The documentary Fed Up, executive produced by Katie Couric and Laurie David, focuses on the growing link between added sugar and obesity in adults and children. The film features top food specialists such as Michael Pollan and Robert Lustig, who illustrate how the food industry’s proposed initiatives to combat obesity create problems for the general public. According to the film, sugar is single-handedly responsible for obesity, which has become a public health epidemic in the country. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Congress, and the Department of Agriculture have colluded with manufacturing food industries leading to policies that seek to increase profits instead of caring for citizens’ health.
The US government pyramid of healthy eating includes; low fat, low carb, and high protein dieting has come under scrutiny due to rising diabetes, heart diseases, and lipid problems related to sugar intake. The American Heart Association recommends a daily allowance of added sugar of six to nine teaspoons (Sacks, Lichtenstein, Wu, Appel, Creager, Kris-Etherton, and Stone, 2017).). However, since 1977, Americans have doubled their daily intake of sugar, and by 2050, one-third of the population will be obese. This is due to the intake of highly addictive processed foods, which contain high amounts of sugar. There are 600,000 different food items in American stores, with 80% of them have added sugar, thus increasing the likelihood of surpassing sugar intake’s daily limit.
The food industry has consistently lobbied against the claims their products cause obesity by branding the sugar ingredient with buttered syrup, caramel, and high fructose corn syrup alternatives. All calories are not created equal; thus, the food experts recommend natural sugar from fruits since it contains fiber, which slows digestion and maintains the sugar levels at an optimum. Michael Pollan also recommends that the best way to reduce sugar intake is by cooking what you eat to reduce added sugar intake in junk food.
