount of additional fructose does not pose any health risks to consumers even though there are a lot of wacky websites claiming otherwise.
BTW, the guy who paid that ridiculous price for Snapple at Quaker (Smithberg?) , was run out of the company shortly thereafter. Quaker paid $1.7 billion for Snapple in 1994 and sold it to Triarc Beverage for $300 million in 1999.
>>>>We've done it with tobacco. We can do it with junk foods and low nutrition foods," Winson said.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1563271/posts
Healthy People 2010
28 Focus Areas Of Healthy People 2010
* Access to Quality Health Services
* Arthritis, Osteoporosis and Chronic Back Conditions
* Cancer
* Chronic Kidney Disease
* Diabetes
* Disability and Secondary Conditions
* Educational and Community-Based Programs
* Environmental Health
* Family Planning
* Food Safety
* Health Communication
* Heart Disease and Stroke
* Immunizations and Infectious Diseases
* Nutrition and Overweight
* Injury and Violence Prevention
* Maternal, Infant, and Child Health
* Medical Product Safety
* Mental Health and Mental Disorders
* Occupational Safety and Health
* Oral Health
* Physical Activity and Fitness
* Public Health Infrastructure
* Respiratory Diseases
* Sexually Transmitted Diseases -STD
* Substance Abuse
* Tobacco Use
* Vision and Hearing
>>>>So then who determines what is non-junk food and food that is high in nutrition?
This is already being mandated through the Model School Nutrition Program in schools. The Healthy People 2010 program intends to mandate this across the board to eliminate health disparities by 2010.
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/nutrition/index.htm
Perhaps there ought to be a tax on sociologists.
All the taxes being mentioned in these junk food articles and tobacco articles are going to the UN/WHO
These are NGO funded UN/WHO programs.
IMHO The most obscenely obese and bloated factors in our society are the medical fraternity and the insurance companies. Put them on a state enforced diet.
But we are paying medical bills for obesity. Wonder how much is spent on medicare and medicaid in obesity related health problems.
Taxing cigarettes didn't stop people from smoking. And taxing junk food isn't going to stop people from eating it. It just makes people use more of their paycheck to do it.
You know, I probably haven't purchased that junk food in a grocery store in a decade.
Obesity=lack of self control and discipline for 99.8% of the population.
Although I am a 155 pounder at 5'8, I think that you are being a bit harsh in your assessment. I mean come on lack of self control. How do I become perfect like you....please give me your secrets.
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