Obesity and corporate greed | DW Documentary

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the obesity epidemic is the most

important international health problem

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by 2030 half the world will be obese or

overweight this is a disaster

it's a man-made tragedy

earlier in my life

i thought that my weight was all my

fault

i felt like a failure

and frankly unworthy

and it took me a while to

really start questioning those beliefs

and challenging those thoughts like well

are you really a failure

and the answer is no i'm not

i'm not

but it took a while to get to that point

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obesity

a blob of our eras fantasies caught in a

web of prejudice

it prompts scolding for poor choices and

accusations of laziness

omnipotent genes provide an

alibi but what if obesity were a

collective failure not an individual one

the symptom of a free market that hates

fat but produces fatsos

an obesogenic society

it's a global phenomenon not one country

has halted it

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right now there are two billion people

adults and children who are overweight

or obese

this doesn't happen by magic it takes

work and you need to look at who it is

is driving that process

in the first years of the 21st century

western countries declared war on

obesity

to no avail

experts estimate that by 2030 there will

be 250 million obese children in the

world

have our governments taken the right

tack

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at least two-thirds of men and women in

the uk are overweight

and the rates are still climbing

obesity has life-changing impact on the

body and can slowly lower your quality

of life

according to the messages spread far and

wide we alone are to blame for our

weight

fat people are simply gluttons unable to

control their appetites

you have a choice

make the change

we are told it's up to us

but is it really

for me

the most difficult stigma to cope with

is this idea that that people

have

no willpower

the people in larger bodies people with

obesity don't have a willpower or else

they

wouldn't carry excess weight

because we're told so often that that's

all it takes to lose weight go to the

gym follow this diet program

you know if you just stick to it you'll

get there

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public health officials were sure that a

little personal willpower was all it

would take to slay obesity

eat less exercise more became the mantra

of the 2000s

it would go around the world

so let's start moving let's start

pushing twisting climbing and raising

the roof

let's start moving more every day for 30

minutes or 60 and if you feel like

stopping you can always start back up

let's start moving it's so easy for us

to look at a lean person and say ah they

have such willpower they're so moral and

strong and then look at someone with a

weight problem and attribute all these

negative traits oh they're just weak

they don't have willpower it's not at

the individual level it's not individual

willpower and if we go on believing that

we'll never change this obesity epidemic

hey everybody you know getting active

every day helps us all be healthy and

feel great

the same old earnest advice about

exercise is proffered with the best

intentions

in 2010 michelle obama launched a

campaign against child obesity

the first lady lent her sassy sachet to

move your body

aiming to set healthier standards for

food served in school lunchrooms

we send our kids to school

we have a right to expect that they

won't be eating the kind of

fatty salty sugary foods that we're

trying to keep from them when they're at

home unfortunately you know michelle

obama was on the right track right from

the beginning and then i think she got

derailed by a mixture of bad advisors

and

by bringing in the food the food

companies and they were able to dilute

her very powerful message down to

something where you know it's just her

on television encouraging people to to

move that way rather than let's move

together uh you know as a movement uh to

be able to transform the food system

became move more

beyonce easily upstaged the public

service message

a boon to the multinationals who quickly

joined the dance in 2015 coca-cola

created the global energy balance

network a worldwide think tank dedicated

to solving the obesity problem

guess how

by promoting exercise

most of the focus in the popular media

and in the scientific press is though

they're eating too much eating too much

eating too much blaming fast food

blaming sugary drinks and so on and

there's really

virtually no compelling evidence that

that in fact is a cause

professor steve blair is one of the head

researchers recruited for the network

he's a specialist in

physical exercise

but maybe the reason they're eating more

calories than they need

is because they're not burning many so

we need to be in balance in just a few

years due to this campaign spearheaded

by coca-cola lack of exercise has become

central to the question of obesity

whereas it is based on a theory that was

pulled out of a hat to defend the

corporation's product and private

interest

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here's how that translates into

marketing language

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the industry has been focused

on the story of calories and calories

out

you can drink what you want just go

go on a jog

and work off your calories

well we know that actually is not true

that's not the true story

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allegedly to avoid weight gain we would

simply have to burn the same number of

calories as we eat

the theory sounds logical

unfortunately it is untrue

physical exercise actually plays a minor

role in weight control

you have to jog for one hour to

eliminate a hamburger

a pizza though requires over two hours

of running

if you look at it from a calorie

perspective that is fat accumulation

equals sort of calories in minus

calories out and they say well that's

always true because if you look at from

from a physics perspective that is

always true but the problem is that

that's physics and we're dealing with

human physiology and it really has

nothing to do with each other

i think we should take the focus off of

calories

yes you can eat less and lose weight for

a short while but your body will fight

back

and over the long term we know that

metabolism is stronger than willpower

all right

if individual willpower is not to blame

what caused the steep rise in the

obesity curve starting in the 1980s

so what's the difference between 1970

and 2019.

well i don't think it's the basic

biology of the person but it's something

to do with the way that we eat both the

types of food and the frequency of the

foods that we eat

in 40 years our eating habits have

undergone a real revolution fomented by

public health policies of the late 1970s

at the time cardiovascular disease was

the grim reaper causing millions of

deaths

the senate special committee on

nutrition is looking into the connection

between diet and heart disease

the sugar lobby succeeded in having a

high fat diet declared guilty a false

verdict that had serious consequences

public health officials recommended that

we reduce our intake of fats grains

touted as cholesterol-free replaced meat

as a staple food

and so eating more bread more rice more

potatoes for example because they're

very low fat and you know eating less

dairy less meat low-fat dairy that kind

of thing that was the standard advice

for so many years and i think that is

the most likely culprit as to why people

have gained weight the u.s government

called on the food industry to market

thousands of processed foods that were

reduced in fat and saturated fat

so if you're the food industry

and you're supposed to reduce fat what

are you going to replace it with

well processed grains

and sugar

agro-industries sleight of hand made the

transition painless

sugar a cheap replacement for fat made

light foods tasty and addictive

chemists went to work extruding

ingredients

supermarket shelves filled with

attractively packaged starches

reprocessed as bread corn flakes and

convenience foods

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eating excessive sugar causes deep

dysfunctions inside our bodies

starting with the hormone imbalance

when you eat certain hormones go up and

the main hormone that's involved in

energy metabolism is insulin

insulin determines whether the calories

we eat get burned

or get stored as fat

glucose sugar that is

fuels nearly all living cells

when we eat our pancreas secretes

insulin

and this insulin is what transports

sugar to our cells

when our diets are heavy in foods that

are starchy and sweet like processed

foods in fact our insulin levels are

constantly high

with too much insulin

our fat cells

the fat tissue in our body

takes up too many calories and holds on

to them so there aren't enough calories

for the rest of the body there aren't

enough calories for the muscle for the

organs in the brain

and that's why we get hungry

so these highly processed foods

fast foods sugary beverages

junk foods that we're snacking on

they digest very quickly but they don't

provide much satiety so it's these

processed carbohydrates that drive

weight gain

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despite the negative impact these ultra

processed foods have on our metabolism

nothing has stopped their spread

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it's profitable to sell food that is

fatty and sugary and salty and addictive

it's much less profitable uh to sell um

food that is wholesome that is high in

fiber

and is

minimally processed so what's driving

the obesity epidemic it's corporate

profit

this dietary revolution has fathered

empires

nestle

unilever coca-cola kellogg's pepsico

currently a handful of huge corporations

own nearly every brand of food

together they pull in 500 billion

dollars in annual sales and have taken

control of our dinner plates

food

is a huge sector of our society it's not

only the food companies it's not just

the nestle's and dan ohms and cokes and

pepsi it's the food retailers it's the

walmarts and car reforms it's the

agri-businesses that are huge that

control all the supplies of commodities

and then it's also the marketers it's

all the advertisers making money from

marketing junk food and beverages to

people so we're talking about a massive

massive

component of our society is focused on

selling

the world unhealthy

foods and beverages

the food multinationals have a secret

weapon

price

the products they sell are up to 60

percent cheaper than fresh foods

the shoppers with the smallest budgets

stock up

these low-income consumers sitting ducks

are the primary victims of the system

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the food industry says it's your fault

but the reality is they've changed the

whole food environment

they've created a food environment where

every place you turn if it's on your

smartphone if it's on seeing a billboard

if it's seeing any kind of advertisement

if it's watching television or movies

you see their junk food being pushed

the manipulation starts with the

children

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scientific studies show there is a

direct link between the ads children see

and the types of food they like to eat

the world health organization recommends

regulating food commercials on tv

but the industry is ingenuous

it infiltrates new areas like social

networks or online games

slick marketing hides the fact that junk

food causes one of the most devastating

diseases that exists diabetes

today it kills one person every six

seconds around the world

25 years ago if i told you that i have

an 18 year old

patient in my clinic with type 2

diabetes you would have said oh my gosh

it's incredible it's so rare it's so

strained

now it's very commonplace that young

people children have type 2 diabetes

we're like fighting a war

at home

it's heartbreaking it's unfair it's

unjust

people are making money off of this

suffering

it's preventable

it's

it's dehumanizing

to ignore it it's inhumane to ignore it

[Applause]

one of every two african-american

children will develop diabetes

one of every five african-american

children is obese

the rate is even higher among hispanics

a young woman spoke out

and triggered a rebellion

we eat

like we still slaves

yesterday i decided to write down some

ingredients in my day-to-day diet

first there was a million things i could

not pronounce

and then there was sugar flour

sugar hydrogenated oils high fructose

corn syrup whey powder high fructose

corn syrup sugar die yellow 40 diet ram

52

die

i heard a young woman

who was 16 at the time and

she performed a poem

that even now he amazed the made the

hair on my

arm stand up

and for the first time i saw a young

person

describing

the obesity and diabetes epidemic as a

social

problem

and i realized that she in a way is a

much more effective messenger

than i ever could be it's like brother

christopher having juvenile diabetes

that five it's like damn

it's like

suicide

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dean schillinger is coordinating the

energy

his non-profit youth speaks holds

writing workshops for young people in

the bay area

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he wants to use rap and spoken word to

raise consciousness and thwart food

industry propaganda

this idea that they were being lied to

that's what inspired them to become

change agents that's what turned their

palm from being a piece of art into a

weapon

armed with talent and a video camera

they launched an awareness campaign

called the bigger picture

so for me each one of those films is a

stone

that we were throwing at

um

at the water and trying to see which one

could make the biggest wave

i went to roosevelt middle school

my daily routine was to wake up hungry

walked to the bus stop passed mcdonald's

the liquor stores passed popeyes pass

the first burger king that's the 38 to

the second burger king order my favorite

round hash browns and watch the young

brown bodies drool

and i don't know if we love burger king

or just love not being hungry

written and performed chiefly by young

hispanics and african americans the

videos garnered over a million views on

youtube

[Applause]

meanwhile three thousand miles away on

the east coast another activist has

risen up and commandeered a podium to

tell a community it is being decimated

and how

this is a crisis in our community and

for me it's a crisis because i'm finding

that i'm losing more people to sweets

than i am to the streets

and i'm losing more people to diet

related issues than i am to the streets

to gun violence this is an epidemic and

one that i'm deeply concerned about

in his combat against this evil reverend

coates is not inhibited by the

conventions associated with his calling

now in this can of soda pop

right

there are 39

grams of sugar

39 grams of sugar in one can of soda

now how many teaspoons of sugar is that

anyone know how

almost 10 teaspoons of sugar so i say

well i want to see how much that is

and maybe a half

this is how much sugar

is in just one drink

right

and our children are getting

pre-diabetic by the ages of nine and ten

borderline diabetes by the time they're

13 years old

and we are sabotaging an entire

generation of our people because

of sugar pastor william lamore and

delman coates at mount inan baptist

church in clinton maryland are suing

coca-cola and the american beverage

association

all right let's do this

the war had moved to the courtroom

delman codes dared to sick the law on

the coca-cola corporation

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we know that the consumption of sugar in

these products exceed the american

heart association what are you asking

for from coca-cola what do you want this

company we want coca-cola to end their

deceptive marketing practices they have

spent 120 million dollars in five years

between 2010 and 2015

falsely advertising their product

the multinational retaliated by accusing

the pastors of freedom of speech

violations

and after suing for legal expenses a

threat worth several million dollars

coca-cola now demands that the case be

dropped

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coca-cola statement

the allegations here are likewise

legally and factually meritless and we

will vigorously defend against them

the allegations are that coca-cola

misled consumers about

the science of sugar-sweetened beverages

because several of their

executives went out in the press and

made statements like there is no link

between sugar sweetened beverages and

diabetes and we know that is not the

case

for over 20 years the soft drink

industry has denied any link between its

products and disease

to maintain the illusion it employs all

sorts of methods

since 2015 coca leaks has revealed that

the lobby puts pressure on journalists

keeps discredit on studies it dislikes

finances favorable research and hobnobs

with political leaders

to ensure these results contact was

established within the senate we will

actively campaign to register that a

soft drink tax is discriminatory

regressive and will not address the

challenge of obesity we have

commissioned the economic institute to

complete a study which will prove

inefficiency of such tax it will be

ready in 15 days which will give us

another tool to communicate both to the

media and to avoid it gains ground

within the party

appointed to serve as scientific expert

by the city and county of san francisco

dean schillinger must untangle the truth

from falsehood

when we did the analysis of these

studies we found that every study that

found that there was no association

between sugary beverage consumption and

obesity and diabetes was funded in some

way by the industry

whereas among all the studies that found

that there was an association between

the consumption of soda

and sugary beverages and obesity

diabetes except for one were

independently funded

so we now know and there's other

evidence that industry has been

um

influencing very deeply the medical and

scientific establishment

to create

controversy

over

the question of whether their products

cause disease

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the junk food industry is cornered

all over the globe activists are

demanding tighter legislation to protect

consumers

the battle has now become political

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in the 30 years since warning labels and

other forms of regulation were placed on

tobacco

over one billion lives have been saved

i'd say that's a pretty good day at the

office for people who make policy

malia cohen and one of her fellow

supervisors have made san francisco the

first u.s city to declare war on sugary

sodas

when people realize how much sugar they

are consuming in one can of soda

they stop and they think

so we had testimony right here in this

chamber

of doctors of nurses of researchers that

talk to us about the effects of sugar

in our body and it was through these

ongoing dialogues for years that we came

up with an idea to begin to tax sugary

beverages

imposing attacks is virtually

revolutionary in the united states

the industry raged

its ads pitched the line that the

government was interfering with grocery

shoppers

the beverage the sugary beverage

industry came out they hired lawyers

they hired lobbyists they found people

within the community to come out and say

please don't tell us what to eat or what

to drink this is not a nanny state we

want to make decisions on our own they

spent millions of dollars as a matter of

fact they outspent us almost six to one

give me a break i can decide what to buy

without government help the government

is just getting too involved in our

personal lives tell the candidates

government needs to trim its but public

health advocates were able to mobilize

citizen protests against the

recalcitrant industry we're going to win

this battle doctors and politicians

lining up outside of san francisco city

hall framing the sugar sweetened

beverage debate as the people versus big

soda we no longer can sit back

and let the big soda industry target and

hurt our community

the tax was finally voted in

but the victory was bitter

when san francisco moved to require help

warnings on soda containers like the

ones on cigarettes the soft drink lobby

sued once again and won on appeal

the warning labels were shelved

the same method had been used in new

york city when mayor michael bloomberg

suggested a law limiting the size of

jumbo sodas sold in restaurants

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bloomberg was mocked as a scolding nanny

and the courts ruled in the industry's

favor

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in this face-off between corporate

freedom and consumer protection

freedom once again seemed to be the

private property of the most powerful

i represent a part of san francisco

that

was

immigrant people people who speak

english as a second language people who

live in

subsidized housing public housing

tenements

and the one thing that we all had in

common was that we were dying from

preventable diseases

dying

and

you know

that was just really hard to accept

and

it seemed like

people didn't care

the industry didn't care they continued

to target

their money

and their resources

to get people addicted

so that

they become wealthier

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we've sweetened the world's diet because

the markets no longer were growing in

europe in the u.s so coke and pepsi and

all the clones all the local companies

that do the same thing exploded in

marketing in low and middle income

countries

mexico was the first country to be

colonized by these agribusiness

conquerors

today

73

of the population is obese or overweight

10 have diabetes which has become the

primary cause of death

the attention of the whole world focused

on mexico to figure out why the rate of

obesity and overweight had soared

the sugar imperialists attacked one of

mexico's greatest treasures its cuisine

valued by unesco as part of our world

heritage

the consumption of fruits and vegetables

dropped by 30 percent consumption of

beans has fallen by 50

in 20 years

in 14 years consumption of sweetened

beverages has grown by 40 percent

in mexico in mexico

there are one and a half million places

to buy soft drinks and junk food

for public health it's a criminal

situation

each mexican drinks a whopping 144

quarts of soda per year on the average a

world record

in a country that elected a former

coca-cola executive to the presidency

challenging the food industry might

appear to be impossible

but not for alejandro caldio

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here we are in front of the ministry of

health with a frankenstein symbolizing

the monstrous obesity prevention policy

created in collusion with the junk food

and soft drink industries

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head of a small consumer advocacy group

alejandro calido organized the

resistance

he found a precious ally within the

health ministry itself

simon baquera a researcher in nutrition

two different visions are at war one is

public interest health policy and the

other is economic interest who is going

to win

us

because we're right

it took 11 years of fierce struggle

battling sensors who rejected clip after

clip before the researcher and the

activist finally succeeded in taxing

sodas and junk food in mexico

it was the first soda tax in north

america

the tax was really effective because in

the two years that followed consumption

of sweetened beverages fell

mexico had been the world's largest

consumer of soft drinks and it went down

to fourth place

encouraged by the success of the tax

twenty associations joined the effort

led by calvillo and barcara they

demanded a nutritional labeling system

and they also hoped to raise the tax

from 10 to 20 percent

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apparently these demands were

unacceptable to mysterious nameless

opponents

i got a message on my mobile

a text with a link

i understood it as a death threat

your daughter and they cited her name

has had an automobile accident and she

is at the hospital in critical condition

for further information

click here

simon your daughter has just had an

accident it is very serious come quickly

she has been taken here

police are still trying to identify the

suspect who sent these threatening texts

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we live in paradoxical times although

merchandise can easily cross borders

endangering local producers

and junk food is conquering the world

barriers are raised to keep human beings

out

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the revolution came from a country at

america's southern tip chile

despite the fact that for 30 years it

has been the darling of free market

enthusiasts

the anti-obesity movement is led by a

senator

for years he has been fighting to

dislodge his people from their rank as

third worldwide in overweight and

obesity

i was called the devil in one newspaper

editorial

a devil persecuting those poor

corporations

they have tried to discredit us they

have threatened us and assaulted us

but if we were not intimidated by

pinochet we will not be intimidated by

the multinationals no matter how

powerful they may be

in the past several years senator guido

girardi a former pediatrician has

attracted the industry's ire

he has been a fearless crusader in

public health protection

first he braved billionaire president

sebastian pinera's official veto

then he had to overcome the industry's

campaign to denigrate him

finally the law passed in 2016.

it was the type of bomb agribusiness

dreads most

the first right we gained with this law

is the right to know

we created labels that tell you at a

glance whether the product contains

excessive sugar salt fat or calories

in seconds you're informed

we wanted something a six-year-old child

could understand

products that bear a warning label are

banned from television commercials

because we refuse to have trash

advertised on television they are also

banned from online advertising they

cannot contain toys or stickers they are

banned from using their sneaky ways to

grab children's attention

fraudulent advertising violates the

human rights of children and all the

united nations treaties that are

supposed to defend children's rights and

health

we accuse these corporations of

pedophilia because they abuse children

that is why i've had extremely violent

conflicts with some of them

the industry argued that the legislation

would be ineffective and would penalize

the poor

but only two years after it went into

effect a virtuous circle formed

the good news is that many of the

products we thought it would be

impossible to reformulate because the

industry told us that it was technically

impossible

are now made with less sodium and less

sugar

the industry itself says that 20 of its

products have been reformulated

for certain categories of products the

improvement is even greater

from this viewpoint it really is a

success

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in that same 18 months we saw a 25

reduction in purchases of sugary

beverages in chile

that's unprecedented and we're seeing

large reductions in all the

ultra-processed junk foods as well

that is the first time we've seen the

glimmer of a country that might change

the norms toward healthy eating

the chilean food revolution has inspired

action in neighboring countries peru has

instituted the same labels and uruguay

is about to do so and dramatically

mexico is joining them

its new president and congress have just

passed new legislation requiring the

same kind of labeling as chile

on the other side of the atlantic the

contrast is striking

europe's nutriscore labeling is fairly

timid compared to the black labels in

chile

only a few countries have adopted it and

it is not even mandatory

[Music]

back in 2010 and 2011 the european union

debated instituting a clear mandatory

labeling system

of course the corporations opposed the

measure by their own admission they

spent over 1 billion euros lobbying to

remove the mandatory stipulation

[Music]

another winning strategy for corporate

interests in germany has been to play

the role of allies in the fight against

obesity

this commercial produced by a

supermarket chain

promises a commitment to promoting

healthy foods to help children make

their dreams come true

but is it really wise to trust the

industry

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a wave of overweight and obesity the

size of a tsunami is headed for germany

but politicians refuse to admit it

it is hard to understand how such a

highly developed country can be so

backward when it comes to prevention

but the corporate lobbies are extremely

powerful in germany

even today economic interest is

invariably a higher priority than public

health

the german government counts on the

industry's ability to regulate itself

it does not impose either taxes on

sugary beverages or restrictions on

advertising

[Music]

it is estimated that by 2040 about 12

million germans will have diabetes this

is tragic

the challenges of our times are

clustered in obesity

an explosion of chronic diseases

endangers health care systems

market leviathans limit action on

government policy

capital intensive agriculture drives the

junk food juggernaut

[Music]

the whole sugar peddling mass market

food industry wants to addict us to

cheap empty calories that lead to

chronic disease

let's refuse to obey

[Music]

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you