Key Messages
Uncovering The Lies Behind Big Food: How Corporations Trick Americans Into Eating Toxic Additives, Lethal Doses Of Sugar, And Untested Chemicals
In Feeding You Lies, Vani Hari takes an in-depth look into the American food industry and offers an illuminating exposition of its ills.
She reveals that despite the US being one of the world’s most affluent countries, it is ranked last for health outcomes among 16 other developed nations.
The culprit? Big Food – the conglomerate of huge, multinational corporations such as Nestlé and Monsanto that Market their toxic and unhealthy products to Americans every day.
Their products are packed with unhealthy additives and added sugar, some containing untested chemicals, while still claiming to be beneficial to our health.
Furthermore, even cheaper ‘low-calorie’ alternatives often don’t offer any more nutritional benefits than full-calorie options; parents have been duped into buying sugary cereal products for their kids; and organic foods are often overlooked in favor of cheaper mass-produced alternatives.
Feeding You Lies sheds light on these problems from an admirable perspective – well worth a read!
America’S Obesity Crisis: Being Driven By Big Soda’S Wrongful Influence
The US is in the grips of a full-blown obesity epidemic, and soda has been identified as one of its major drivers.
Studies have consistently linked heavy soda consumption to serious health issues such as Type 2 diabetes, kidney disease, liver disease, and asthma.
But rather than taking responsibility for their products’ dangers, beverage manufacturers have ramped up manipulation tactics instead.
The American Beverage Association (ABA) is actively trying to stop public health experts from warning consumers about the risks associated with sugary drinks.
They’ve also offered up a calorie-counting app – “Work It Out” – to help boost sales of Diet Coke and Coke Zero.
Ironically, these diet sodas are just as dangerous and fattening as regular ones!
Big soda is so powerful that they’re even influencing legislation – the ABA and their allies (such as the Sugar Association) have spent millions on battles against sugar taxes and product warning labels since 2009.
What’s worse is that government departments actually invite these organizations in for policy consultations!
How Big Food Manipulates Research To Advance Unhealthy Diets
Big Food has long been manipulating research and public perception to suit its own needs.
One of the clearest cases of this involves Frederick Stare, the chairman of Harvard University’s Department of Nutrition in the 1950s, who took payments from Coca-Cola and Kellogg’s—even General Foods paid for a new building for his department.
The evidence that Big Food alters research findings to influence public opinion is undeniable.
Doctor Lenard Lesser found that research funded by large food corporations was four to eight times more likely to be favorable than independent studies.
Evidence exists that even prestigious universities are not immune from the corrupting influence of Big Food, as evidenced by a 1967 New England Journal of Medicine article which concluded that replacing fat with carbohydrates (e.g., sugar) was the best diet for a healthy heart—the three authors were later found to have been paid the equivalent of $50,000 by a sugar industry trade association.
This proves just how far Big Food is willing to go to manipulate scientific findings and control consumer opinion on what is “healthy.”
Organic Food: A Safer, More Nutritious Alternative To Non-Organic Pesticide Laden Food
Organic food is increasingly becoming the go-to choice for more and more Americans, and it’s no wonder why: research has found that organic produce can offer more vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants than their non-organic alternatives – all while being free from toxic pesticides.
This kind of evidence isn’t lost on Big Food corporations like Monsanto, who make billions of dollars off their pesticide sales.
In stark contrast to the hundreds upon hundreds of synthetic pesticides used by the non-organic industry, organic farms in the US are only allowed to use 25 pesticides that have been approved by the USDA.
This difference alone makes organic food not just healthier but safer!
Evidence suggests that consuming foods with so many potentially harmful trace chemicals can be linked to a variety of negative health outcomes such as ADHD, cancer, diabetes, and allergies.
All this goes a long way in explaining why Big Food works so hard to convince consumers not to purchase organic products whenever possible – because if consumers knew about these benefits and started buying them en masse instead, then Big Food would be missing out on a huge piece of the pie.
Thus why they fund front groups made up of influential people from different sectors such as farmers and nutritionists who try to spread propaganda against any studies suggesting that organic produce is healthier for us than traditional processed food.
The U.S. Food And Drug Administration Is Toothless In Regulating The American Food Industry
Food labeling in the United States can be very misleading and often it is difficult for consumers to make well-informed decisions about what products to purchase.
The organization responsible for ensuring food safety, the FDA, is largely toothless when it comes to preventing companies from using unhealthy ingredients in their products.
Companies are essentially allowed to self-regulate when it comes to deeming a substance as generally recognized as safe (GRAS), meaning that 10,000 additives can be used without FDA approval or regulation.
There are also 1,000 chemicals that have not even been tested by the FDA and may not be safe at all.
Furthermore, deceptive wording on food labels may cause consumers to believe they are purchasing one thing when they are actually getting another – such as Starbucks’ “lightly sweetened” Chai Tea Latte that contains 31 grams of sugar!
Moreover, the word natural does not always mean free of artificial additives since 100 or more chemicals derived from plants and animals are legally allowed under this term with no requirement of disclosure.
Unfortunately, companies can also mask dangerous ingredients under ambiguous terms like “Castoreum”, which is literally a secretion from a beaver’s anal glands!
Nevertheless, these misleading labels wouldn’t be possible if regulatory authorities actually had teeth and held companies accountable for their claims.
Don’T Let Food Marketing Tricks Fool You: Know What’s Good For Your Health And Well-Being
When manufacturers market their food as “free from ingredient X,” it doesn’t necessarily make the product any healthier.
Despite being “free from” something, these products can still be harmful if they’re loaded with artificial and unhealthy components.
The diet industry is a prime example of this – marketers often state that their products are “low-calorie” or “fat-free.” The reality, however, is that both types of diets can still lead to weight gain and cause serious health issues.
This is because many “diet” foods contain zero or low-calorie sweeteners like aspartame which have been linked to metabolic syndrome by an increase of 34%.
There are also refined sugars such as corn syrup in these foods containing cellulose which can cause digestive problems and more weight gain.
What’s worse, these diets can easily become a vicious cycle where people attempt to lose weight yet end up gaining more as a result.
Meanwhile, Big Food companies try to convince customers about the benefits of nutrient-enriched products like breakfast cereals for kids.
Sure, they may boast about vitamins and minerals on the label but the harm from sugar and other additives overshadows those minor gains.
Even drinks advertised as healthy such as Vitaminwater have large amounts of sugar at 32 g per bottle despite heavier investment in synthetic vitamins instead of naturally-occurring ones doing little good.
Wrap Up
The “Feeding You Lies” book offers a clear and concise summary of the issues with Big Food and its power to deceive.
This multibillion-dollar industry makes claims that their processed products are good for us, but it is making us sick in real life.
From hiding unhealthy additives on ingredients lists, to promoting toxic chemicals as safe for consumption – Big Food uses every trick possible to make sure poison ends up on our kitchen tables.
To avoid all this, the “Feeding You Lies” book offers actionable advice on how to begin removing these poisons from your diet.
It recommends cutting back on soda gradually rather than quitting cold-turkey as most sodas contain addictive properties which make them hard to quit outright.
Start by reducing your intake of soda by a quarter this week then another quarter each week until you’re soda-free and feeling better!
