[Music] the obesity epidemic is the most important international health problem [Music] by 2030 half the world will be obese or overweight this is a disaster it's a man-made tragedy earlier in my life i thought that my weight was all my fault i felt like a failure and frankly unworthy and it took me a while to really start questioning those beliefs and challenging those thoughts like well are you really a failure and the answer is no i'm not i'm not but it took a while to get to that point [Music] obesity a blob of our eras fantasies caught in a web of prejudice it prompts scolding for poor choices and accusations of laziness omnipotent genes provide an alibi but what if obesity were a collective failure not an individual one the symptom of a free market that hates fat but produces fatsos an obesogenic society it's a global phenomenon not one country has halted it [Music] right now there are two billion people adults and children who are overweight or obese this doesn't happen by magic it takes work and you need to look at who it is is driving that process in the first years of the 21st century western countries declared war on obesity to no avail experts estimate that by 2030 there will be 250 million obese children in the world have our governments taken the right tack [Music] at least two-thirds of men and women in the uk are overweight and the rates are still climbing obesity has life-changing impact on the body and can slowly lower your quality of life according to the messages spread far and wide we alone are to blame for our weight fat people are simply gluttons unable to control their appetites you have a choice make the change we are told it's up to us but is it really for me the most difficult stigma to cope with is this idea that that people have no willpower the people in larger bodies people with obesity don't have a willpower or else they wouldn't carry excess weight because we're told so often that that's all it takes to lose weight go to the gym follow this diet program you know if you just stick to it you'll get there [Music] public health officials were sure that a little personal willpower was all it would take to slay obesity eat less exercise more became the mantra of the 2000s it would go around the world so let's start moving let's start pushing twisting climbing and raising the roof let's start moving more every day for 30 minutes or 60 and if you feel like stopping you can always start back up let's start moving it's so easy for us to look at a lean person and say ah they have such willpower they're so moral and strong and then look at someone with a weight problem and attribute all these negative traits oh they're just weak they don't have willpower it's not at the individual level it's not individual willpower and if we go on believing that we'll never change this obesity epidemic hey everybody you know getting active every day helps us all be healthy and feel great the same old earnest advice about exercise is proffered with the best intentions in 2010 michelle obama launched a campaign against child obesity the first lady lent her sassy sachet to move your body aiming to set healthier standards for food served in school lunchrooms we send our kids to school we have a right to expect that they won't be eating the kind of fatty salty sugary foods that we're trying to keep from them when they're at home unfortunately you know michelle obama was on the right track right from the beginning and then i think she got derailed by a mixture of bad advisors and by bringing in the food the food companies and they were able to dilute her very powerful message down to something where you know it's just her on television encouraging people to to move that way rather than let's move together uh you know as a movement uh to be able to transform the food system became move more beyonce easily upstaged the public service message a boon to the multinationals who quickly joined the dance in 2015 coca-cola created the global energy balance network a worldwide think tank dedicated to solving the obesity problem guess how by promoting exercise most of the focus in the popular media and in the scientific press is though they're eating too much eating too much eating too much blaming fast food blaming sugary drinks and so on and there's really virtually no compelling evidence that that in fact is a cause professor steve blair is one of the head researchers recruited for the network he's a specialist in physical exercise but maybe the reason they're eating more calories than they need is because they're not burning many so we need to be in balance in just a few years due to this campaign spearheaded by coca-cola lack of exercise has become central to the question of obesity whereas it is based on a theory that was pulled out of a hat to defend the corporation's product and private interest [Music] here's how that translates into marketing language [Music] the industry has been focused on the story of calories and calories out you can drink what you want just go go on a jog and work off your calories well we know that actually is not true that's not the true story [Music] allegedly to avoid weight gain we would simply have to burn the same number of calories as we eat the theory sounds logical unfortunately it is untrue physical exercise actually plays a minor role in weight control you have to jog for one hour to eliminate a hamburger a pizza though requires over two hours of running if you look at it from a calorie perspective that is fat accumulation equals sort of calories in minus calories out and they say well that's always true because if you look at from from a physics perspective that is always true but the problem is that that's physics and we're dealing with human physiology and it really has nothing to do with each other i think we should take the focus off of calories yes you can eat less and lose weight for a short while but your body will fight back and over the long term we know that metabolism is stronger than willpower all right if individual willpower is not to blame what caused the steep rise in the obesity curve starting in the 1980s so what's the difference between 1970 and 2019.
well i don't think it's the basic biology of the person but it's something to do with the way that we eat both the types of food and the frequency of the foods that we eat in 40 years our eating habits have undergone a real revolution fomented by public health policies of the late 1970s at the time cardiovascular disease was the grim reaper causing millions of deaths the senate special committee on nutrition is looking into the connection between diet and heart disease the sugar lobby succeeded in having a high fat diet declared guilty a false verdict that had serious consequences public health officials recommended that we reduce our intake of fats grains touted as cholesterol-free replaced meat as a staple food and so eating more bread more rice more potatoes for example because they're very low fat and you know eating less dairy less meat low-fat dairy that kind of thing that was the standard advice for so many years and i think that is the most likely culprit as to why people have gained weight the u.s government called on the food industry to market thousands of processed foods that were reduced in fat and saturated fat so if you're the food industry and you're supposed to reduce fat what are you going to replace it with well processed grains and sugar agro-industries sleight of hand made the transition painless sugar a cheap replacement for fat made light foods tasty and addictive chemists went to work extruding ingredients supermarket shelves filled with attractively packaged starches reprocessed as bread corn flakes and convenience foods [Music] eating excessive sugar causes deep dysfunctions inside our bodies starting with the hormone imbalance when you eat certain hormones go up and the main hormone that's involved in energy metabolism is insulin insulin determines whether the calories we eat get burned or get stored as fat glucose sugar that is fuels nearly all living cells when we eat our pancreas secretes insulin and this insulin is what transports sugar to our cells when our diets are heavy in foods that are starchy and sweet like processed foods in fact our insulin levels are constantly high with too much insulin our fat cells the fat tissue in our body takes up too many calories and holds on to them so there aren't enough calories for the rest of the body there aren't enough calories for the muscle for the organs in the brain and that's why we get hungry so these highly processed foods fast foods sugary beverages junk foods that we're snacking on they digest very quickly but they don't provide much satiety so it's these processed carbohydrates that drive weight gain [Music] despite the negative impact these ultra processed foods have on our metabolism nothing has stopped their spread [Music] it's profitable to sell food that is fatty and sugary and salty and addictive it's much less profitable uh to sell um food that is wholesome that is high in fiber and is minimally processed so what's driving the obesity epidemic it's corporate profit this dietary revolution has fathered empires nestle unilever coca-cola kellogg's pepsico currently a handful of huge corporations own nearly every brand of food together they pull in 500 billion dollars in annual sales and have taken control of our dinner plates food is a huge sector of our society it's not only the food companies it's not just the nestle's and dan ohms and cokes and pepsi it's the food retailers it's the walmarts and car reforms it's the agri-businesses that are huge that control all the supplies of commodities and then it's also the marketers it's all the advertisers making money from marketing junk food and beverages to people so we're talking about a massive massive component of our society is focused on selling the world unhealthy foods and beverages the food multinationals have a secret weapon price the products they sell are up to 60 percent cheaper than fresh foods the shoppers with the smallest budgets stock up these low-income consumers sitting ducks are the primary victims of the system [Music] the food industry says it's your fault but the reality is they've changed the whole food environment they've created a food environment where every place you turn if it's on your smartphone if it's on seeing a billboard if it's seeing any kind of advertisement if it's watching television or movies you see their junk food being pushed the manipulation starts with the children [Laughter] [Music] scientific studies show there is a direct link between the ads children see and the types of food they like to eat the world health organization recommends regulating food commercials on tv but the industry is ingenuous it infiltrates new areas like social networks or online games slick marketing hides the fact that junk food causes one of the most devastating diseases that exists diabetes today it kills one person every six seconds around the world 25 years ago if i told you that i have an 18 year old patient in my clinic with type 2 diabetes you would have said oh my gosh it's incredible it's so rare it's so strained now it's very commonplace that young people children have type 2 diabetes we're like fighting a war at home it's heartbreaking it's unfair it's unjust people are making money off of this suffering it's preventable it's it's dehumanizing to ignore it it's inhumane to ignore it [Applause] one of every two african-american children will develop diabetes one of every five african-american children is obese the rate is even higher among hispanics a young woman spoke out and triggered a rebellion we eat like we still slaves yesterday i decided to write down some ingredients in my day-to-day diet first there was a million things i could not pronounce and then there was sugar flour sugar hydrogenated oils high fructose corn syrup whey powder high fructose corn syrup sugar die yellow 40 diet ram 52 die i heard a young woman who was 16 at the time and she performed a poem that even now he amazed the made the hair on my arm stand up and for the first time i saw a young person describing the obesity and diabetes epidemic as a social problem and i realized that she in a way is a much more effective messenger than i ever could be it's like brother christopher having juvenile diabetes that five it's like damn it's like suicide [Music] dean schillinger is coordinating the energy his non-profit youth speaks holds writing workshops for young people in the bay area [Music] he wants to use rap and spoken word to raise consciousness and thwart food industry propaganda this idea that they were being lied to that's what inspired them to become change agents that's what turned their palm from being a piece of art into a weapon armed with talent and a video camera they launched an awareness campaign called the bigger picture so for me each one of those films is a stone that we were throwing at um at the water and trying to see which one could make the biggest wave i went to roosevelt middle school my daily routine was to wake up hungry walked to the bus stop passed mcdonald's the liquor stores passed popeyes pass the first burger king that's the 38 to the second burger king order my favorite round hash browns and watch the young brown bodies drool and i don't know if we love burger king or just love not being hungry written and performed chiefly by young hispanics and african americans the videos garnered over a million views on youtube [Applause] meanwhile three thousand miles away on the east coast another activist has risen up and commandeered a podium to tell a community it is being decimated and how this is a crisis in our community and for me it's a crisis because i'm finding that i'm losing more people to sweets than i am to the streets and i'm losing more people to diet related issues than i am to the streets to gun violence this is an epidemic and one that i'm deeply concerned about in his combat against this evil reverend coates is not inhibited by the conventions associated with his calling now in this can of soda pop right there are 39 grams of sugar 39 grams of sugar in one can of soda now how many teaspoons of sugar is that anyone know how almost 10 teaspoons of sugar so i say well i want to see how much that is and maybe a half this is how much sugar is in just one drink right and our children are getting pre-diabetic by the ages of nine and ten borderline diabetes by the time they're 13 years old and we are sabotaging an entire generation of our people because of sugar pastor william lamore and delman coates at mount inan baptist church in clinton maryland are suing coca-cola and the american beverage association all right let's do this the war had moved to the courtroom delman codes dared to sick the law on the coca-cola corporation [Music] we know that the consumption of sugar in these products exceed the american heart association what are you asking for from coca-cola what do you want this company we want coca-cola to end their deceptive marketing practices they have spent 120 million dollars in five years between 2010 and 2015 falsely advertising their product the multinational retaliated by accusing the pastors of freedom of speech violations and after suing for legal expenses a threat worth several million dollars coca-cola now demands that the case be dropped [Music] coca-cola statement the allegations here are likewise legally and factually meritless and we will vigorously defend against them the allegations are that coca-cola misled consumers about the science of sugar-sweetened beverages because several of their executives went out in the press and made statements like there is no link between sugar sweetened beverages and diabetes and we know that is not the case for over 20 years the soft drink industry has denied any link between its products and disease to maintain the illusion it employs all sorts of methods since 2015 coca leaks has revealed that the lobby puts pressure on journalists keeps discredit on studies it dislikes finances favorable research and hobnobs with political leaders to ensure these results contact was established within the senate we will actively campaign to register that a soft drink tax is discriminatory regressive and will not address the challenge of obesity we have commissioned the economic institute to complete a study which will prove inefficiency of such tax it will be ready in 15 days which will give us another tool to communicate both to the media and to avoid it gains ground within the party appointed to serve as scientific expert by the city and county of san francisco dean schillinger must untangle the truth from falsehood when we did the analysis of these studies we found that every study that found that there was no association between sugary beverage consumption and obesity and diabetes was funded in some way by the industry whereas among all the studies that found that there was an association between the consumption of soda and sugary beverages and obesity diabetes except for one were independently funded so we now know and there's other evidence that industry has been um influencing very deeply the medical and scientific establishment to create controversy over the question of whether their products cause disease [Music] the junk food industry is cornered all over the globe activists are demanding tighter legislation to protect consumers the battle has now become political [Music] in the 30 years since warning labels and other forms of regulation were placed on tobacco over one billion lives have been saved i'd say that's a pretty good day at the office for people who make policy malia cohen and one of her fellow supervisors have made san francisco the first u.s city to declare war on sugary sodas when people realize how much sugar they are consuming in one can of soda they stop and they think so we had testimony right here in this chamber of doctors of nurses of researchers that talk to us about the effects of sugar in our body and it was through these ongoing dialogues for years that we came up with an idea to begin to tax sugary beverages imposing attacks is virtually revolutionary in the united states the industry raged its ads pitched the line that the government was interfering with grocery shoppers the beverage the sugary beverage industry came out they hired lawyers they hired lobbyists they found people within the community to come out and say please don't tell us what to eat or what to drink this is not a nanny state we want to make decisions on our own they spent millions of dollars as a matter of fact they outspent us almost six to one give me a break i can decide what to buy without government help the government is just getting too involved in our personal lives tell the candidates government needs to trim its but public health advocates were able to mobilize citizen protests against the recalcitrant industry we're going to win this battle doctors and politicians lining up outside of san francisco city hall framing the sugar sweetened beverage debate as the people versus big soda we no longer can sit back and let the big soda industry target and hurt our community the tax was finally voted in but the victory was bitter when san francisco moved to require help warnings on soda containers like the ones on cigarettes the soft drink lobby sued once again and won on appeal the warning labels were shelved the same method had been used in new york city when mayor michael bloomberg suggested a law limiting the size of jumbo sodas sold in restaurants [Music] bloomberg was mocked as a scolding nanny and the courts ruled in the industry's favor [Music] in this face-off between corporate freedom and consumer protection freedom once again seemed to be the private property of the most powerful i represent a part of san francisco that was immigrant people people who speak english as a second language people who live in subsidized housing public housing tenements and the one thing that we all had in common was that we were dying from preventable diseases dying and you know that was just really hard to accept and it seemed like people didn't care the industry didn't care they continued to target their money and their resources to get people addicted so that they become wealthier [Music] we've sweetened the world's diet because the markets no longer were growing in europe in the u.s so coke and pepsi and all the clones all the local companies that do the same thing exploded in marketing in low and middle income countries mexico was the first country to be colonized by these agribusiness conquerors today 73 of the population is obese or overweight 10 have diabetes which has become the primary cause of death the attention of the whole world focused on mexico to figure out why the rate of obesity and overweight had soared the sugar imperialists attacked one of mexico's greatest treasures its cuisine valued by unesco as part of our world heritage the consumption of fruits and vegetables dropped by 30 percent consumption of beans has fallen by 50 in 20 years in 14 years consumption of sweetened beverages has grown by 40 percent in mexico in mexico there are one and a half million places to buy soft drinks and junk food for public health it's a criminal situation each mexican drinks a whopping 144 quarts of soda per year on the average a world record in a country that elected a former coca-cola executive to the presidency challenging the food industry might appear to be impossible but not for alejandro caldio [Music] here we are in front of the ministry of health with a frankenstein symbolizing the monstrous obesity prevention policy created in collusion with the junk food and soft drink industries [Music] head of a small consumer advocacy group alejandro calido organized the resistance he found a precious ally within the health ministry itself simon baquera a researcher in nutrition two different visions are at war one is public interest health policy and the other is economic interest who is going to win us because we're right it took 11 years of fierce struggle battling sensors who rejected clip after clip before the researcher and the activist finally succeeded in taxing sodas and junk food in mexico it was the first soda tax in north america the tax was really effective because in the two years that followed consumption of sweetened beverages fell mexico had been the world's largest consumer of soft drinks and it went down to fourth place encouraged by the success of the tax twenty associations joined the effort led by calvillo and barcara they demanded a nutritional labeling system and they also hoped to raise the tax from 10 to 20 percent [Music] apparently these demands were unacceptable to mysterious nameless opponents i got a message on my mobile a text with a link i understood it as a death threat your daughter and they cited her name has had an automobile accident and she is at the hospital in critical condition for further information click here simon your daughter has just had an accident it is very serious come quickly she has been taken here police are still trying to identify the suspect who sent these threatening texts [Music] we live in paradoxical times although merchandise can easily cross borders endangering local producers and junk food is conquering the world barriers are raised to keep human beings out [Music] the revolution came from a country at america's southern tip chile despite the fact that for 30 years it has been the darling of free market enthusiasts the anti-obesity movement is led by a senator for years he has been fighting to dislodge his people from their rank as third worldwide in overweight and obesity i was called the devil in one newspaper editorial a devil persecuting those poor corporations they have tried to discredit us they have threatened us and assaulted us but if we were not intimidated by pinochet we will not be intimidated by the multinationals no matter how powerful they may be in the past several years senator guido girardi a former pediatrician has attracted the industry's ire he has been a fearless crusader in public health protection first he braved billionaire president sebastian pinera's official veto then he had to overcome the industry's campaign to denigrate him finally the law passed in 2016.
it was the type of bomb agribusiness dreads most the first right we gained with this law is the right to know we created labels that tell you at a glance whether the product contains excessive sugar salt fat or calories in seconds you're informed we wanted something a six-year-old child could understand products that bear a warning label are banned from television commercials because we refuse to have trash advertised on television they are also banned from online advertising they cannot contain toys or stickers they are banned from using their sneaky ways to grab children's attention fraudulent advertising violates the human rights of children and all the united nations treaties that are supposed to defend children's rights and health we accuse these corporations of pedophilia because they abuse children that is why i've had extremely violent conflicts with some of them the industry argued that the legislation would be ineffective and would penalize the poor but only two years after it went into effect a virtuous circle formed the good news is that many of the products we thought it would be impossible to reformulate because the industry told us that it was technically impossible are now made with less sodium and less sugar the industry itself says that 20 of its products have been reformulated for certain categories of products the improvement is even greater from this viewpoint it really is a success [Music] in that same 18 months we saw a 25 reduction in purchases of sugary beverages in chile that's unprecedented and we're seeing large reductions in all the ultra-processed junk foods as well that is the first time we've seen the glimmer of a country that might change the norms toward healthy eating the chilean food revolution has inspired action in neighboring countries peru has instituted the same labels and uruguay is about to do so and dramatically mexico is joining them its new president and congress have just passed new legislation requiring the same kind of labeling as chile on the other side of the atlantic the contrast is striking europe's nutriscore labeling is fairly timid compared to the black labels in chile only a few countries have adopted it and it is not even mandatory [Music] back in 2010 and 2011 the european union debated instituting a clear mandatory labeling system of course the corporations opposed the measure by their own admission they spent over 1 billion euros lobbying to remove the mandatory stipulation [Music] another winning strategy for corporate interests in germany has been to play the role of allies in the fight against obesity this commercial produced by a supermarket chain promises a commitment to promoting healthy foods to help children make their dreams come true but is it really wise to trust the industry [Music] a wave of overweight and obesity the size of a tsunami is headed for germany but politicians refuse to admit it it is hard to understand how such a highly developed country can be so backward when it comes to prevention but the corporate lobbies are extremely powerful in germany even today economic interest is invariably a higher priority than public health the german government counts on the industry's ability to regulate itself it does not impose either taxes on sugary beverages or restrictions on advertising [Music] it is estimated that by 2040 about 12 million germans will have diabetes this is tragic the challenges of our times are clustered in obesity an explosion of chronic diseases endangers health care systems market leviathans limit action on government policy capital intensive agriculture drives the junk food juggernaut [Music] the whole sugar peddling mass market food industry wants to addict us to cheap empty calories that lead to chronic disease let's refuse to obey [Music] [Music] [Music] you
