SUGAR IS NOT THE REAL CULPRIT IN FOOD ADDICTION? NEW FINDINGS

Overweight and obesity are the most worrying health issues of 21st century and no one knows for sure the real reason(s) behind such startling changes in human anatomy during the last two decades. Though this phenomenon was first noticed among populations in wealthy countries with high per capita income, it is no more true to say that this is a rich man's problem only because in almost all countries the ratio of over weight people to healthy ones is consistently increasing. To imagine that 25-50% of the population in a country can have abnormal body weight and shape is itself scary but this is the bitter truth the world has to face. The adverse economic, health and social consequences of high body mass index (BMI) values are very real which can sap the energy and resources of a country to a great extent. 

Over weight and obese population invariably are characterized by lower productivity in works place, higher disease rates and higher medical expenses to treat or prevent fatal consequences. In a country like the US billions of dollars are spent every year for treating obese people which is considered a drain on the public exchequer. The incidence of heart diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure and other life threatening disorders is comparatively high among them reducing the life span and quality of life significantly. Another way of looking at this issue is that such undesirable human health problems have spawned a lot of economic activity with pharma companies and medical communities engaged in treating them! Thus it is hard to decide whether such transformation is part of the modern economic dispensation and one has to live with it! What a paradox indeed! 

As for food scientists, some blame has to be born by them because many products innovated by them ignore their health impact on the consumers while the industry, which mass produce them indiscriminately and promote them through high pressure advertisements, commercialism and often false claims, will have to take a major portion of the blame squarely on their shoulders. The so called junk foods loaded with empty calories are the staple among low income consumers because they are priced low to make them attractive. It is also a paradox that healthy foods like fresh foods, vegetables and similar ones are priced sky high making them beyond their reach. 

In the evolution of food industry, new technologies and high capacity equipment to manufacture newer products continuously have progressively enabled them to reduce the cost of processing and increase its capacity and capability to cater precisely to the palates of the consumers. High fat foods and those containing high sugar levels are invariably tasty and often addictive enough to capture more and more consumers almost on a permanent basis. This has made the industry less and less careful in marketing healthy foods. The profitability of the industry is also very high when it comes to making junk foods. Consumers have witnessed the endless charade among health experts regarding the real culprit for the damage to human health and among the health food makers making tall claims regarding their offerings like low calorie foods, low fat foods, low sodium foods etc. Health supplements containing many ingredients with doubtful and unproven benefits are flooding the market with no one certain about their credentials and credibility. 

There are hundreds of treatise regarding the addictive attributes of sugar whether it is sucrose, glucose or HFCS. This has spawned an entire industry offering low calorie foods and low sugar products playing upon the fears of the consumer. If people are developing tendency to over eat, sugar has been implicated while some believed it is a disease. Now comes the report that it is not sugar to which people are addicted as being propagated during the last three decades. The addiction is attributed to eating itself rather than to any particular ingredient. It is believed with some scientific certainty that only the psychological compulsion to eat due to the pleasure and satisfaction it generates when eating food is responsible for this phenomenon.  Over-eating is more a behavioral disorder and is similar to the compulsion with gamblers to back to the slotting machines and the card tables again and again in spite of losing heavily.

If the above findings are true, where lies the solution for tackling the obesity epidemic? Can industry be really blamed for making products with high palatability and acceptability since it is their mission to give consumers the very best and win the fierce competition in the market. If they are forced to compromise on the sensory aspects, can they survive in the market?:No matter how bland a food is, compulsive eaters with food addiction will invariably reach for the food when the urge to eat develops. Alcohol products and tobacco items are examples where no amount of policing, control, price escalation and government intervention has worked in the past in any part of the world. What is needed is education, persuasion, treatment of food addicts and industry initiative to improve the nutritional quality of their products with least compromise on sensory aspects. 

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

THE "FRESH" CONTROVERSY-IS IT LOGICAL?

There is an increasing tendency for people o go for "fresh", "local" "natural" or organic foods and the reason is not far to seek. It is simply the fear factor that is driving millions of consumers away from preserved or processed foods and the food industry is to blame itself for this sorry situation. Historically food technology was evolved over centuries to extend the supply chain so that adequate foods are available all year round. Use of salt or sugar which increases the osmotic pressure in food system to discourage proliferation of pathogens and many spoilage organisms continues even to day though from healthy angle they are shunned by a substantial strata of the society. While uncontrolled salt consumption is known to be linked to hyper tension and cardiovascular disease, high sugar can be responsible for dental decay, diabetes, obesity and other disorders. Organolepticaly too much sugar or salt can create quick satiety. Salt and sugar preserved food products can be farthest from the concept of fresh foods.

Sun drying or the more scientific mechanical drying of perishables which contain high levels of moisture gives products with altered textural features but it still served the purpose of extending the life of the food significantly due to low water activity in such foods after removing bulk of the water content. Besides, the reconstituted final product has drastically different eating quality, not often liked by consumers. Vast improvements in dehydration technology have contributed to better finished products and freeze drying can give a product that can be quite satisfactory though cost wise such products can be very expensive. However dehydrated foods can also never qualify to be called fresh.

One often hears about "Dairy Fresh" milk which is probably taken to mean that the milk is as fresh as the one milked directly from the cow! In reality milk travels over some distance from the point of milking, gets refrigerated, pasteurized and packed before reaching the consumer. In a country like the US raw milk is never allowed to be sold directly and therefore fresh milk in literal sense can never be seen by a US consumer while in India really fresh milk is sold directly to homes within a matter of minutes! Similarly fresh fruits and vegetables which are sold in many markets in India are considered really fresh because not much time elapses between their harvest and bringing to the market. In contrast most fresh produce sold in super markets cannot claim to be fresh because they undergo a series of "processing" involving cleaning, washing, sorting, trimming, cold storage and distribution over considerable distances.

Modern technologies like MAS and MAP in combination with cold storage can extend the life of fresh produce for weeks and months though quality-wise they will always be inferior to farm fresh counterparts. That raises the inevitable question as to what qualifies to be called "fresh"? The current understanding that any food put on sale as early as possible after harvesting is some what vague and there does not appear to be any scientific definition universally accepted. The perishable nature of foods in general calls for preservation, at least till they reach the market and ultimately the bottom line is that the eating quality and nutritive value should not be adversely affected to any significant extent.

As foods, especially the perishable ones are seasonal in nature, their year round availability and supply can be assured only if they are preserved for some time. While some foods like apple, potato, onion etc are amenable to long term storage under MAS and low temperature environment, others can still be stored under such conditions for limited periods. Frozen storage or freeze drying can be the best way of protecting a food from nutrition angle but the consumer will have to compromise on eating quality as there will be deterioration in this respect due to freezing. While under optimum frozen temperature conditions almost all foods can have storage life beyond an year, the sensory quality of products when thawed can never be the same as the fresh material before freezing.

While advances in technology and transportation extends the shelf life of food, there is a price for availability and convenience in terms of nutrition and taste. Probably obsession with the word "fresh" will have to be overcome eventually as it is impossible for the world to meet the demand for such "farm fresh" foods of every consumer in the world. While intense debate goes on regarding even the ability of man to meet the bare food needs of the ever expending population, the protagonists of fresh foods are well advised not to divert the attention of the world from the basic task of increasing food production and making them available to people with maximum nutrient content. The story of organic foods also bears a parallel to fresh foods as it is logistically impossible to raise and supply such foods to meet the needs of entire population! In spite of movements like Local Produce, Slow Foods, Urban Gardening, Roof-top farming, Organic farming etc, it is unlikely that every person on this planet can be provided with "fresh" foods as it is understood commonly.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com