We’re treating illness instead of preventing it.
There should be a clear message from the government - no cryptic food pyramid- with clear and prominent warning labels and signs in the grocery store and at food service businesses. We should require a food health rating system, such as the European Nutri-Score food health grading system that uses a letter and color scale to help consumers understand a product’s nutritional value. The score should be required to be printed in a size greater than the largest font size used, and displayed on all sides of the packaging and also on restaurant menus.
As a physician I’ve seen that much of the poor health experienced by my patients is due to poor lifestyle choices. I feel that the worlds of medicine and government public health efforts are both missing the forest for the trees. It’s very clear that many very bad changes occurred during the past few decades (1960’s 13% obese, 0.9% severely obese) and now (42+% obese, 9+% severely obese). The issue is multifactorial. One cause is worsening nutrition with increased consumption of ultra-processed foods. Another is a decrease in physical activity. And a third big category is environmental factors.
It’s sad that so much money and effort is being wasted on band-aids such as type-2 diabetes meds, cholesterol lowering meds, hypertension meds, and weight loss meds- to treat conditions caused by the obesity epidemic. Let’s practice preventive medicine- it’s cheaper and more effective than treating the illness.