Make room for another documentary about the obesity epidemic. In Fed Up, narrator Katie Couric walks viewers through history to explain why so many Americans are overweight.
In addition to featuring numerous interviews with professors, politicians and doctors, Fed Up chronicles the lifestyles of a few students. The students provide testimonials in between clips of them at home, school and doctor appointments.
In 1977, when a government report was released encouraging the food industry to manufacture food with less fat, food manufacturers responded by decreasing calories and increasing sugar. I like one doctor’s approach to explaining how consuming sugar affects our metabolism. “You can eat a bowl of Corn Flakes with no added sugar or you can eat a bowl of sugar with added Corn Flakes,” he says. “They might taste different, but below the neck, they’re metabolically the same.”
Did you know sugar is more addictive than cocaine? That’s yet another reason to be concerned about the obesity epidemic.
I was startled upon learning that a serving of tomato sauce contains more sugar than a serving of M&M candy. I love Italian food and never eat M&Ms due to my peanut allergy, so this is unsettling.
Advertisements to eat more sugar surround us everywhere we go. Gas stations aren’t just gas stations anymore; they’re convenience stores. At almost every checkout counter, there are shelves with candy. This even applies at Best Buy! If you’re already buying a video game, why not pick up a chocolate bar on your way out too?
I like how the film sheds light on a relatively taboo group: people who are skinny on the outside, yet fat on the inside. Their fat may be distributed differently, but those with good metabolisms are often found to be pre-diabetic too. They’re vulnerable to the same health problems as those who are visibly overweight. When you calculate America’s obese population and include both groups, half of Americans are affected.
Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move program is a step in the right direction, but if the American government is concerned about the population’s heath, then they have a lot more work to do. There are warning signs on tobacco products. Now it’s time to show Fed Up to more viewers and consider how governments and corporations can work together to apply similar tactics to junk food.
Fed Up is available on iTunes and on DVD at Indigo.