Documentary reveals truths behind food industry

How to stay healthy through exercise, eating well and cutting back on sweets have been common topics for the past 30 years, as obesity levels rise. But what exactly is causing that increase is now being discussed.

The new movie “Fed Up,” shown by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences on Tuesday, proposed an argument for the cause behind this epidemic. The main theme was the effects of an overabundance of sugar in the average American’s diet.

“If you go to the Fed Up website, they have all sorts of facts abut nutrition in the United States,” said Erica Holberg, a professor of philosophy. “The website claimed that we eat 153 grams of sugar a day, the average American. At least that was true in 2012, and recommended by the World Health Organization is 25 grams of sugar a day. So we’re eating six times as much sugar as we should be, and of course, most of that sugar is hidden.”

According to its website, the World Health Organization, or WHO, is responsible for creating policies and health standards along with monitoring health trends and providing leadership on global health matters within the United Nations system.

The problem with reducing the amount of sugar intake in diets, as suggested by the movie, is that sugar is in everything and is called by various names to hide its presence.

“Sugar is not always, kind of like, in a sugar form,” said Lusine Dokhoyan, majoring in global climate. “So you may buy a food, not thinking about it having a lot of sugar, ’cause it’s like there are all these names which are not sugar, which we think, ‘Oh this is not sugar,’ but it actually is.”

Another point the movie makes is that the food marketed as lean or reduced fat doesn’t help people who are dieting because the fat is replaced with sugar for better taste. Although the amount of sugar is labeled on each food item, the daily value is not available.

“So the movie makes the argument that, yes, we need to eat less sugar and part of the (message) was that we need to change how food is marketed and sold,” Holberg said. “We have these pre-processed foods that require not so much work on the back of the person preparing it, but those are going to have lots of sugar in them, because sugar is the way you reduce fat.”

This has led to, Holberg said, a backlash of increased obesity and diabetes from trying to eat healthier.

What’s also happening is that sugar is an addictive substance — eight times more addictive than cocaine, according to the movie. From a very young age, children are exposed to and targeted for sugary-food commercials.

“I was pretty surprised to see that there’s so much of it with our kids being like indoctrinated almost to this high-sugar or unhealthy diet and how close the private sector is to public schools,” said Kenneth Duhamel, an aviation major. “It’s crazy to me. It’s insane.”

Along with commercials, children get exposed to a lot of sugary foods at schools, which are sold at lunch time and in vending machines. A majority of K-12 schools have a contract with either Pepsi or Coke to sell their products on school grounds, according to the movie.

“Probably the most interesting part of the movie was the commercials and how much we’re actually exposed to junk food,” Dokhoyan said. “Because like I was thinking, ‘Oh this is bad,’ and I was thinking this is your choice, like it’s us. You choose to eat junk food or healthy food, but then, on the other hand, the movie was also saying that, ‘Okay it’s our fault, but also not.’”

The reason exercise and dieting are ineffective so often, the movie claimed, is because of the large amounts of sugar in food, not so much because of personal laziness and lack of healthy choices.

“I think it was really enlightening to the fact that it’s not just a problem of individual will power and that we place the emphasis on just working to fight obesity in sometimes the wrong areas,” said Patrick Adams, a junior in environmental studies. “And I think it’s really important to understand that in our society, to be healthy is the more challenging route than to just to subscribe to a system that encourages obesity and unhealthy lifestyle.”

“Fed Up” proposes a challenge to viewers to go sugar-free for 10 days. To start, they suggest cutting out sodas and food with added sugars and to eat fresh, whole foods instead. The challenging part is that sugar is found in a lot of foods under many names, and it is addictive and withdrawals may be experienced.

For those who don’t want to go completely sugar-free, Dokhoyan suggested a balance would be better.

“It’s like really, really hard,” Dokhoyan said. “You have to be super committed to choose the real food over junk food. I’m not calling it healthy food because it’s real food, not healthy.”

Adams suggests to at least become more aware about the kind of food being eaten and what is available. He also suggests, when reading articles and documentaries, to keep a critical mind and look at who’s funding the research and why.

“I think it’s just important to realize that it’s a slippery slope, and this is something you always need to be aware of when you’re making food choices, “Adams said. “As a society, we need to come together to call for system reform.”

— miranda.lorenc@gmail.com