Food Industry Pushing Junk Food a Prime Contributor to Obesity Crisis

Interview with Kelly Brownell, director of the Yale University Center for Eating and Weight Disorders, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

Recent studies have shown that obesity in the U.S. has reached epidemic proportions. An estimated 65 percent of all Americans are overweight, a direct cause of diabetes, heart disease and skyrocketing health care costs. The food industry, which promotes the consumption of junk food high in sugar, fat and calories, but low on nutrition, has played a primary role in contributing to this health crisis. These powerful corporations target children with advertising campaigns that successfully influence young people to adopt poor eating habits.

While healthy foods can be expensive and are often are hard to find, junk food is ubiquitous and cheap. High-calorie foods and sugary soft drinks are sold everywhere from gas stations to schools. Researchers say sedentary lifestyles exacerbate the obesity crisis, with television viewing and video game playing often replacing physical exercise.

In their book, "Food Fight: How America is Eating Itself into a National Health Crisis and What We Can Do About It," Kelly Brownell and Katherine Horgen describe the root causes of the obesity epidemic. The authors also discuss public policy initiatives that they say could help reverse America's expanding waistline.

Between the Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Brownell, director of Yale University's Center for Eating and Weight Disorders, who describes the food industry's role in the obesity crisis, and proposals that would tax junk food and make healthy foods more affordable.

For more information about "Food Fight," visit the Center for Eating and Weight Disorder's website at www.yale.edu/ycewd

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