The fast food killer marketplace

By Flavia Fontes

Non transmissible diseases (diabetes, obesity, hypertension,cancer and chronicrespiratory diseases) are  the five main causes of death in most countries. They also are the most common diseases in adult population in general.  and are aided abetted by fast foor marketing.

But in the recent years,  the killer diseases  have been appearing in youngsters, causing concern among Public Health specialists.

The seriousness of the situation is related to the complications of these diseases, and the grade of affectation that involves the patient, the  family, and the business where he or she works work, the country economy due to work loss and disability. The main risk factors for these diseases are smoking, lack of exercise, unhealthy foods, stress and high alcohol intake.

Of these diseases Obesity has been increasing in the general population, and our country also is being affected. In contradistinction to other diseases like AIDS or Cholera, that appears suddenly and with the stigma of being a transmissible and serious disease, obesity has been raising insidiously.

Some studies done in Panama city a few years ago, showed that 38% of preschool children that were attending five kindergarten centers were obese and one of every three mothers of the overweight children was not aware of the excess of weight problem.  About a half of these children used to eat fried sausage daily. 

It was also demonstrated that the obese children eat more than 12 teaspoons of sugar per day, “masked” in sugary drinks (sodas and juices). Among  the school age children, 80% bring money to shop at the school grocery store, and they buy sugary drinks and snacks “because that is what we like” and because that is what is available for sale in the grocery  outlets

Another study performed on school age children both in the public and private sector showed that 52% of students eat “fast food” once or twice per week with no difference between the public or private sector. 81% of these children drink sugary drinks five or more times per week and 70% eat fried foods and snacks every day. 

We have seen very important changes in the traditional Panamanian diet that has impacted as a determinant of obesity and its direct relation with hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and several cancer types.

These dietary changes are seen with the use of Ultra Processed Food (UPF), to the detriment of traditional food, like rice, beans, milk, fruits, vegetables and eggs. Ultra Processed Food (UPF) contribute to a great part of the caloric intake in the form of breads, sugary drinks (sodas and juices), sausages, processed cheeses and prepared foods.

But what is wrong with the UPF?

Ultra Processed Food have 30% more sugar content that traditional food, plus around 15% more sodium and 45% less fiber.  The energetic content is 60% more than the traditional diet, and they also cause a sort of addiction, inducing the excessive ingestion of calories by different and complex interconnected mechanisms. The calorie content in ultra-processed drinks alter the normal physiological regulation of energetic balance.

UPF have been developed to be very tasty, containing a mixture of fat, sugar, salt, sodium monoglutamate, and other additives that also affect the normal physiologic regulation of the energetic balance.

The marketing lure

In addition the “hyper tasty” is developed using marketing strategies: “they are ready to eat, they can be eaten everywhere, at any time, while you are doing anything”, which also affects the normal regulation of the energetic balance.

Marketing strategies change the social norms, increasing size portions of ultra-processed foods, and they are directed to children and adolescents, associating calories with partying, well being and a magic world. Ultra Processed Foods are among the most favored products for marketing because they are “trademarked” products and are very lucrative businesses because they use cheap ingredients, with high revenues and are controlled by a small group of corporations that are very powerful and  have a worldwide presence.

We need to stop or revert the increasing intake of Ultra Processed Foods in detriment of the traditional food intake as a determinant of our future health problems.

Flavia Fontes – ND- MSP is Coordinator of Non Transmissible Diseases Related to Nutrition in the Departament of Nutritional Health at the Ministry of Health of Panama