Spoonfed by the convenience food sector
The survey found little difference in health among people who ate whatever they wanted to eat against those who kept fat and other perceived undesirable food stuffs out of their eating plans.
The findings are not going to change world eating habits, especially as the study was a one-off, but the results seem to undermine the widely accepted view that we can eat our way to better health.
I’m not sure if the study raises questions about foods that claim improve our cholesterol levels and so on, but what I read of it in the FT’s pages certainly underscored the point made by heart surgeon Maurice Nelligan, a few years ago, when he said it was all right to eat whatever takes our fancy provided this is done in moderation.
No study, however, can take from the fact that, in our busy world, convenience, more than anything else, has become the driving force in the food market.
That, and, of course, the aforementioned health and wellness factor.
With the amount of product hitting the shelves with promises of lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, improving one’s digestive system and so on, it is perhaps time to ask if consumers haven’t lost the plot in their search for the Holy Grail of health.
According to the experts, the United States of America, surprise, surprise, is setting this trend.
Having eaten themselves into a state of chronic obesity, millions of Americans are now demanding easy, quick fix and, of course, edible solution to restore their health and well-being.
What starts in the US soon permeates the globe, but I’m beginning to wonder if this health kick factor is not just an illusion being cleverly exploited by the food companies.
Some will recall that, not so long ago, butter and then other dairy products were demonised and categorised as bad for us.
What happened wasn’t a scientific enlightenment, rather that the dairy sector fell asleep and the multinational marketing guys saw an opening - hence we got margarine, as attractive an eating proposition as jumping out of a plane without a parachute in its original form.
Every sector tells us they provide only what the consumer wants, but the consumer, quite often, doesn’t know what they want until it’s stuck under their noses.
The whole thing smacks of herd instinct rather than people power.
New Yorker columnist James Surowiecki argues in his recent book, ‘The Wisdom of Crowds’ that large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, and better problem solvers.
If we are as wise as he maintains, how do we explain the phenomenal rise of fast food chains and all the millions that trundle through their doors on a daily basis, to gorge themselves on tasty, unhealthy food.
From what I can see, the modern person is so hard pressed they will snap up anything that looks like making their lives easier.
In the US, meal preparation time has fallen from one and a half hours to 20 minutes - as people opt for the easy solutions that food companies put in front of them.
This convenience thing will continue to be a driving force in the food industry as long as people remain stuck for time.
We have reached the point, however, where rationality seems to have gone out the window as far as considering the benefits of what we eat is concerned.
The world is currently spoonfed by the convenience food sector, but that same sector may get a severe pasting when the consumer wakes up and decides that convenience food is not what they want to eat.
I’m looking forward to that day.
