According to the "National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2014," about 9.3 percent of Americans, or 29.1 million people, have diabetes. This is quite an alarming figure, and has been on the rise. Despite increasing awareness of diabetes, obesity, and the importance of healthy diet and lifestyle choices, much needs to be done to prevent these figures from causing more havoc in our lives.
A recent article posted by diabetes.co.uk has been an eye-opener as far as food regulation is concerned. It said that if the food industry was as strictly regulated as the tobacco industry, even chronic conditions like diabetes could be curbed and controlled.
The food industry, especially including processed food, needs to be bound by tighter rules and regulations that would seriously prohibit the expanding reach of diabetes. Food and population have diaphanous horizons, so it is difficult for one industry or individual to make a difference. An independent body or an authority figure could make for better odds of control.
In a precursor to the aforementioned diabetes statistics report, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) last year submitted a petition urging the FDA to limit and regulate the use of high fructose corn syrup and other added sugars in soft drinks and processed foods. It said that the additives are directly responsible for the increases in chronic heart conditions, obesity and diabetes.
As the World Health Organization (WHO) reports, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are responsible for more than 36 million deaths each year. Eighty percent of all NCD deaths include cardiovascular diseases, cancers, respiratory diseases and diabetes. Reasons and risk factors for these conditions include harmful use of alcohol and tobacco, physical inactivity and unhealthy diets.
This is where stricter regulations will help, since harmful ingredients will have to go through further scrutiny before use. While alcohol and tobacco are closely regulated by many governments, processed foods go more or less unchecked.
The FDA and government can institute various policies that control aspects of manufacturing and distribution of processed foods, including taxes, availability and maybe age restrictions, too. In terms of tobacco, we have seen how people have blatantly ignored warnings about its dangers, even though we have known about them for many years. It has taken constant anti-smoking campaigns, banning of advertisements, as well as price hikes for the actual realization to hit home and consumption to decrease.
Like the tobacco industry, solid lobbying and powerful marketing campaigns back the cash-rich processed-food industry. The companies behind these campaigns are the major sponsors in sporting and entertainment events, schools and hospitals. The marketing and lobbying tactics employed by the alcohol and tobacco industries have been a major reason why the regulations for them took so long to take effect.
We can see some preventive actions taken by the food giants. There is growing awareness of unhealthy foods, but all they have done to assuage these concerns is to come up with smart labels like lower fat, and natural or low-calorie foods, among others.
While this has done nothing to stem conditions like diabetes from increasing, it has ensured that their profits remain undisturbed. It is now imperative that more authoritative figures step in to curb these epidemics that could seriously endanger our present and future populace.
