Experts have suggested that excess intake of sugar and carbs through sugary drinks and junk food is the prime reason for the increasing number of obese people and that physical inactivity is not the reason behind surge in obesity. In a bid to cull the intake of sugary drinks and junk food, experts have called for an end to celebrity endorsements of sugary drinks and association of junk food and sports.
Experts agree an an editorial penned in the British Journal of Sports Medicine that regular exercise is key to staving off serious disease, such as diabetes, heart disease, and dementia, write the authors; however, calorie laden diets now generate more ill health than physical inactivity, alcohol, and smoking combined.
They describe the public relations tactics of the food industry as “chillingly similar to those of Big Tobacco,” which deployed denial, doubt, confusion and “bent scientists” to convince the public that smoking was not linked to lung cancer.
“Celebrity endorsements of sugary drinks and the association of junk food and sport must end,” they declare, adding that health clubs and gyms need to set an example by removing the sale of these products from their premises. “The ‘health halo’ legitimisation of nutritionally deficient products is misleading and unscientific,” they write.
Public health messaging has unhelpfully focused on maintaining a ‘healthy weight’ through calorie counting, but it’s the source of the calories that matters, they point out. “Sugar calories promote fat storage and hunger. Fat calories induce fullness or satiation,” they write.
The evidence now suggests that up to 40 per cent of those within a normal weight (BMI) range will none the less harbour harmful metabolic abnormalities typically associated with obesity.
But few people realise this, and many wrongly believe that obesity is entirely due to lack of exercise, a perception that is firmly rooted in corporate marketing, say the authors.
The prevalence of diabetes increases 11-fold for every 150 additional sugar calories consumed daily, compared with the equivalent amount of calories consumed as fat, they say.
And the evidence now suggests that carbs are no better, they add. Recent research indicates that cutting down on dietary carbohydrate is the single most effective approach for reducing all of the features of the metabolic syndrome and should be the primary strategy for treating diabetes, with benefits occurring even in the absence of weight loss.
Furthermore, other research suggests that rather than carbohydrate loading ahead of intense exercise, athletes would be better off adopting a high fat low carb diet, particularly those who are already insulin resistant.
The food environment needs to be changed so that people automatically make healthy choices, suggest the authors. This “will have far greater impact on population health than counselling or education. Healthy choice must become the easy choice,” they say.
“It’s time to wind back the harms caused by the junk food industry’s public relations machinery. Let’s bust the myth of physical inactivity and obesity. You can’t outrun a bad diet,” they conclude.
Do the research; dig deeper. It is not “sugary drinks”, high fructose corn syrup is the main culprit because this sweetener is used instead of cane sugar in nearly ALL processed foods in the USA and the countries that have yet to realize its harmful effect of obesity, heart disease and stroke when eaten daily.
Research also shows that artificial additives and preservatives can play havoc to the way our bodies break down foods and use it for energy. All ingredients we need to stay healthy are available without these chemicals in real foods and sunshine. We do not need Genetically Modified Organisms (different from hybrids which are same species) to maintain health, or feed poor countries. That is a ruse for a few to make another fortune selling a lie to the masses.
I challenge any of you who are not already doing so to take a month off all processed foods (ready made to open, heat and eat) to purchase Organic meats,produce, breads, fruit juices, coffee, tea and milk products (only Organic) for ONE MONTH – do not eat out, your body needs time to adjust – and discover how quickly you can regain energy, aches and pain go away, stomach upset improves as your body states to heal itself, etc.
Thanks to the Genome Project I have discovered that my body is unable to break down artificial Folate (aka folic acid) which is found abundantly in many foods, yet is in nearly every processed food on the market just a case some pregnant woman is not getting enough. The day was that doctors would draw levels of vitamins and order them for pregnancy women but I suppose it was a bigger money maker to put artificial Folic Acid in and on all food. Unless you are one of the 12% who have the marker for your MTHFR gene which causes your body to release a substance should eat it which can cause havoc in your body, setting it up to mimic heart disease, variouos autoimmune illness, depression and other mental illness symptoms, and so forth so that the industry can feed you more chemicals called “medicine”.
I was a Registered Nurse. Today, I write and work digging up research for people. The Internet is filled with misinformation. Know where the truth can be found. Don’t blindly believer any research that was conducted by the company defending their product. Read overseas news. What is the research like over seas? Plausible or is there something in it that just doesn’t make sense. For those who are not science majors, or who have never taken a course on Science Studies; do so. Learn what good scientists look at to determine whether a study has followed all steps to in the process (yes there is a process or formula) that ensure the study is indeed unbiased.
If the study comes from the U.S.A. (as an American myself) I will warn you now it is suspect until proven right.
Good comments – I’m 70 yrs old – I pretty well follow the guidelines you’ve promulgated – no sugary drinks (juice or pop), keep carbs low, no artificial sweeteners – and if high fructose is on the label – just say no (amazing the ways they sneak it in: “corn syrup” “glucose/fructose” etc.) – BTW just checked a brand of spaghetti sauce – first ingredient – sugar – what!??
I’m just back from a month hiking and eating) in Europe to hear that yet another of my contemporaries has died (his heart, younger than me) food-wise he was “mainstream” – lots of carbs, drank pop, tried to reduce by using diet drinks – his weight and health just got worse and worse – now he’s gone. There are others too – I feel sad (and blessed) but I also avoid the foods that “poisoned” my buddies.