A prestigious medical journal has issued a scathing new report on the global fast food industry.
The Lancet Commission on Obesity has issued a report that blames a growth-focused sector for an entrenched system that gorges populations on empty calories while misusing land, energy and other resources. It goes so far as to state that "Big Food is the new Big Tobacco."
While the report doesn’t name company names, it calls for restricting the industry — led by multinationals such as Nestle SA, McDonald’s Corp.(NYSE:MCD) and Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE:KO)— from policy-related discussions and influencing governments around the world.
Three years in the making, the report echoed past indictments of sectors such as tobacco, alcohol, energy and firearms for using political clout to shape laws, policy and health guidelines. The 43-member panel pointed to food companies’ lobbying prowess as a reason for nutrition recommendations that sometimes have run counter to scientific evidence.
A separate report this month in the British Medical Journal said that an industry-backed group, the International Life Sciences Institute, gained "unparalleled access" to government officials in China over the past few decades and helped steer nutritional guidelines away from discouraging high-sugar drinks and food.
The global rate of obesity almost tripled in the last four decades, with more than a third of the world’s adults now in a weight range that increases risks of heart disease, cancer and other disorders, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Meanwhile, almost half of children under the age of five don’t get needed nutrients — mostly in low- and middle-income countries — even as average weight increases.
The same unsustainable approach to agriculture and food production that feeds both obesity and malnutrition also propels climate change, the Lancet report stated.
