This piece was reprinted by OpEdNews with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.
Now that ILSI is being exposed, even junk food giants themselves, namely Mars and Nestle', have cut ties with the organization. Corporate Accountability is calling on other corporations to do the same, and demands academic institutions to sever all ties with ILSI, including ILSI Research Foundation and ILSI's Nutrition Reviews.
For governments, prohibiting those with ties to ILSI from participating on the DGAC and publicly disclosing direct interactions with ILSI with agencies such as the USDA, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
As it stands, however, junk food giants are thoroughly intertwined with public health recommendations pertaining to food and nutrition - to the detriment of public health. "Even in times of crisis, such as today's COVID-19 pandemic, ILSI's backers feel no scruples lobbying for the bottom line," Corporate Accountability stated, adding:
"In India, despite potential consequences to the health and well-being of workers and the community, corporations including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestle', have submitted letters to the government requesting food and beverage manufacturing be exempt from the lockdown, and be considered an 'essential service.'
"Not providing immune-suppressing sugar-sweetened beverages during this time may also prove the more essential service these corporations can provide in this time and beyond."
How Americans got hooked on processed foods
According to investigative reporter Michael Moss, much of the responsibility for Americans' increased consumption of junk food lies with the processed food industry. In addition to targeting kids who are "especially hardwired for sweet taste," sugar, salt and unhealthy fats are the top three substances making processed foods so addictive.
Moss' four-year investigation culminated in the book "Salt Sugar Fat," which details how food scientists formulate products with just the right combination of sugar, fat and salt to pique your taste buds just enough, without overwhelming them, thereby overriding your brain's inclination to say "enough." He uses the example of potato chips, which combine salt and fat for instantaneous pleasure, along with the sugar in the starch of the potato itself, as the perfect addictive food.
Beyond the addictive potential of the foods is the marketing, which further entices Americans to buy and consume more processed foods. This includes things like positioning junk foods at eye level on grocery store displays. In an interview with U.S. News & World Report, Moss revealed the food industry secrets that are most surprising, including that food execs may avoid junk food for the sake of their own health:
"One, on a personal level, many food company executives don't eat their own products for health reasons. And two, the companies themselves are more hooked on salt, sugar and fat than we are because there are miracle ingredients that enable them to preserve and keep the products low cost along with being utterly tasty. The depth of the industry's own dependence was really surprising to me."
Junk food causing increased COVID-19 deaths
London-based cardiologist Dr. Aseem Malhotra is among those warning that poor diet can increase your risk of dying from COVID-19. He tweeted, "The government and public health England are ignorant and grossly negligent for not telling the public they need to change their diet now."
He told BBC that ultra-processed foods make up more than half the calories consumed by the British, and if you suffer from obesity, Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure - all of which are linked to poor diet - your risk of mortality from COVID-19 increases tenfold.
On the brighter side, he also states that eating nutritious foods for even one month could help you lose weight, put Type 2 diabetes into remission and improve your health considerably, so you'll have a much better chance of survival should you contract COVID-19. Malhotra also told the food industry to "stop mass-marketing and selling ultra-processed food."
Dr. Robert Lustig, Emeritus Professor of pediatrics in the division of endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, further stated:
"I've heard COVID-19 referred to a beast, because it doesn't distinguish. In point of fact, it doesn't distinguish who it infects. But it does distinguish who it kills. Other than the elderly, it's those who are Black, obese, and/or have pre-existing conditions. What distinguished these three demographics?
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
