Chapter 10: Science versus Supplements: "A Gulf of Mutual Incomprehension"

I am hesitant to completely disparage any helpful effect provided by dietary supplements. While I, as a proponent of Western Biomedicine, do not believe that most herbs are helpful in treating Western diseases, I know that many folk remedies are extremely valuable to people who ascribe to other cultural beliefs. I think it is our responsibility as nutritionists to consider that biomedicine is not universal, and we must remain culturally competent in order to be able to help people across cultural borders. As much as the scientific world hates it, the placebo effect and nocebo effect exist, and play a big part in personal health.
There is one exception to my tolerance of folk medicine: I do not believe that any supplement which can be harmful at recommended doses should be allowed to be on the market. Consumers have some freedom to choose for themselves whether to spend money on remedies that might not have any effect, but the choice should be taken away from them when the substance threatens their health.
I do not at all agree with the rampant use of health claims in product advertisements. I believe in the precautionary principle when it comes to dealing with these claims, and peer-reviewed studies should be required to substantiate them. Also, the component of the food that "healthy" should be labeled and explained near the claim. For example, if all bran All Bran claimed to prevent colon cancer, the label should say: this product contains fiber, which helps prevent colon cancer, as does any product which contains substantial amounts of fiber.
The use of dietary supplements should be limited, because they provide an excuse to eat less nutrient-dense foods; an approach which unfailingly leads to lowered nutritional health.

Chapter 9: Pushing Soft Drinks: "Pouring Rights"

I must start my analysis of this chapter with a fact and a confession: soft drinks are one of the worst items, if not the worst single item that negatively affects American health. Also, I have been drinking large amounts of Diet Coke ever since I could walk.
I feel that my story has parallels to the situation of people born in the 30's and 40's, who took up smoking before it was widely acknowledged to be horrible for your health. Though I continuously cut back, it might be too late for me to completely remove the high-sodium, caffeine-riddled drink from my diet. When I compare myself with friends who didn't grow up with soft drinks in their homes, my relationship with soda is much more unhealthy. With the high-profile presence of sodas in schools, most children's exposure will probably be close to my own. Putting and keeping sodas in schools is dangerous and habit forming; I enthusiastically believe that public schools should not be allowed to make contracts with food corporations. These contracts undermine efforts to improve child nutrition, and add unnecessary calories to the diet of the already-overweight American youth.

Chapter 8: Starting Early: Underage Consumers

I have always been staunchly against advertising nonnutritious foods to children. I believe the fact that they don't have the mental capability to separate the program they are watching from the advertisements means that any influence exerted by industry is unfair and unethical. The effects of these advertisements stay with children throughout their lives, and makes healthful eating a lifelong struggle. Personally, I remember my obsession with Beanie Babies led to my eating a ridiculous number of Happy Meals in the mid-to-late 90's, when a teeny beanie baby was given away with every one.
The argument that it is the parents' responsibility to regulate the advertisement to which their children are exposed is unrealistic: these advertisements have permeated almost every faction of young life. A parent would have to lock his or her child in a room, and strictly regulate any form of media going in. This media includes, but is not limited to television, books, and comic books.
This advertisement needs to be strictly controlled, if not eliminated.

Chapter 7: Playing Hardball: Legal and Not

I wasn't really surprised to hear about price fixing in the "hardballing" chapter of Food Politics. The US government has come to rely too heavily on subsidization; it makes sense that industry would try their hand at it to reap a greater profit. These legal and illegal forms of price fixing are definitely stop-gap solutions. I'm not a fan of government subsidization either: I believe that it unfailingly leads to surplus, waste, and yet more subsidization. A particular quote in the Feed Additives segment struck me as particularly worrisome: "we have a saying at this company...our competitors are our friends and our customers are our enemies." This falls quite far from the American ideal: "the customer is always right."
I have no doubt that price fixing is much more common than is publicized. I do doubt that many Americans realize how far from a free market America has actually come. I think the eventual solution will have to be in the form of government regulation, but instead of regulating the cost only, I believe that the amount of food produced will have to be controlled as well.

Chapter 5: Co-opting Nutrition Professionals

The interactions between industry and academia are unavoidable; the only way to minimize corruption is total disclosure of alliances. I believe it’s possible to run a kosher experiment with corporate funding, as long as the methods and conclusions are subject to peer reviews. Most of this chapter outlined the difficulties I’d already known about when maintaining fairness amid corporate backing.

There was one exception to this: I was quite surprised by the segment about the ADA. I don’t think Nestle is upset enough about the subject of the ADA’s ties to industry. As a nutritionist, I’ve always considered the ADA to be the stronghold of nutritional knowledge. It is the responsibility of these professional organizations to give the best advice to Americans, and this is not possible from an organization that maintains “there is no such thing as a good or bad food.” In order for the ADA’s food recommendations to hold any credibility with me, they would need to start a firm, “eat less” line of campaigns.

Chapter 4: Influencing Government: Food Lobbies and Lobbyists

I have mixed feelings about chapter four. As much as my kneejerk reaction is to hate big business, I realize that large corporations are the backbone of the American economy. In the same vein, whenever I hear the word lobbyist, I immediately think the adjectives "corrupt," or "evil." Lobbyists, however, are the driving force of policy creation and alteration. It seems difficult to me, and I believe congress would agree, to draw a line between legal and illegal lobbyist actions. After all, American capitalism puts those with money into power, so shouldn't the amount of political power one has be proportional to wealth? Ideally, I think policy should be developed in which corporations are only able to exert power in those issues which do not affect the health or well-being of the public. In terms of nutrition I mean issues affecting food safety, and, I admit, also issues of trans fat, saturated fat, sugar, artificial sweeteners and additives. If my idealism were to continue, it seems I would move to outlaw McDonald's. As you see, I'm quite conflicted about the issue of lobbyists.

A subject about which I am sure of my feelings is the so-called "Revolving Door." I do not understand how congress has failed to address such an undeniably glaring conflict of interest. While every public servant comes into office with certain amounts of bias, it seems ludicrous to me that high-level private sector business people can so easily slide into a government role. The only solution I can think of for this is to put a waiting period on those seeking to transition from private to public sector. Maybe something like the top 5% of title holders have to wait 2-3 years after ending their role as a high-power private sector businessperson before seeking public office. This also becomes a bit convoluted, but I feel that it is something which must be immediately addressed.