Substitue Apples for Apathy

A major issue for debate that endures in all social strata is the subject of personal health pertaining especially to diet and fitness. Complicating this concern further, the problem of public health has multiple facets of responsibility. The government, private industry, and the consumer all play roles with regard to the health of individual American citizens. Regardless to the level of direction that government and industry serve to feed individuals on a macro-scale, ultimately, individual health and well-being is a personal choice. Unfortunately, within the realm of social standards sentiments of apathy, ignorance, and disregard for health exist. Despite efforts to save face and clichés that consist of wishful thinking, Americans on average are rife with excess weight and disease that can often be attributed to the mentioned sentiment of apathy and disregard. Proper diet management skills and application are lax and physical activity is limited. Unless and effort is made on an individual basis with a societal foundation, this trend of disease and poor quality of life will continue to prevail if not flourish within our populace.

The role of our government:
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as an agency of the Department of Human Health and Services, is an enterprise of the federal government of the United States of America. Its role to provide for the American people is well defined by one mission statement; “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, protecting and promoting your health”. (FDA) The FDA seeks to regulate, supervise, and enforce laws for many major industries that directly affect the health of U.S. citizens. However, in this article the focus will be on the FDA’s involvement in food safety. This agency fails when dangerous or misleading products, at any level, enter the market for consumption.
The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is another agency of the Department of Human Health and Services. The CDC primarily functions as the U.S. Federal Government’s chief informant for the public with material pertaining to disease control and prevention. This public forum for information can be used to well educate oneself about such issues. (CDC)

The food industry:
The food industry refers to the global complex of a diverse set of businesses that serve to provide consumers throughout the world with food products. It is important to note that publicly traded businesses, which make up the great majority (in sales) of the food industry, are obligated to make profit for their shareholders. While it should go without saying that companies desire to create a quality product, it is not their obligation to be concerned with the health of their consumers. In the U.S., FDA regulation is the food industries only limit with regard to matters of health concerns and product safety. The food industry has a dubious history of poor product safety. Food industry outbreaks of Mad Cow Disease, multiple bacterial contaminations, often salmonella and e-coli, and a multitude of other types of contamination maintain a history of illness and death for countless consumers. In addition, food additives, be they natural or artificial, have also played a role in the degradation of consumers. The FDA has done well in outlawing many unsafe food additives such as ethylene glycol, green 1, green 2, red 1, red 2, red 4, and red 32. However, there are many food additives with scientific research suggesting or with absolute results finding them to be dangerous to the health of the consumer. Many of these additives remain abundant throughout the market, and exist in some common products. Because of the intricate nature of bureaucratic regulation from the government, it often develops long after public health damage has already occurred. For this reason, as wells as others to be mentioned, it is prudent that individuals educate themselves about food additives that exist in the market and often in the products purchased, as well as about the safety of food consumed. (Wilson)

Common additives to observe:
Below is a list of common food additives, some artificial and some natural in derivation. This list does not encapsulate the entire scope of concern for consumers, but is rather meant to suffice as an example. While the proceeding are common additives, there are many more less common additives well recognized and analyzed by the CDC for public knowledge.
Acesulfame-K is an artificial sweetener often used in processed baked goods, chewing gum, soft drinks, and low-calorie desserts. While acesulfame-K has only one clinical study on record, it featured increases in cancerous cell growth within laboratory animals. More studies are being proposed for this additive to bring finality to the question of its safety. In addition, acesulfame-K breaks down into acetoacetamide, which has been found to adversely affect the thyroid gland and endocrine system of rats, dogs, and cats. (Smith, Hong-Shum)
Aspartame, another artificial sweetener, is found in chewing gum, soft drinks, low-calorie foods, and packaged sweeteners like Equal and NutraSweet brands. Since its introduction in the 1970s, it has been shown to cause brain tumors and increase the incidents of lymphoma and leukemia in laboratory animals. Also, 10% of clinical participants were found with acute sensitivity to aspartame, leaving some with headaches, dizziness, and more rarely, hallucinations. (Neurotoxicity)
Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) are implemented to stabilize and preserve fats in food products such as chewing gum, baked goods, vegetable oils, fried processed foods (potato chips, tortilla chips, etc.), and breakfast cereals. Studies found these additives to increase the risk of many forms of cancer in laboratory animals. (Smith, Hong-Shum)
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is an increasingly popular sweetener and preservative. It increases shelf-life and production cost of common products such as soft-drinks, juices, yogurt, sweet sauces, candy, condiments (ketchup, BBQ sauce, etc.) and a myriad of others. HFCS has been linked with multiple factors of detriment for the consumer. It is most commonly associated with appetite suppression inhabitation leading to insatiable appetite and excessive weight gain, which leads to weight related problems such as hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease. In addition, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade policy conducted a study that found over 50% of product samples containing HFCS contained Mercury, a well known neurotoxin. (Institute for Agriculture) For the human liver, fructose is more difficult to process than sucrose (common sugar). For this reason, animal testing has shown extensive liver damage and failure associated with HFCS. Furthermore, high fructose corn syrup is as unhealthy as it is difficult to avoid in an average, American grocery market. (Smith, Hong-Shum)
Hydrogenated vegetable oil is a highly processed oil product used to increase the shelf-life of products like margarine, vegetable shortening, and many baked goods. This additive is high in trans-fats which increase ones chances of developing heart disease and diabetes. (Smith, Hong-Shum) The CDC suggests that a person consume as few trans fats as possible. (CDC)
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a common food additive implemented to enhance the flavor of packaged soup, potato chips, tortilla chips, baked goods, salad dressings, processed cheeses, processed meats, and many other food products. Flavor enchantment is achieved because MSG is what is known as an excitotoxin. Chemically, it serves to manipulate brain chemistry in a manner that stimulates neurons associated with pleasure. According to a study assessed by the U.S. congress, excitotoxins lead to neuron death, and with a small percentage of people, those most sensitive to the affects, strokes, brain seizures, and death. (Neurotoxicity)
Potassium bromate is an additive that is used in baked goods, especially bread, to increase the volume of product and to create a more even crumb structure. In the stomach, bromate usually breaks down into bromide, which has been proved to be harmless. However, any portion of the additive that does not break down in the stomach could be harmful. Bromate has been shown to cause cancer in animal studies. Potassium bromate has been banned in most countries, but the United States has yet to do so. (Smith, Hong-Shum)
Yellow 6 food dye is found abundantly. Products such as baked goods, candy, gelatin, and processed meats commonly use this dye. Yellow 6 has been linked to adrenal gland and kidney cancer and tumors. (Smith, Hong-Shum)
The FDA operates as the main regulator of food additives, but has been slow to address the concerns of public health official and alarming research. Unfortunately, this leaves the consumer with the burden of research and analysis so as to ensure health-conscious purchases. This burden might prove to be more complicated than it seems. For an example, two products may carry the same description but contain markedly different ingredients; one product may be very simple and a nutritionally sound purchase, while another might be an amalgamation including chemical preservatives, stabilizers, and less healthy ingredients. In such a scenario, it would be a sensible task for the consumer to discover which product is more beneficial by more carefully scrutinizing the ingredient list and nutritional facts table; both are articles evaluated for accuracy by the FDA. Furthermore, as indicated earlier, the businesses that label and market their food products are not duty-bound beyond the regulation of the government to be concerned with the health and well-being of their end consumers. Many labels and marketing schemes are thinly veiled with misleading and exaggerated claims to entice sales. It behooves all consumers to educate themselves about their food options and to make sound decisions to their benefit.

Lacking of fitness:
According to a survey conducted in the year 2008 by the CDC, 63 percent of adult Americans are either overweight or obese. (CDC) With nearly two-thirds of the United States population being above a healthy weight, our society has reached a point of crisis. On an individual basis, the majority of our populace practices unhealthy and potentially dangerous lifestyles of consumption. Unfortunately, diet cannot be the only factor because the previously cited statistic is compounded by another. In the year 2007, the CDC conducted a different survey of American adults that found only 49.2 percent participated regularly in moderate to vigorous physical activity. Moderate physical activity is required by the human body to maintain a favorable weight and cardiovascular health. (CDC)
It serves as common knowledge that excessive weight, a poor diet and a deficient exercise regime can lead to physical ailments and disease. Most commonly, one with such a lifestyle might expect to experience at some point one or more of the following: hypertension, heart disease, insulin resistance, which leads to Type II Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, congestive heart failure, sleep apnea, fibromyalgia, joint-pain, joint-injuries (especially with the vertebrae and knees) and respiratory illness. (Bray, Ryan) Beyond a desire to avoid these outcomes, one might also consider that health insurance premiums are costlier for those overweight. Additionally, it is a cause for great alarm that trends of excess weight and absent physical activity are growing within the population of youth in America. (CDC) Apparently, the future is equally or more disquieting than the present with regard to these concerns of personal and public health.

Choice:
Considering these facts, individuals and society as a whole have a choice to make. Would one and all care to be destructively unhealthy and diseased, or is a lifestyle of well-being more attractive? Ignorance must be replaced with knowledge and application. Disregard for health should be seen as self-destructive behavior. The presence of apathy can ultimately detriment the outcome of ones’ health most acutely. If an individual seeks to enjoy a lifestyle of well-being and not an existence rife with disease and suffering, then the only option is to assert a will focused on overall health.

Sources Cited:
Bray, George and Ryan, Donna “Overweight and the Metabolic Syndrome: From Bench to Bedside”, Print, Springer US, 28 December 2009
Smith, Jim and Hong-Shum, Lily “Food Additives Databook” Print, Blackwell Publishing, 2003
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Web, 20 June 2010
http://www.cdc.gov/DataStatistics/
U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Web, 20 June 2010
http://www.fda.gov
Wilson, Bee “Swindled: The Dark History of Food Fraud, from Poisoned Candy to Counterfeit Coffee” Print, Princeton University Press, 2008