Food industry has created causes of obesity

CLAIRE O’CONNELL’S article (Irish Examiner, March 1) quoted Professor Liam Donnelly, director of food research at the Teagasc Food Development Agency, as saying the battle against obesity was being lost, and suggesting the food industry could have “its input into providing its version of a solution”.

Asking the food industry to find a solution for a problem it created is like asking the fox to come up with a solution to make the hen-house safer.

For example, since the flavour enhancer monosodium glutamate (MSG) was found to turn bland foods into gourmet meals, the food industry has been using it excessively. The production of MSG has become a multi-billion euro industry — but MSG has been found to cause injury in the brain’s hypothalamus region, where glutamate is the primary neurotransmitter.