Unsugaring the pill

[Guest guest]

Unsugaring the pill

 

 

Why is it that this type news in major media is usally only available in one

newspaper in England? And why doen't the US government step up to confront

these major industries that damage the health of eveyone? And why is real

information so very hard to get?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,942394,00.html

 

Unsugaring the pill

 

The WHO should stick to its guns Leader The Guardian

 

Not since the World Health Organisation took on the tobacco barons has there

been such an international cat fight. But the new war concerns an equally

menacing public health threat. As the US surgeon general, David Warner, has

warned, obesity is quickly eclipsing tobacco as the number one threat to

public health in developed states. Indeed, it is no longer confined to

affluent societies. Obesity is becoming a growing problem, alongside the

more familiar malnutrition, in developing countries too. Over a decade on

from its last comprehensive look at diet and nutrition, the WHO launched a

new report yesterday setting out the science, which suggested sugar should

be restricted to 10% of calories consumed.

 

Surprise, surprise, it has been met with howls of protest from the sugar

industry and the multi-billion soft drinks and food industries that

manufacture " sugar-rich " products. Worse still, as our health editor

documented on Monday, the sugar industry's opposition has not been confined

to democratic debate. Behind the scenes it has been as ruthless as the

tobacco industry in trying to coerce the WHO into withdrawing its report.

Industry-subsidised " scientific " front organisations have been set up;

powerful Washington lobbyists engaged; and most serious of all, sugar caucus

congressmen recruited to bring the WHO to heal with the threat that they

would cut-off the £260m annual contribution which the US pays to the UN

agency. To its credit the WHO has resisted all these forms of blackmail -

and in doing so has won a spectacular PR victory over the lobbyists.

 

Just like the tobacco industry, the sugar barons remain in denial of the

devastating effects of their product. Obesity has tripled in the last 20

years. Over half of adults in many developed states are obese, leading to

30,000 premature deaths in the UK - and 300,000 in the US - from heart or

chronic diseases. Yet still the industry insists that a 25% sugar intake is

safe. All serious research contradicts this assertion. WHO gathered together

30 international experts to draw up its report - including the leading

scientist on obesity in the US. Twenty-three national reports have already

set sugar targets of 10% or less of calorie intake. There is a second battle

to come: a policy report, which earlier drafts suggest will include calls

for removal of soft drinking vending machines in schools and a tax on high

sugar products. WHO must hold its nerve and let the science speak.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003