You try to eat healthy – choosing the foods you believe are mindful choices, right? There are always conflicting pieces of information circulating about what is truly good for you and diet buzz words like keto and whole30 can be heard ad nauseam. But what if your diet is simply the product of marketing?
The Cut showcased a book called Unsavory Truth: How Food Companies Skew The Science of What We Eat written by nutritionist and NYU professor Marion Nestle who looks at the diet industry in a new lens. She dives into who is funding the promotions on the healthy foods we’ve come to believe are good for us.
“Late in 2017, the Journal of the American Heart Association published the results of a clinical trial concluding that incorporating dark chocolate and almonds in your diet may reduce your risk of coronary heart disease. I love that. But can you guess who paid for this study? The Hershey Company and the Almond Board of California were its funders.”
The professional opinion that chocolate and almonds are a healthy choice will mostly like increase the amount people purchase them. Meanwhile, the public is ignorant to the bias created by the financial backing of the companies who want their products to receive a clean bill of health.
“The book goes on to outline various offenders and offenses in entertaining detail. Coke is the devil, POM is, too. The egg industry might also be, or was it dairy? I think Big Pecan is all right, but not Big Macadamia. (I’m joking, mostly.) Not even wild Maine blueberries escape the stain of contamination.” It begs the question – are we just being told something is good for our health so we’ll help these food companies bottom line? Maybe. But for now, let’s keep eating our avocados and bulletproof coffee.