A medical review of the documentary Fed Up
Narrated by Katie Couric, Fed Up (2014) is light on medical details but presents a compelling political case for the causes and history of the obesity epidemic. They argue that the concept of “eat less and exercise more” as a means to lose weight started in 1953, creating a billion-dollar fitness industry and handing the food industry a convenient excuse to blame obesity on a lack of exercise rather than unhealthy foods. The 1977 McGovern Report attempted to counter this, predicting that obesity would become the #1 cause of malnutrition due to foods high in saturated fat, cholesterol, and sugar. This could have been a turning point, but the egg, sugar, dairy, and beef associations united to fight it. The results, of course, have been catastrophic.
For example, what we now call type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) used to be called adult-onset diabetes mellitus. Why the name change? In 1980 the number of T2DM cases in adolescents was 0. In 2010 the number of cases ballooned to 57,638. Thanks to the obesity epidemic, T2DM is no longer “adult-onset.”
Further fueling childhood obesity are the toys, cartoons, and TV ads targeting children with fast foods, soft drinks, and processed foods. The documentary compares these to cigarette ads, which fueled increases in smoking rates. But when cigarette ads were removed from TV and print, the result was a striking drop in smoking rates. “Yet we let fast food, processed foods, and soft drink companies do the same thing as the tobacco industry did 30 years ago.”
Tasked with creating dietary guidelines is the USDA, the department initially formed to promote the agriculture business. This has created an obvious conflict of interest. For example, the USDA recommends limits on sugar intake yet has provided over $8 billion in subsidies for corn-based sweeteners since 1995. In fact, on the Nutrition Facts listed on every product, the amount of sugar is listed in grams but does not have a percentage daily value. Why the heck not? Because if we knew, we would be appalled (or maybe we’d cry – there are many reasonable reactions). For adults, the daily goal is no more than 24g. One fruited yogurt cup has 24g. A 12-ounce can of soda has 39g. Just one. Eating a diet involving processed foods, one simply cannot avoid overeating sugar.
There are numerous other examples discussed, each one more depressing than the last. Fast food restaurants operate in many schools. The government helps schools get around their own health regulations meant to protect children by allowing pizza and French fries to count as “vegetables.” This documentary makes a good case that we have ceded the battle for our health to corporate shareholders and their political shills.
The documentarians also spend a fair amount of time talking about Michelle Obama and her Let’s Move initiative. They argue that her initial focus was on eating healthy, but the food industry responded by offering to “help” her by making processed foods “better” and supporting her initiative financially. Accepting their “help” was a savvy political move but a Faustian bargain. Already under fire by critics accusing her of “forcing children to eat their vegetables,” Michelle Obama shifted the focus of her program to promoting exercise, a politically safe topic that circles back to the same misdirection of 1953.
The documentary concludes with actionable suggestions, 3 good and rather one silly:
Warning labels on soft drinks (like we have on cigarettes)
Fast food chains banned from public schools (seriously, how is this even a thing?)
Nutrition labels add a percent daily value to sugar (transparency may well shock people into making healthy choices – no wonder the food industry fights this)
Every time a celebrity sold a soft drink, they also had to pitch a vegetable (yes, this is the silly suggestion, but the images they produce are the only humor in this whole gloomy documentary)
You can go to the Fed Up website to take their Fed Up Challenge and go sugar free for 10 days. If you’re interested in whether you can pull this off and wonder how much better you’ll feel, give it a shot.
Conclusion
While light on medical details, Fed Up makes a compelling political case for how we got to this point and at least a few suggestions about how we can get out of it. Personally, I think waiting for our government to solve this is politically doubtful. Change will come one consumer at a time. Educate yourself and adjust how you eat. Even small modifications like cutting out sodas and fruit drinks and eating more real (not processed) foods can make a significant improvement in your health and weight.
Most sigh-inducing moment: When the beleaguered mother of a morbidly obese child says, “He likes Hot Pockets so I make sure he eats the Lean Hot Pockets instead of the regular ones” as though this will make the slightest difference. Here are the Nutrition Facts comparing Turkey, Ham & Cheese and “lean” Turkey, Ham & low-fat Cheese: calories 300/280, fat 13g/7g, Sodium 740mg/690mg, Sugar 8g/11g, Carbs 37g/43g. Basically, the lean version replaces fat with sugar and drops the calorie count by 20. Both versions are junk food.
Most dispiriting moment: The discussion of how health insurance companies buy stock in fast food companies to “cover their bets.” In financial parlance that is called hedging, in human parlance that is called abandoning hope.
Fed Up is available for streaming on Netflix.
About the Author
David Z Hirsch is the author of the medical novel Didn’t Get Frazzled, described as “unflaggingly funny” by Kirkus Reviews and “the best fictional portrayal of med school since ER” by BlueInk Review (starred review).
He also has a YouTube channel featuring educational videos on common medical conditions.
He is a practicing physician in Maryland and writes under a pen name.
Also check out my other reviews:
A medical review of the documentary What the Heath
A medical review of the documentary Forks Over Knives
A medical review of the documentary Super Size Me
A medical review of the documentary Sugar Coated
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