Sir; The mountain of recent research published on trans-fat has brought food ingredients back into focus, but yet again the food press doesn't look to the future or to the issue as a whole. The unnatural trans-fats we have become excited by are the very same ingredient heralded by the food industry and government as a positively healthy alternative to natural saturated fats.
Ironically, the biggest loser has been the dieter who has been busy consuming "diet products" that contain trans-fats that cause fat gain in the worst possible place, the waistline.
For many years the men in white coats in large food companies assured the world that trans-fats were fine and based their certainty on research paid for by them, but as we now know, most sponsored research will give you the outcome you have asked for. Unfortunately, the tests on trans-fats they relied upon were inadequate.
Inevitably, we are going to see the same problems with artificial sweeteners. All the health tests on these have been limited as most were focused on the ingestion of small quantities of artificial sweeteners in a relatively small number of products.
Now we see widespread use of artificial sweeteners in our daily lives, again without many consumers understanding the consequences of the presence of these ingredients. Likewise we should also take a second look at Fructose.
Since obesity and its connected illnesses such as diabetes and syndrome X are now a greater personal and public health problem than smoking, it is not difficult to see a similar path ahead.
The journey from smoking being stylish and smart, to being illegal, began with legal actions in the US.
Similar actions have been started under the obesity banner in the US and with an ever-growing number of plaintiffs looking for someone to blame, I hardly need to tell anyone that eventually the finger will be pointed and compensation due. And if the obese don't get legal, Brussels certainly will.
Ironically, the biggest loser has been the dieter who has been busy consuming "diet products" that contain trans-fats that cause fat gain in the worst possible place, the waistline.
For many years the men in white coats in large food companies assured the world that trans-fats were fine and based their certainty on research paid for by them, but as we now know, most sponsored research will give you the outcome you have asked for. Unfortunately, the tests on trans-fats they relied upon were inadequate.
Inevitably, we are going to see the same problems with artificial sweeteners. All the health tests on these have been limited as most were focused on the ingestion of small quantities of artificial sweeteners in a relatively small number of products.
Now we see widespread use of artificial sweeteners in our daily lives, again without many consumers understanding the consequences of the presence of these ingredients. Likewise we should also take a second look at Fructose.
Since obesity and its connected illnesses such as diabetes and syndrome X are now a greater personal and public health problem than smoking, it is not difficult to see a similar path ahead.
The journey from smoking being stylish and smart, to being illegal, began with legal actions in the US.
Similar actions have been started under the obesity banner in the US and with an ever-growing number of plaintiffs looking for someone to blame, I hardly need to tell anyone that eventually the finger will be pointed and compensation due. And if the obese don't get legal, Brussels certainly will.
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