Overview:
To fuel the newly-industrialized economy:
-To free Americans from farming, so they could join the labor force
-Lower costs of food (to increase spending on products)
The phrase "processed food" has both a basic meaning and a more complex one. The basic meaning refers to the altering of raw ingredients to prevent spoilage and preserve for later use (canning, freezing, etc.). The more complex meaning of processed food takes into account the details of exactly how raw ingredients are processed and the subsequent effects on nutritional value and health. Increasingly, evidence points to a strong correlation between life-long consumption of highly processed foods (the so-called Western Diet), and chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancer, etc.
As American society becomes more health conscious, so has the prevalence of nutritional information - what is good for you? Before trying to answer that question, ask yourself a more important one: Who profits from your food choices? The fact is, most information available about nutrition comes (directly or indirectly) from corporations that place profit above health. The processed food industry has a very large slice of the economic pie - its' gross income constitutes 13% of the U.S. GNP. The Center for Science in the Public Interest documents that food corporations fund a significant amount of university research on nutrition. Academic nutritionists in turn strongly influence federal government food policy according to Ron Schmid, author of The Untold Story of Milk. This cozy relationship has disturbing implications for government regulation and consumer awareness.
The question could be better phrased. Who do you trust to tell you what kind of food is good for your health? We typically consider scientific research as the final arbiter, but who has the time or expertise to review the scientific literature on nutrition? And who decides what and what not to investigate? But there is another source of information that could be equally reliable: experience. In other words, how did people eat before our food system was industrialized, and how good was their health? A man named Weston A. Price DDS (1870-1948) wanted to know what caused cavities. He traveled around the world studying the health and food practices of traditional (non-industrialized) cultures. What Price discovered is more convincing than most sources of nutritional information. Non-industrialized cultures practiced food choices and processing methods very different from ours.
-To free Americans from farming, so they could join the labor force
-Lower costs of food (to increase spending on products)
The phrase "processed food" has both a basic meaning and a more complex one. The basic meaning refers to the altering of raw ingredients to prevent spoilage and preserve for later use (canning, freezing, etc.). The more complex meaning of processed food takes into account the details of exactly how raw ingredients are processed and the subsequent effects on nutritional value and health. Increasingly, evidence points to a strong correlation between life-long consumption of highly processed foods (the so-called Western Diet), and chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancer, etc.
As American society becomes more health conscious, so has the prevalence of nutritional information - what is good for you? Before trying to answer that question, ask yourself a more important one: Who profits from your food choices? The fact is, most information available about nutrition comes (directly or indirectly) from corporations that place profit above health. The processed food industry has a very large slice of the economic pie - its' gross income constitutes 13% of the U.S. GNP. The Center for Science in the Public Interest documents that food corporations fund a significant amount of university research on nutrition. Academic nutritionists in turn strongly influence federal government food policy according to Ron Schmid, author of The Untold Story of Milk. This cozy relationship has disturbing implications for government regulation and consumer awareness.
The question could be better phrased. Who do you trust to tell you what kind of food is good for your health? We typically consider scientific research as the final arbiter, but who has the time or expertise to review the scientific literature on nutrition? And who decides what and what not to investigate? But there is another source of information that could be equally reliable: experience. In other words, how did people eat before our food system was industrialized, and how good was their health? A man named Weston A. Price DDS (1870-1948) wanted to know what caused cavities. He traveled around the world studying the health and food practices of traditional (non-industrialized) cultures. What Price discovered is more convincing than most sources of nutritional information. Non-industrialized cultures practiced food choices and processing methods very different from ours.