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Mikayla Markins

Professor Flores

English 1201.B53

24 April 2019

You Are What You Eat

The term “comfort food” has been around in the United States for centuries. Growing up,

my family loved gathering together around the dinner table, meeting at a restaurant for brunch or

enjoying each other’s company over ice cream. Food had become a social activity. Although I

hold this practice dear, I have always struggled with my weight and self-image, especially in

teenage years. In an effort to change my eating habits, I tried several different avenues and even

tried many of the highly marketed “quick fix” solutions. When I realized that these efforts were

not turning out to be what I had imagined, I decided to take the time to research what these “diet

fads” were actually composed of and how they affected my body. This opened Pandora’s Box.

The perfect storm in American culture had come together, a desire for convenience and

an increase in obesity. Food marketing companies have taken full advantage of this. I found

several cases of misleading packaging and began to lose trust not only in the food industry as a

whole, but also in my own ability to make healthy decisions. It left me wondering why is it so

hard to read nutrition labels and see through marketing ploys? It became clear that American

citizens should push for more access to nutrition education and clear, concise labeling because it

will allow the public to take their diet into their own hands, avoid the pitfalls of misleading

labels, and change the temptations of clever marketing.

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Obesity has plagued America for centuries. However, alarm rose in the last two decades

when the amount of obese individuals increased dramatically (Aresnault). In 2015-2016, the

amount of obese citizens of America had reached 39.8% of adults and 18.5% in youth (Hales).

Unfortunately obesity has not become a serious health issue just in the United States. It is

sounding alarms all over the world. The European Commission found in 2012 that 30%-70% of

adults were overweight and 10%-30% were obese (Bonsmann et la). While common causes of

obesity can include but are not limited to: genetics, leptin resistance, medications, insulin levels,

food addiction, food availability, engineered junk foods, sugar, and misinformation, Scientific

Project Manager, Stefan Bonsmann, and team have focused in on the last of these four causes

(“10 Leading Causes of Weight Gain and Obesity”; Bonsamann et la). They reported the

following:

“The 2004 Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health by the World Health

Organization listed nutrition labeling as an important means to meet the consumers’ requirement

for “accurate, standardized and comprehensible information on the content of food items in order

to make healthy choices.” Likewise, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and

Development (OECD) views nutrition labeling as “a main tool for preventing increasing rates of

obesity and unhealthy diets in OECD countries”. European public health professionals and other

stakeholders appear to agree that (mandatory) nutrition labeling is one of the more important

policy options for obesity prevention, but food and health education were also considered

relevant” (Bonsmann et la).

This is also true for Americans. Obesity prevention must start with nutrition education

and food labeling. In order for this to work, the public needs to first learn how to properly read a

nutrition label. It is a common misconception that food labeling is intentionally deceitful. In

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reality, all of the ingredients in all foods have to be presented on the nutrition label. This was per

the Nutrition and Labeling Education Act that was implemented in 1994, which made it

mandatory for all packaged foods to be labeled. The hope was that this would clear up labeling

confusion and help consumers make healthier choices. In summary, the report states the real

problem is that it is reported that only about 48% of consumers use food labels. Because of the

confusion and lack of education on how to read them, half of the population just ignored them

entirely (Arsenault). It is important to teach the public to utilize the information that is given to

better their own health.

Those who have utilized the labels have had success in making healthier choices. Studies

have shown that those who are educated about the effects of certain diet-disease relationships use

labels to avoid intake of those ingredients and in turn successfully make better dietary choices

(Arsenault). Mary Christoph, author and post-doctoral fellow, backs this idea stating “Young

adults who did read Nutrition Facts had better dietary patterns, including eating more fruits,

vegetables, and whole grains” (Who Reads the Nutrition Facts Food Labels?). From this

information, what can determine that what is provided on the label is sufficient for determining

the health profile of foods. What seems to be the issue is that the general public is not educated

or motivated enough and aware of the importance of taking the time to read the label in order to

make better food choices (Bonsmann et la).

The next issue needed to face in order to meet the convenience quota most American

citizens operate from, is the nutrition labels lucidity. These labels need to become more clear and

concise. Traditional nutrition labels are time consuming to read and are often used incorrectly by

heavy marketing (Draper). There is a negative connotation associated with nutrition labels and

ingredients lists in this era. The feeling of stupidity or incompetence floods readers who have no
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idea what sunflower lecithin is or if it is a good or bad thing that it contains 12 grams of fat. The

consumer may become overwhelmed with the information provided and what it means for their

health. They begin to feel small and powerless, embarrassed even.

Fig. 1. Confusion when reading labels creates a smaller than the task feeling (“How to

Read a Food Label”)

The label format also needs to be regulated across the entire food industry as well. The

variety of different formats for nutrition labels confuses and inhibits consumers from using

nutrition labels at all. A study from the UK Food Standards Agency on Front of Pack Labeling

found that when the difficulty of making product comparisons by label rose, the consumer yet

again chose to ignore it entirely. In order for front of package labels, or any labels at all to help

people make healthy decisions, they need to synchronize the nutrition label format to one across

the board (Draper). This would only be possible by government intervention. A standard label

would need to be created and backed by legislation. Whether this label is front of pack, back of
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pack, or another format would need further research to determine which is the most convenient

for consumers.

Continuing with the convenience mentality, it is important for the general public to learn

to see through distracting standard marketing. Marguerite Higgins of the Washington Times

reports that government regulations do not plan on changing the current marketing strategies of

food companies even though they are heavily targeting children. These companies are

developing things such as “advergaming” to continue advertising unhealthy choices to the

modern child. Over the years even the products advertised to children have changed from toys,

games, and cereal to fast food and sweetened drinks. It is common knowledge that chain fast

food restaurants target children with their bright colors, toys, and playgrounds. Many companies

believe it should be the parent’s responsibility to help the child make healthy choices, not the

food companies advertising. In junction with that, many parents see dining out as a treat for their

children and are not concerned with making nutritious choices (No ban on food ads for children).

While children do enjoy this “treat,” Dr. Deborah A. Cohen, MD, MPH, and senior

scientist at RAND Corporation along with other researchers, found that restaurant portion sizes

of a la carte items for kids averaged 147% more calories than what is recommended. Some single

serving items exceed 600 calories, the amount suggested for the child’s whole meal. This

overeating is traced to the rise in obesity. Cohen warns, “The public may want to consider how

they are at a disadvantage to prevent childhood obesity when so many food outlets serve food

quantities that put their children at risk” (Mangan).

Although this study focuses on children, the whole country is falling victim. The

convenience of chain restaurants is simply too high for the majority to resist. A survey compiled

by the National Center for Health Statistics reported that more than 1 in every 3 adults consume
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fast food on any given day. A 2017 study found that 80% of adults eat fast food at least once a

week (Hellmich). These fast food companies often advertise meals containing over 2,000

calories, which is the recommended daily caloric intake! Marketers have done well to make them

appear as a single meal and easily deter consumers from looking at the true content (). It is

assumed that adults have the foreknowledge to avoid advertisements and use the required calorie

postings. This is just not true. They are often found swinging through the drive thru for lack of

time, unaware of the caloric intake of the meal they ordered because it was advertised on the

glowing board.

Fig. 2. A steak burrito meal at Chipotle containing white rice, black beans, corn salsa,

sour cream, and guacamole with a side of guacamole and chips worth 2,045 calories (Johnson)

Not only is the public often unaware of the calorie content of their meals, but when they

are aware they heavily underestimate their values. Researcher of Harvard Medical School and

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Jason Block, reports adults underestimate calories in fast
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food by 20%, parents of school-aged children 23%, and teens by 34%. In this 2011 study, one-

fourth of the 3,400 participants underestimated the calories in their meals by at least 500 calories.

The meals chosen averaged out to be 733 calories for a school aged child, all the way to 836

calories for an adult. When asked to estimate the caloric content of the order, they were short

nearly 200 calories. After concluding this study, Block states, "These large underestimations

show that diners don't really know what they are eating in terms of calorie content, and they need

this information to help guide their choices" (Hellmich). In the midst of Block’s study,

legislation was being put in place to address that very problem. The 2010 Health Care and

Education Affordability Reconciliation Act was implemented, making calorie labeling in

restaurants and vending machines mandatory (Arsenault). Although it was a great effort in

education, there is still more fighting to be done against standard marketing.

The next battle to be won is for people become aware of what they are eating and push to

control the marketing ploys instead of letting marketing ploys control them. During a study

conducted in the Netherlands in 2015, it was found that 70% of promotions in a supermarket

flyer were “unhealthy” choices. To paraphrase the report, although the price discount was higher

for healthy options, a significantly higher number of unhealthy products were purchased.

Unhealthy foods are more frequently advertised in supermarkets and consumers had to purchase

a larger quantity of unhealthy products to receive the promotional discount (Ravensbergen).

Things like price, taste, and shopping habits couple with the convenience factor to create an

opening for food marketing to intervene (Bonsmann et la).

“Food marketing is often singled out as the leading cause of the obesity epidemic,”

Pierre Chandon, member of ICAN Paris, France, stated. Things such as long and short term price

reductions, advertising and promotion, labeling and branding, and changing how food stimulates
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a customer, can all be linked back to unhealthy purchasing/eating habits leading to obesity.

However, he turns the responsibility to the people saying, “For-profit food marketers are not

focused on making people fat but on making money. In a free market, for-profit food companies

that are less profitable than their competitors are likely to end up being acquired by their rivals or

to go bankrupt. In this context, the mission assigned to most food marketers is to understand

what different consumer segments desire and to profitably offer it to them. In general, what

many people want in the short term is tasty, inexpensive, varied, convenient, and healthy foods –

roughly in that order of benefit importance” (Chandon et la). In order to stay in business, food

marketers must give the people what they will give their money to, what they truly want.

Consumers have the power to fight obesity by prioritizing healthy foods over inexpensive,

convenient ones and take control of the marketing industry by changing what they purchase.

Some may argue this is simply not possible due to the price point. While it is true that

many families struggle to afford the healthier choices, there are many government programs in

place to assist with that. SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is the largest

program in the domestic hunger safety net. It offers nutrition assistance to millions of eligible,

low-income families and individuals. Another program assisting in healthy choices is the Fresh

Fruit and Vegetable Program. FFVP was created to counteract childhood obesity and introduce

fresh foods to children. The program provides eligible elementary schools with nutritious fresh

foods at lunch time. These children then get the opportunity to choose healthier items they may

not otherwise have the chance to sample. The WIC Program, the specialized supplemental

program for Women, Children and Infants, provides both the Farmers Market Nutrition Program

and the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program. The first of which, provides WIC participants

with fresh, locally grown foods from farmers markets. The latter, provides seniors of the States,
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US territories, and federally recognized Indian tribal government, with coupons to be exchanged

for foods at farmers markets, road-side stands, and local agricultural programs (Programs and

Services). These are some aids that allow all people to change their purchasing habits and control

for-profit marketing.

Another mindset to break is that nutrition labels have been around since 1994 and

Americans still refuse to use them (Arsenault). This is evidence that people do not really want to

be healthy. Why bother with pushing to educate something that is undesired? The Cleveland

Clinic conducted a survey that completely disproves this. They state the public at large desires to

be healthy but it simply unsure which advice to follow. Conflicting information leads to

misconceptions. Dr. Hyman, M.D., director of the Center for Functional Medicine at the

Cleveland Clinic says, “We’re all confused – we’re confused about what to eat; we’re confused

about what kind of exercise we should do. One of the myths out there is that the best way to lose

weight is to exercise a lot, and then you can eat whatever you want. There’s actually great

evidence that you can’t exercise your way out of a bad diet” (Missone). With so many

misinformed citizens, it is no wonder nutrition falls to the wayside and those mandated labels are

not doing as much good as they were expected to. This is why more nutrition education must be

provided for the American public.

With Dr. Hyman’s knowledge on how important the nutrition is to our health, it is

inevitable that one takes their diet into their own hands. With current nutrition important access,

if one digs deep enough, this is possible. But there must be more education in order for the public

to be able to make those changes in responsibility. Authors of the US National Library of

Medicine’s “Are Food Labels Effective as a Means of Health Prevention” support this very idea.

They pose the following solutions:

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“We believe that up-stream efforts should be done first of all on the educational front, to

improve general public basic knowledge about nutrition and the relationship between diet

and health status, in order to make the consumer more concerned of changing eating

habits.Secondly, label format may be simplified to be easily read also by non-expert

people. Finally, if we aim for food labels to significantly affect general public behavior, a

wider use of them should be encouraged. To this end, the awareness of label usefulness

among all the consumers categories should be raised” (Viola et la).

Education, simplified format and encouragement. These are the steps to fighting obesity by the

means of taking one’s nutrition and diet into their own hands.

If we are mindlessly eating things we do not know the content of, we will soon find

ourselves searching for solutions from things we do not know the content of. Actions is required

now because that restaurant that sold us their 2,000 calorie meal because it looked delicious on

the specials board is not going to stop trying to sell us. The advergaming marketers are not going

to stop interrupting one of America’s favorite past-times. Obesity is growing faster as a culture

so honed in on convenience barely notices it’s approach. Avoiding the continuation of this

pattern will take intentionality. It takes change. Americans must take control, avoiding confusing

labeling and deceitful marketing by means of education, simplified label format and

encouragement. Only then can we avoid becoming what we eat.

Works Cited
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Arsenault, Joanne E. "Can nutrition labeling affect obesity?" Choices: The Magazine of Food,

Farm and Resource Issues, July 2010, p. 9+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A354272469/OVIC?u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=66e

673b7. Accessed 6 Apr. 2019.

Bonsmann, Stefan Storcksdieck genannt, and Josephine M. Wills. “Nutrition Labeling to Prevent

Obesity: Reviewing the Evidence from Europe.” SpringerLink, Current Science Inc., 26

June 2012, link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13679-012-0020-0?LI=true#Sec8.

Chandon, Pierre, and Brian Wansink. “Does Food Marketing Need to Make Us Fat? A Review

and Solutions.” Nutrition Reviews, Blackwell Publishing Inc, Oct. 2012,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3495296/.

Draper, Alizon K, et al. “Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling: Are Multiple Formats a Problem for

Consumers?” European Journal of Public Health, Oxford University Press, June 2013,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22140250.

Hales, Craig M, et al. “Prevalence of Obesity Among Adults and Youth: United States, 2015-

2016.” DHHS Publication, No. 2018-1209, Oct. 2017,

www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db288.pdf.

Hellmich, Nanci. “Diners Badly Underestimate Calories in Fast-Food Meals.” USA Today,

Gannett Satellite Information Network, 23 May 2013,

www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/23/fast-food-meals-calories/2356215/.

“How to Read a Food Label.” The New York Times, The New York Times,

www.nytimes.com/guides/well/how-to-read-a-food-label.
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Johnson, Hollis. “What the FDA-Recommended Daily Intake of 2,000 Calories Looks like at

Every Major Fast-Food Chain.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 8 May 2018,

www.businessinsider.com/2000-calories-fast-food-meals-2016-1#arbys-11.

Mangan, Dan. “Surprise Supersize: Kids' Menus at Top Restaurant Chains Often Exceed

Recommended Calorie Limits.” CNBC, CNBC, 5 Dec. 2016,

www.cnbc.com/2016/12/05/kids-menus-at-restaurant-chains-often-top-calorie-limits.html.

Missone. “Survey: Americans Want to Be Healthy, But Aren't Sure How (PKG).” Cleveland

Clinic Newsroom, Cleveland Clinic Newsroom, 21 Jan. 2019,

newsroom.clevelandclinic.org/2018/10/18/survey-americans-want-to-be-healthy-but-

arent-sure-how-pkg/.

"No ban on food ads for children." Washington Times [Washington, DC], 15 July 2005, p. C09.

Opposing Viewpoints in Context,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A134069480/OVIC?u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=1

5e0f516. Accessed 12 Apr. 2019.

“Programs and Services.” Food and Nutrition Service, www.fns.usda.gov/programs-and-

services.

Ravensbergen, Eva A H, et al. “Healthy or Unhealthy on Sale? A Cross-Sectional Study on the

Proportion of Healthy and Unhealthy Foods Promoted through Flyer Advertising by

Supermarkets in the Netherlands.” BMC Public Health, BioMed Central, 6 May 2015,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25943988.

Viola, Gaia Claudia Viviana, et al. “Are Food Labels Effective as a Means of Health

Prevention?” Journal of Public Health Research, PAGEPress Publications, Pavia, Italy,

21 Dec. 2016, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5206777/.

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“Who Reads the Nutrition Facts Food Labels?” School of Public Health, 22 May 2018,

www.sph.umn.edu/news/reads-nutrition-facts-food-labels/.

“10 Leading Causes of Weight Gain and Obesity.” Healthline, Healthline Media,

www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-causes-of-weight-gain.