How the sugar industry shaped key government research about your teeth

Re:How the sugar industry shaped key government research abo... by refurb on Friday March 13, 2015 @10:31AM (#9197262)

If I follow your logic right, you're saying that offering people a cheaper (and less nutritious) alternative prevents them from buying healthy food?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How the sugar industry shaped key government research abo... by ccvannorman on Friday March 13, 2015 @10:42AM (#9197334)

At scale, I would agree with this, although I wouldn't say "prevents", I would say "discourages". You should definitely notice large effects at scale in any economy, in this case, people definitely do buy more junk food because it's cheaper

(I even do this, and I prefer healthy foods when possible! But at your typical gas station, junk:healthy::10:1, which is not quite the same problem)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How the sugar industry shaped key government research abo... by refurb on Friday March 13, 2015 @10:56AM (#9197435)

vegatables, and fruit to a lesser extend, is much cheaper than junk food. Why isn't that encouraging healthy eating?

I believe junk food is like smoking. Everyone knows it's not a healthy choise, but they do it anyways. People are choosing to eat unhealthy food because they want to, it tastes good.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How the sugar industry shaped key government research abo... by task_queue on Friday March 13, 2015 @01:00PM (#9198219)

That's a nice belief, but evidence shows people choose junk food because of availability, price, associated preparation time and a lack of nutritional education.

The further down the income ladder you go the more those factors come into play rather than the simplistic "it tastes good" conclusion.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How the sugar industry shaped key government research abo... by refurb on Friday March 13, 2015 @03:23PM (#9199387)

evidence shows people choose junk food because of availability, price, associated preparation time and a lack of nutritional education.

Oh I believe it. I would just phrase it as: people take the easy way out when it comes to eating. They prefer something that is front of them, cheap and they don't need to cook.

You can't ignore personal responsibility. Plenty of poor folks eat health meals.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How the sugar industry shaped key government research abo... by gress on Friday March 13, 2015 @01:02PM (#9198229)

You say 'they want to' but you ignore that junk food is designed to amplify the superficially appealing qualities of the food without regard to the nutritive value.

Nobody 'wants' that. What they want is good tasting food that is also nutritious. That costs more.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How the sugar industry shaped key government research abo... by pizza234 on Friday March 13, 2015 @01:49PM (#9198543)

Watch out. As elaborated before, junk food is absolutely not "cheaper and less nutritious food".

It's "cheaper and harmful" food.

There are a few interesting documentaries, most notably "A place at the table".

[ Parent | on HN ]