Structural vs. Choice in Heart Healthy Diets
Yesterday’s mention of regulatory control over people’s food choices and the possible effect on obesity and heart disease reminded me of a post public health blog Effect Measure made last year - Weighing in on obesity. Revere discusses the difference between “structural” and “choice” issues.
Ordinary people don’t know they are now carrying around substantial body burdens of these chemicals and don’t like it when they find out. They immediately identify it as a “structural” issue, not a “choice” issue. There is a great deal of opportunity here to focus attention to agribusiness and the failing family farm and good groups working on it. We can bring in agribusiness’s role as risk factors in obesity, attacking inadequate labeling laws (the “Right to Know” touches a core value and is a powerful lever we should use more), juices that have no juice in them or blueberry muffins that have no blueberries, trans fatty acids that aren’t there because consumers want them but because it makes it easier for food processors. People would not willingly choose these things. We can make it work for us. People are forced to choose them by a structure beyond their control.
How often do you read the labels when grocery shopping? I’m ashamed to say I rarely do.
Tags: cardiovascular-disease, cvd, disease, health, heart, heart-disease, Hearty Diet, obesityRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Hearty Diet
2 opinions for Structural vs. Choice in Heart Healthy Diets
Paul Mernon
Apr 7, 2006 at 12:51 pm
What do you feel when looking at food labels? What keeps you from looking at them? For myself, answers are, respectively:
I feel uncertainty. Looking at that labels don’t give me anything. While obvious food components are ok, that ones that are placed on the end of ingredients list make me confused. I don’t know what preserving agents are good or bad, I can’t say what product is healthier than another. Labels are actually useless for me. But it is supposed that I should feel more confident, as they should fulfill our right to know what is in our food.
I don’t look at labels because they serve as a reminder that as a conscious person I should be responsible to know what I eat, but I don’t.
I know that someone will response to these questions differently. I just didn’t devote time to learning about food ingredients. But many people, I believe, have responses similar to mine. It is important to realize that it is just another area of our life where we can learn and grow. Spend some of your time to educate yourself what that words on a labels mean. Some time, I will.
Hsien-Hsien Lei, PhD
Apr 7, 2006 at 12:55 pm
Paul: You’re right on the money. When people are reminded to look at labels, I think most of the time they’re told to check for calorie and fat content. Maybe some look at the other stuff to make sure there’s nothing they’re allergic to but not really to think carefully about what is good or bad. The problem with most food today is that there are a ton of preservatives and color enhancers added. It’s almost impossible avoid unless you always cook from scratch.
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