Mickey Lolich

Mickey Lolich, a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers in the late ‘60’s, was once asked if he owned a restaurant what would he name it.  He said that he’d call it The Upper Deck, because that was where so many of his pitches landed. 

Taking my cue from Lolich (he did win three games in the ’68 World Series) I’d name my restaurant, The Screaming Fat Cell.  I would cater to folks who were giving up on their diets.  I’ve got some experience in this area as my weight and fitness have yo-yoed between gawdawful and almost acceptable over the last thirty years. Maintaining “almost acceptable” for any length of time can’t be counted as one of my accomplishments.

It’s difficult to pick up a paper or news magazine or watch television without finding an article on nutrition, dieting, obesity or morbid obesity. 

Nearly 60 percent of adults and more than 15 percent of our youth are at least 20 pounds overweight.  The medical community is reporting an alarming increase in high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes cases in pre-teen children.  A Harvard School of Public Health poll shows that half of us feel that obesity is a “private matter” and half of us think that it is a “public health issue that society needs to help solve.”

Most of us will concede that the foods we eat affect our weight, fitness and how we are able to live our lives. Yet, until 15 years ago courses on nutrition and diet and their relationship to health weren’t part of an American medical school curriculum. The emphasis was on treating a problem rather than preventing it.

When two teenagers brought a suit against McDonald’s claiming that the fast food chain was responsible for their obesity, my initial reaction was one of disbelief. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? Still, obesity has reached epidemic proportions and our society is paying a price in lost production, medical bills and higher insurance rates. The obese and those who care about them also bear a very real emotional and psychological burden. 

Powerful lobbying groups skillfully represent the beverage and snack food manufacturers. The federal government grants agricultural subsidies to the tune of $20 billion a year.   More than a quarter of this goes to subsidize growing corn. Precious little money comes from Washington to encourage the growing of other vegetables and fruit. Because corn is supported, it’s a very inexpensive raw material for the beverage and snack food industry. Americans consume three times as much corn in the form of corn sweeteners as they do in any other form. Sugar and soybeans (margarine and cooking oils) are heavily subsidized as well. Naturally, the agricultural, beverage and snack food interests affected are major contributors to the election campaigns of entrenched politicians.

What’s going to happen next?  Plenty, and its already started. Advocates for better nutrition are patterning their campaign for improved diets and better health just as the anti-smoking forces targeted the tobacco industry.  They first sought to raise awareness and then concentrated on the effect that smoking had on our youth. Remember Joe Camel?

Next, came the campaign on the effect of second-hand smoke.  We learned that even if we didn’t smoke we were still at risk. When smoking reached critical mass as a public health issue things began to change.  We now have product-warning labels, advertising is restricted and taxes have been raised substantially to help offset the projected risks incurred by smokers.

The advocates for better diet and nutrition have done a commendable job of raising awareness. The McDonald’s case mentioned above received significant coverage and raised consciousness. Though the case was summarily dismissed, the issue has generated attention and fostered serious discussion. Do note that it was teenagers, not adults who brought the suit. The food served in our schools is receiving ever- increasing scrutiny. Interestingly, this happens as school districts are raising needed funds by signing exclusive vending and marketing agreements with beverage and snack food companies.

It is not just the food, but how it is marketed to children and teenagers that concern public health officials.
ABC News recently reported that the food industry spends nearly $12 billion a year to market products to children.  Television gets the lion’s share of this money.  Other countries, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Australia among them, restrict television advertising to children.

I believe we’ll see more involvement on our government’s part.  It won’t come easily. The special interests that benefit so handsomely from the way junk food is produced, marketed and sold are rich, well organized and well connected. But 30 years ago the people who produced, marketed and sold tobacco were rich, well organized and well connected.