Diabetes could be halted if food industry is regulated like tobacco industry
Governments could learn from regulation of the tobacco industry to achieve regulation of the processed food industry to tackle rising rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes.
There are a number of parallels between tobacco and processed food. Both contribute to chronic long term health conditions, are not necessary, have been supported by very strong marketing and each industry has employed strong lobbying campaigns.
Just as regular smoking increases the risk of long term health conditions such as heart disease and a number of cancers, a high intake of processed food is associated with higher rates of heart disease, cancers and type 2 diabetes as well. Whilst food is undoubtedly essential for living, processed foods are not essential and are better replaced with non-processed foods.
The dangers of smoking had been known since the 1920s whereas tight regulation of the industry has taken almost a century to take hold. Processed food has also been linked with health problems for many decades but regulation to date, such as the drive to reduce fat in food, rather than restricting food manufacturers has merely allowed those manufacturers to market unhealthy food as being ‘low fat’, ‘light’ and ‘healthy’.
Medical journal, The Lancet notes in its August edition …read more
Source:: News from Diabetes.co.uk