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

FOOD ADDICTION-A CAUSE FOR ANXIETY

Addiction is a phenomenon that is encountered with many opiates like alcohol, psychedelic drugs, smoking etc but one never hears about food addiction which is now being blamed for abnormal BMI (over weight) and obesity. It is well known that some foods containing easily utilizable carbohydrates like sugar, starch in refined flours used for making hundreds of products like bread, biscuits, pastry etc, build up glucose in the blood very fast and normally in sound and healthy person this may not be a cause for worry as it is metabolized in the cells depleting the levels of glucose to safe limits within 90-120 minutes. But this is applicable only up to a limit beyond which the elevated glucose concentration in the blood will cause undesirable consequences. Complex carbohydrates that contain fiber and other constituents that retard glucose release are relatively safe because of steady absorption without creating high and abnormal peaks in glucose levels. The Glycemic Index (GI) and Glycemic Load ( GL) concepts tell it all. Generally low GI foods have values less than 55 while a GL of less than 10 per serving is considered low and desirable. Some of the low GI foods include Urad (20) with a GL of 5, Bengal gram 10 (GI) and 3 (GL), Green gram 22 and 4, Soybean 15 and 1, Almond 0 and 0 Cashew 22 and 3, Corn meal 68 and 9, Skimmed milk 35 and 3, Dry Peas 22 and 2, Broad beans 80 and 9, Dhokla 35 and 6 and Green peas 80 and 3. As one can see more than GI, GL gives the real sugar load on the body by each serving of about 150 gm in most of the cases.

High GL foods consumed in high quantities lead to formation of body fat leading eventually to obesity. What is more disturbing is the report that such high GI foods initiate a vicious cycle of more yearning for more such foods and more consumption causing more harm to the individual. Processed foods like white bread, sweets, confectionery, soft drinks, flavored syrups, etc are potential initiators of the habit of binging with out control and making such consumers perpetual food addicts. According to some scientists the high sugar in the blood stimulates the same areas of brain that are associated with addiction to nicotine (smoking) and habit forming drugs, a scary thought indeed. Brain has 100 billion neurons and 100 trillion connectors for memory alone. Out of the 50 neuro transmitters discovered so far in the brain, half a dozen are associated with addictions by causing euphoria. Invariably the level of Dopamine, considered the master molecule of addiction, is elevated during the euphoria. Addictive substances cause the body to become dependent on an unnatural substance for homeostatic balance. Removal will cause withdrawal symptoms and the addict suffers from the pain of readjustment demanding the missing substance. In a desperate attempt to maintain homeostasis the body cries for the very substance that caused the imbalance in the first instance!

World to day is spending billions of dollars to fight addictions to alcohol, smoking and harmful opiates and a time is not too far when attention needs to be focused on the increasing trend of food addiction due to affluence and industry's tendency to produce more refined foods with empty calories. Is it possible to make an attempt to restrict availability of foods with empty calories through policy orchestration at the government level and save humanity from massive addiction to sugar and sugar based foods and its terrible consequences? Food technologists and nutritionists have great responsibility in guiding the government through this mine field.

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