I’m not interested in driving any possible reader(s?) to a link over at the Washington Post’s Wonkblog for an listicle penned by Roberto Ferdman. I somehow clicked on a link to it and it made me think, but I’m not enamored with the thinking or the converting of those thoughts into words. Titled “7 of the biggest ‘facts’ about unhealthy food that actually aren’t true.” Maybe I was drawn to the article on a whim to discover how ‘facts’ aren’t ‘true.’ Maybe I imagined an uplifting listicle that, in spite of the headline, gave credence to the possibility of moving away from unhealthy foods simply because facts and truths are blurred. But, really, I was thinking about my own addiction to unhealthy food and drink, and I was pleased, Chipotle, a fast-food restaurant my family and I can eat in is doing something I consider a move towards better fast-food fare. Most processed food manufacturers and their distributors don’t even want to label whether a processed food contains GMOs; yet, a fast-food restaurant is willing to take a direction on the food it serves to distinguish its foods and services from other foods that usually come from a drive-by.
” We assume that there is always an established, actionable consensus understanding of whether certain foods and ingredients should or shouldn’t be eaten. But when it comes to many of the most popular “facts” spread vigorously today, the truth is actually a good deal less clear. “
The listicle doesn’t create any clarity and more likely it creates more confusion about GMOs, consumption, advertising, and something called “food design.” Yet it gives us “seven of the clearest examples” of how this inequity is being misrepresented.
Here’s an example of being drawn in on the first few points:
That isn’t true, because we don’t know that they are unsafe to eat.
We don’t know this.
It is a statement that is increasingly questionable.”
To each I immediately have reactions that seem slight and awkward. (1) Avoidance. I don’t think “avoid” is the “choice” word here. Why isn’t it true that eaters should avoid GMOs? Shouldn’t we choose whole foods over GMO designed foods? That choice or choosing is not an avoidance, and we do know that choosing whole foods over processed foods is healthier, if not safer, and we do know that adding these GMOs to many, many, products is not to increase choices but to decrease manufacturing cost and increase profit regardless of our safety concerns. (2) Aspartame is bad for us. Yes, we do know aspartame is definitely bad for us. The direction Ferdman takes is “no fear in small amounts.” If you know aspartame is created using E. coli, does it make any difference whether the E. coli is the harmless kind? Why can’t the harmless type of E. coli just stay where it’s harmless rather than being manufactured into an artificial sweetener? Profit?! (3) Additives. If we change only one word, salt, in this point, we can remove why the statement is increasingly questionable. Replace “salt” with “additives” and the questions fall away. We eat too much additives. No, that corrective statement doesn’t easily roll off the tongue like we eat too much salt, but the fact is processed foods are the foods more likely to contain GMOs. Processed foods can contain salt in amounts, unbelievably huge amounts, simply because the food is manufactured.
Ferdman’s ideas on what the listicle sets out to explain causes more misdirection than help:
The takeaway isn’t that it’s a myth that these things are inherently bad for you, but rather that it’s a failure on anyone’s part to assert that we know for sure that consuming them is deleterious to our health. We don’t.
Deleterious? Come on!
The focus of the listicle should not concern itself with whether an additive or GMO is damaging and harmful.
A better direction for us non-discerning masses is to point to the true facts that reducing consumption of additives and GMOs is a difficult task, although pursuing such tasks moves us towards a healthier lifestyle and living “better.”