Gov Ag Policies and Obesity

Just what do government agricultural policies have to do with obesity? 

It seems, to me, a short jump from current government ag subsidies to our toxic, obesogenic and diabetogenic food environment.  If we are what we eat and we eat what’s available and what’s available is what we grow a lot of (read: subsidized corn and soy) and what’s not available is a lot of whole plant foods (read: unsubsidized vegetables) then we end up eating a lot of the easily accessible, cheap, processed junk.  But we know this. 

Maybe the thing to ask ourselves is, “why are we eating a lot of cheap junk?”  Is it because we are human and born with a sweet tooth and are wired to eat whenever able?  I think so. Yes. In part.  Eating past our current caloric needs is evolutionarily ingrained.  It wasn’t until very recently in history when humans had more than enough to eat.  “Feasting” was protective for the once commonplace times of “famine”.   We can blame it on our genes.  But not completely.  Because the genes for problems like Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity are really only expressed when the environment promotes it.  It also wasn’t until very recently in human history that we had twin epidemics of diabetes and obesity.  Take home point: when we flood the market with consumable junk, we consume it. 

In light of this dynamic, I found it interesting to read, on the same day, one article about how the USDA has agreed that a soda tax would help combat obesity, and another article about how the USDA is entrenched in subsidies (which prompt cheap soda.)

In the American Prospect article “Slowed Food Revolution” author Heather Rodgers does a great job explaining why organic/sustainable food costs more, why small farmers aren’t able to make a living, and exploring why our policy makers in Washington are opposed to change.

One of the salient points she makes is that the USDA is trying to support organic while not altering support for industrialed ag.  This climate makes it impossible for the small organic farmer, in part because it interferes with the real costs of food to show up at supermarkets.   Without changing the way the USDA treats industrialized ag, artificially cheap food (propped up by subsidies and other support mechanisms) will continue to be cheap at the market while small farmers can barely keep their land, let alone pay themselves a decent wage.

If the USDA agrees that a “sin tax” on soda would result in a significant decline in obesity, why would they continue to, literally, subsidize it?

The average American child and adolescent gets 10-15% of their total calorie intake from beverages.  With more than a third of our children overweight or obese this is a major problem requiring a significant shift in policy and perspective...

The upcoming 2012 Farm Bill is the major battleground in which these issues will be fought over.  Many have argued the name changed to Food Bill because it is the primary instrument of the government to shape national food policy (think school lunch, food stamps, subsidies and so on.)   Changing the Farm Bill to include real food policies will make a difference for real people.

Sustainable Nutrition Bottom-line:  The vast majority of government support for ag in this country is geared toward big time, industrialized operations.  To review: subsidized corn and soy is turned into the vast quantities of processed foods and feed lot animal products that line our supermarket shelves.    What if we instead supported sound ag practices?  Like growing fruits and vegetables.  And pasturing animals.  Then supermarkets aisles might not be so crowded with cheap junk.  And the nations’ eaters might not be so sick.  

Jamie's Food Revolution

If you haven't yet seen British chef Jamie Oliver's new reality show, Jamie's Food Revolution, about trying to change school meals in one of the unhealthiest places in America, you can watch full episodes on ABC.com.  It's worth a watch: his earnest desire to help a town combat its alarming rates of overweight and obesity by serving real food instead of processed food at school stirs up mixed responses from residents.  While Huntington, WV has been singled out due to a CDC report that named it the most obese city in the country, its eating habits, its school lunch, and its public health picture is found in the towns and cities across America.    Jamie's show uncovers some of the shocking realities of school lunch, like french fries counting as a serving of vegetables.  It also puts a face to the "obesity epidemic" by featuring residents whose lives have been severely impacted by obesity. 

Jamie (and viewers) may not realize that there is a long standing grass roots food movement in America, one arm aimed directly at improving school lunch.  He might have a better chance of success if he calls on the expertise of people like Ann Cooper, the Renegade Lunch Lady, and Chef Greg Christian of Chicago's Organic School Project.

My hope is that the show will get more people involved in ongoing projects to improve school food or to start their own project.  A starting point may be to find out about a school's (federally mandated) wellness policy.

Sustainable Nutrition Bottom-line:  Kids do spend a large amount of time at school and the food served there has a dramatic impact on their overall diet quality.  School lunch funding is not adequate to serve quality meals.  The federal Childhood Nutrition Act, which regulates the school food spending, is being reauthorized and so this is an important opportunity for change.  Let your congress people know you support healthier food in schools. Learn more at Slow Food USA's campaign for good food in schools website: Time for Lunch.

America's Move to Raise a Healthier Generation

This week Michelle Obama helped launch a national campaign to fight childhood obesity—Let’s  Move: America’s Move to Raise a Healthier Generation of Kids. 

What's refreshing about this high profile initiative is that it not only includes a focus on Healthier Choices and Physical Activity but also Healthier Food in Schools and Healthy Food Access.  This moves the issue of healthy food access (or food insecurity) from what some might call the fringe to the spotlight.  Though healthy food insecurity has long been recognized as a problem in public health and community activist circles, this increased attention, funding, and acknowledgment that obesity is tied to lack of healthy food access may have positive results.  With Will Allen of Milwaukee’s very own Growing Power and many other high profile Americans including the president of the American Acadamy of Pediatrics at her side, the first lady outlined the program priorities.

From the Let’s Move Website: 

Accessing Healthy, Affordable Food
More than 23 million Americans, including 6.5 million children, live in low-income urban and rural neighborhoods that are more than a mile from a supermarket. These communities, where access to affordable, quality, and nutritious foods is limited, are known as food deserts.  Lack of access is one reason why many children are not eating recommended levels of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. And food insecurity and hunger among children is widespread.  A recent USDA report showed that in 2008, an estimated 49.1 million people, including 16.7 million children, lived in households that experienced hunger multiple times throughout the year. The Administration, through new federal investments and the creation of public private partnerships, will: 

• Eliminate Food Deserts:  As part of the President’s proposed FY 2011 budget, the Administration announced the new Healthy Food Financing Initiative – a partnership between the U.S. Departments of Treasury, Agriculture and Health and Human Services that will invest $400 million a year to help bring grocery stores to underserved areas and help places such as convenience stores and bodegas carry healthier food options.  Through these initiatives and private sector engagement, the Administration will work to eliminate food deserts across the country within seven years. 
• Increase Farmers Markets: The President’s 2011 Budget proposes an additional $5 million investment in the Farmers Market Promotion Program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture which provides grants to establish, and improve access to, farmers markets.

The initiative goals also include Healthier Food in Schools.  Again, from the Let’s Move website:

Serving Healthier Food in Schools 
Many children consume as many as half of their daily calories at school.  As families work to ensure that kids eat right and have active play at home, we also need to ensure our kids have access to healthy meals in their schools.  With more than 31 million children participating in the National School Lunch Program and more than 11 million participating in the National School Breakfast Program, good nutrition at school is more important than ever.  Together with the private sector and the non-profit community, we will take the following steps to get healthier food in our nation’s schools:   

• Reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act: The Administration is requesting an historic investment of an additional $10 billion over ten years starting in 2011 to improve the quality of the National School Lunch and Breakfast program, increase the number of kids participating, and ensure schools have the resources they need to make program changes, including training for school food service workers, upgraded kitchen equipment, and additional funding for meal reimbursements.  With this investment, additional fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products will be served in our school cafeterias and an additional one million students will be served in the next five years.   

Slow Food USA has been addressing the poor quality of US school lunches with it’s Time for Lunch Campaign since early last year—you may remember a blog post about labor day “Eat Ins” to call attention to the issue.   In a press release on Feb 9^th, Slow Food USA’s president pointed out that while this additional $10 billion is progress, it is not nearly enough in the grand scheme of things:

“President Obama’s proposal to add $1 billion per year to the Child Nutrition Act is an important step forward,” stated Josh Viertel, president, Slow Food USA. “But, it’s not enough to give America’s kids a healthy future, especially when nearly one third of our children are overweight or obese and when Congress spends at least $13 billion per year subsidizing the production of unhealthy processed foods. The public needs to speak up and tell Congress to make real improvements to school lunch.”

Sustainable Nutrition Bottom-line:   The burden of obesity does not lie solely, or even mostly, with personal choice.  A large body of research points to the powerful role the environment plays in our personal habits.  The socio-ecomonic model of health places the individual and their own modifiable layers of influence (things they have control over) within a sea of influences:  living and working conditions, agriculture and food supplies, education, access to good and services like healthcare and water and sanitation, and the overall economic, cultural and environmental influences. With this model, we can see that the burden of obesity lies within our society.  The changes in our way of life over the last few generations has re-shaped us, literally.

My practice affords me the opportunity to talk with parents and kids struggling with childhood obesity (and diabetes, hypercholesterolemia and hypertension.)   What I see in my conversations with these families are the same problems, over and over, stemming from a food system in disarray.  The barriers people have to overcome to resist or reduce obesity are overwhelming—which is why we have such a problem in the first place.  Yes, guardians should ensure their kids have daily active play, wholesome snacks, plenty of water, and the chance to sit down at the table together often for meals, but if we do not make drastic changes to the way we nourish ourselves en masse, the epidemic of obesity will only get worse until we run our of land, food, or resources.   The more resources, programs, initiatives, and so on we can use to provide sustainable real food to real kids, the better chances our kids will have at living long, healthy lives to face the challenges ahead.  So this initiative, Let’s Move, seems to provide a ray of hope in a worrisome time…