Expert Seeks Solutions to Obesity Epidemic

Judith Blake The Seattle Times

Posted December 3, 2002

When Marion Nestle gives talks on the politics surrounding America's burgeoning obesity epidemic, she sometimes displays an attention-getting image on a screen. In it, a corpulent Uncle Sam clutches a huge cheeseburger while declaring, "I want YOU to eat more."

Can we really blame our growing national girth on Uncle Sam, or on the food industry - or anyone but ourselves?

To a large extent, yes, contends Ms. Nestle, professor and chairwoman of the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at New York University.

Ms. Nestle is the author of Food Politics, a book that's been stirring up the food world like a blender on "high," drawing both praise and brickbats for its take on the epidemic's causes and possible cures.

Government policies and industry practices have combined to promote Americans' rampant overeating, Nestle told a gathering of nutrition professionals at the University of Washington last week.

Massive, child-targeted advertising of junk food, the placement of pop and candy machines in schools, misleading food labeling, gargantuan servings at restaurants, and government's failure to push harder for healthful eating are just a few of the contributing forces, she said.

"I think it's time for political and social action around these issues, at a time when people are ready to hear about it," said Ms. Nestle, a dark-haired woman who exudes feisty energy.

Although Americans need to take individual responsibility for their own eating and exercise habits, and their children's, rising obesity rates show that's no longer enough, Ms. Nestle said.

With studies revealing that more than half of American adults are now overweight or obese, the issue has become a societal problem that must be attacked on a societal scale, said Ms. Nestle, who has served as a nutrition policy adviser to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

She also has served on nutrition and science advisory committees to the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration.

Underlying Americans' overeating is that the U.S. produces far more food than we need, Ms. Nestle said. Total production equals about 3,800 calories per person per day - roughly twice the average daily need, she said.

Elements of this picture can be seen everywhere, she said. Among them:

* The constant onslaught of food advertising, most of it for processed foods or fast food. Particularly irksome to Ms. Nestle are TV commercials aimed at children, who, she says, have not yet developed the analytical skills needed to view them objectively.

"Marketers will tell you that advertising doesn't sell food products and that if it did they'd be really rich," she said. "Well, they do know how to sell products, and they are rich."

* Giant servings of food and beverages, such as 64-ounce containers of soft drinks sold at the movies and loaded with 1,200 calories each.

* Labels that play up a product's claimed health benefits despite its other, potentially harmful features. Example: heart-healthy claims linked to low fat in a breakfast cereal that's high in sugar and calories.

Ms. Nestle's book suggests various solutions to the obesity problem. Among them:

* Mount a major national campaign to promote "eat less, move more."

* Restrict TV advertising of foods of "minimal nutritional value," and provide equal time for "eat less, move more" messages.

* Tax junk food.

* Subsidize fruits and vegetables.

* In schools, ban commercials for low-nutrition foods and corporate logos on teaching materials.

* Require that school meals meet dietary guidelines.

* Require nutritional labeling on food containers in fast-food restaurants.

© 2002 The Augusta Chronicle. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved