Food Politics

by Marion Nestle
May 3 2019

Weekend reading: Well—a great introduction to public health

Sandro Galea.  Well: What We Need to Talk About When We Talk About Health.  Oxford University Press, 2019.

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I blurbed this one:

A superb account of how money, power, politics, and the luck of the draw affect the health of individuals and populations. It should inspire us all to follow Galea in championing public health as an essential public good, and in treasuring and preserving the core values of public health—fairness, justice, and compassion for all.

Galea is the dean of the school of public health at Boston University and a prolific writer on public health topics, including food on occasion.  I am a big fan of his work.  I like his focus on social, economic, and environmental determinants of health and his consistent promotion of the core values of public health.  If you don’t really get what public health is about, this book is a great place to start.

Here is a brief sample from the chapter titled “Choice.”

We imagine our choices to be, for the most part, beyond the reach of outside influence and that, when we choose, we do so from an unlimited array of options; no one tells us what to eat, whether or not we are permitted to exercise, or who we must embrace as a life partner.  For this reason, much of our conversation about health has to do with “lifestyle”—making the correct choices for ourselves, choices which, we believe, will lead to better health.

…Yes, we can choose the food we eat, but our options are limited by what we can afford and by what kinds of food are available for purchase near our home.  These factors, in turn, depend on the quality of our neighborhood and the size of our income, which depends on larger socioeconomic forces over which we have little control.  Likewise, we can only choose to exercise if we live near parks, walkable streets, or athletic facilities, and we can only choose a person to marry from among the individuals we encounter within our community.  Place, power, money, politics, and people—all the forces we discuss in this book—shape the variables that ultimately influence our health.

May 2 2019

A roundup of articles about—Beer!

This is BeverageDaily.com’s monthly beer special, from the industry’s point of view.  If you don’t think of beer as an industry, think again.

And, thanks to reader Polly Adema, here is one more:

 

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May 1 2019

The latest in lab-based meat: mouse treats for cats?

Ah the wonders of modern technology.

Cats like to catch and eat mice (that what cats do), but if you believe in mouse rights and are appalled at the idea of killing mice for food there is a solution to this problem in the works.

Meet Because Animals, a company devoted to feeding pets “safer and more nutritious foods without harming the environment and other animals.”

How?

Lab-grown, cell-cultured mouse cells made into meat for cat treats. 

These are not yet on the market—regulatory issues are involved—but stay tuned.

And no, you can’t make this stuff up.

 

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Apr 30 2019

Coalitions!

Early in March, I put out a call for information about agriculture, food, or nutrition coalitions working toward improving the food system in one way or another.

I did this because I think that if the thousands of organizations working on food issues are to gain real political power, they will need to unite around common goals.  Coalitions are a good way to begin.

So many responses came in that I recruited an NYU undergraduate student, Jennie Dockser, to put them in some kind of order, collect missing information, and try to make sense of them.

I did some editing of what she gave me, but here is a list of the coalitions I now know about.  Take a look.

Perhaps your organization can join?

Apr 29 2019

A personal memoir of sorts

I was pleased to be invited to contribute to the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition’s “crystal ball” series:

The Crystal Ball Series is a collection of papers from prominent figures in the nutrition field. Through this collection the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition hopes to profile the paths of the eminent individuals [sic] nutrition journey; how they came to it and what have their contributions to nutrition science been. In addition, we ask them to share what they would like to see done now, where they see their area heading, the potential pitfalls, and over all what do they see in their crystal ball for the future of nutrition research.

Here’s my response, titled “A Food lover’s love of nutrition science, policy, and politics.”

Enjoy!

Apr 26 2019

Weekend reading: two books about the effects of NAFTA

I was invited to review two books about NAFTA’s effects on foods systems for The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology:

  • Gerardo Otero’s The Neoliberal Diet: Healthy Profits, Unhealthy People
  • Alyshia Gálvez’s Eating NAFTA: Trade, Food Policies, and the Destruction of Mexico (noted earlier on this site).

The journal titled the review “How neoliberalism ruins traditional diets and health.”  You can read it here.

Apr 25 2019

25 years of DSHEA: NutraIngredient-USA’s appraisal

NutraIngredients-USA.com has posted a set of articles celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA), which effectively deregulated the supplement industry.  The articles that follow are from the perspective of that industry.

Personally, I’m not a fan of DSHEA, and view deregulation of dietary supplements as a mistake for the industry as well as for the public.  Strong regulation inspires trust.  Weak regulation encourages distrust of supplement products and the entire industry.  When I see a Supplement Facts label, I have no reason to trust that the label reflects the contents of the package.  Until supplements are subjected to the same level of regulation as food products, caveat emptor.

Special Edition: DSHEA at 25

The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 created the framework for the modern supplement industry. In 1994, the industry was worth $4 bn. Now it is estimated to be worth over $40 bn.

In this special edition we will talk to some of the industry legends who helped to craft the law, we’ll learn about NPQAA, we’ll hear from the head of the FDA’s Office of Dietary Supplement Programs on the need to modernize the law, get the views of some of the industry association leaders, and look to the future.

 

Apr 24 2019

Annals of marketing: Uber Eats’ contribution to U.S. diets

Oh great.  Just what we need.  You can’t make this stuff up.

Thanks to Elinor Blake for sending.

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