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Junk food titans fight for harm dominance 

August 22, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

Here is a shopping list for you:

“Sugar, glucose syrup, skimmed milk powder, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, sunflower oil, milk fat, lactose and protein from whey (from milk), whey powder (from milk), palm fat, fat reduced cocoa, barley malt, natural vanilla extract, milk chocolate contains milk solids 14% minimum.

Plus, please note: milk chocolate contains vegetable fats in addition to cocoa butter.

And the nutrition information per portion of 51g: Energy 228kcal (11%)/ Fat 8.5g (12%) of which Saturates are 4.1g (21%), Carbohydrate 35.3g (13%), Sugars 30.5g (34%), Protein 2.2g (4%), Salt 0.21g (4%) *Reference intake of an average adult (2000kcal).” 

All that is the ingredients and “nutritional” information about a Mars Bar. Sugar and various oils can not be the base of a nutritionally healthy diet and yet, since the 1950s, we have become more addicted to them in the quantity of junk food we ingest. 

Snacking is very big news nowadays, In a deal expected to close in the first half of next year, according to the Financial Post, Mars (as above) is to purchase Kellanova Company for nearly US$36 Billion, in the “largest package-food deal in nearly a decade.” Regarded too as “bringing together two major food companies in one of the biggest deals of the year.”

In what is being called “the snack culture,” the worry over increasing obesity in adults and serious overweight even for children predicts future health problems that a stable and sensible diet would prevent. One in three Canadian adults (30%) has reached an overweight level to obesity and the fact of obesity in children and youth has trebled in the last 30 years. The health perils of obesity for diabetes, heart disease, breathing problems, and risks to bones and joints are accentuated, especially for children. Childhood obesity can be a life sentence, so to speak, of continuing to be obese into adulthood; it can be a child’s life-long plight if not addressed and, even better, prevented by eating better. 

We are not saving money by eating at McDonalds and we are eating poorly when we take our children there. If, as it seems, our suffering such a high cost of living can be largely attributed to the untethered gouging of grocery store magnates and the outrage at the gas pumps, we need to re-think how we shop and how we drive. 

Meat has shot up in price but frozen fish can be less expensive and a good choice of protein. Beans and legumes are other alternatives to meat at less cost and can be made into wonderful dishes that include plenty of vegetables. They provide protein, potassium and fibre and are more filling and satisfying than meat. An apple a day, as the old saying was, “keeps the doctor away,” has some truth to it. 

The ads encouraging us all to eat snack food that is basically only edible fats and sugar do not display the consequences of overconsuming them. They don’t advise moderation to the happy folk on the screen, with such broad smiles and perfect teeth as they munch. They are slim and active. Actually, the problem with advising moderation is the more-ishness of the snacks themselves. They are tasty, all that salt and fat, almost addictive, as though they contain something that makes us long for them. 

Medics and scientists have been warning against them, how bad they are for us and especially for our children for a long time. Here I am banging on the same drum, calling out the same warnings. Like talking about the suffering environment, the hurricane quality dangers of Highway 413 and corporate greed. Are we just voices in the wilderness with long cloaks and wild hair? 

By the bye, as for driving: to spend less on gas, keep your motor well tuned and slow down. The sometimes crazy driving one sees consumes more fuel. Arriving a little later saves money.

A little sanity would be a wondrous thing. Recently, I was listening to my favourite radio show, Quirks and Quarks, a science-based interview show on CBC. A planet scientist was talking about the latest spacecraft, having been sent on a journey to one of Jupiter’s moons, where there is evidence of water. Listen, I tried to find the specifics, the name of the scientist and the details of the story of how a planet’s gravity can slingshot a craft onward to its destination and all that is not what was important to me about the interview. 

It was this: she said, “What we do know is that Earth is unique in what we have explored in space. It is the only planet that can sustain life. For that, it is unique.”

Made me want to weep. A paradise, unique in at least this part of the universe, a planet so vibrantly verdant-filled with life and miracles everywhere. Ours to live in – given to us free of charge – all we had to do was take care of it.

And all we have done is suck it and poison it nearly to death. So, why should I expect us to care any better for our children?


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