Originally published October 3 2005
World community assigns responsibility for obesity pandemic
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
At the 18th International Conference of Nutrition, the topic of responsibility regarding the obesity problem proved a popular one, as speakers sought to express their views about how government, corporate and academic institutions should respond in the future.
This question formed the basis of a heated debate at the 18th International Congress of Nutrition in Durban on Wednesday.
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Several stakeholders involved The obesity problem is the responsibility of both the individual and government, "but there are also other important role players that shouldn't be ignored," Donald Short, Vice-President of The Coca Cola Company, told the audience of nutrition role players and stakeholders who were attending the panel discussion.
When asked what the Coca-Cola Company is doing about the obesity problem, Short said that the company is expanding into beverage categories other than the soft-drink category, in an effort "to give consumers more choices".
Problem 'too complex' Another debater, Paulus Verschuren of food manufacturing giant Unilever, also didn't want to single out any specific stakeholders.
The role of government But for Marion Nestle, the question shouldn't have been whether obesity is the responsibility of the government or not, but rather how government should be involved -- because they already are.
Nestle is Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University.
She cited specific examples of how the US government is currently indirectly involved in fuelling the country's high obesity rate: farm subsidies for products such as corn and soy beans make these products cheap ingredients in processed foods, regulations permit misleading advertising with regards to food products, and school funding policies allow for alliances between schools and corporations that sell fast foods.
"Researchers have demonstrated beyond question that people eat more when food is widely available and in larger portions, and when it is socially acceptable to eat more frequently, in more places, and in greater amounts," read an official statement by Nestle.
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