South African government should act on Big Food Corporations and the obesity epidemic: international experts
July 3, 2012 in Overweight and Obesity
"The South African government should develop a plan to make healthy foods such as fruit, vegetables, and whole grain cereals more available, affordable, and acceptable, and non-essential, high-calorie, nutrient-poor products, including soft drinks and some packaged foods and snacks, less available, more costly, and less appealing to the South African population," write international health experts in this week's PLoS Medicine.
The authors, led by Ehimario Igumbor from the University of the Western Cape in Bellville argue that in South Africa, ''Big Food'' (large commercial entities that dominate the food and beverage environment) is becoming more widespread and is implicated in unhealthy eating.
They say: "Paralleling this increase in overweight/obesity, there has been a steady increase in the per capita food supply of fat, protein, and total calories in South Africa and salt intake appears to also be in excess of recommended levels. These changes of nutrient intake appear to be associated with changes in dietary patterns."
According to the authors, Big Food in South Africa involves South African companies, some of which have invested in other (mainly African) nations, as well as companies headquartered in North America and Europe. These companies have developed strategies to increase the availability, affordability, and acceptability of its foods in South Africa but supermarkets also constitute a major sales channel for the products produced by food manufacturers.
The authors say: "One of the most dramatic changes in Big Food in South Africa has been the rise in supermarket retailers over past decades. Chain supermarkets now control over half of the retail share of the food market, which is dominated by four major chains all of which are South African."
The authors argue that urgent action is required to mitigate the adverse health effects of the changing food environment in South Africa and say: "We suggest that this action should include a combination of accelerated efforts to educate the public about the adverse consequences of consuming easily available but unhealthy foods and greater regulation of Big Food and the strategies it employs to increase the availability, affordability, and acceptability of foods associated with unhealthy diets."
The authors add: "The policy response to Big Food should also recognise the role of local and possibly subcontinental governance, for example, the Southern Africa Development Community governments, in addressing the issue."
More information: Igumbor EU, Sanders D, Puoane TR, Tsolekile L, Schwarz C, et al. (2012) ''Big Food,'' the Consumer Food Environment, Health, and the Policy Response in South Africa. PLoS Med 9(7): e1001253. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001253
Journal reference:
PLoS Medicine
Provided by
Public Library of Science
-
Low and middle income countries are the recent targets of processed food manufacturers
Jun 26, 2012 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Austria returns remains of S.African indigenous people
Apr 17, 2012 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Nearly 200 rhinos killed this year in South Africa: WWF
Jul 04, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
S. African company fights move to ban painkiller
Nov 17, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Briefs: Vodafone seen raising S. Africa stake
Nov 03, 2005 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Motion perception revisited: High Phi effect challenges established motion perception assumptions
Apr 23, 2013 |
3 / 5 (2) |
2
-
Anything you can do I can do better: Neuromolecular foundations of the superiority illusion (Update)
Apr 02, 2013 |
4.5 / 5 (11) |
5
-
The visual system as economist: Neural resource allocation in visual adaptation
Mar 30, 2013 |
5 / 5 (2) |
9
-
Separate lives: Neuronal and organismal lifespans decoupled
Mar 27, 2013 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
0
-
Sizing things up: The evolutionary neurobiology of scale invariance
Feb 28, 2013 |
4.8 / 5 (10) |
14
-
Please check what's in the Ulaby book regarding reflection.
2 hours ago
-
Question in reflection and transmission at oblique incidence.
6 hours ago
-
Is this plasma (picture in thread)
6 hours ago
-
Basic physics understanding. Could someone explain?
9 hours ago
-
Change in flux of a transformer
9 hours ago
-
Electric field between parallel plate capacitor
10 hours ago
- More from Physics Forums - Classical Physics
More news stories
Children of married parents less likely to be obese
Children living in households where the parents are married are less likely to be obese, according to new research from Rice University and the University of Houston.
Overweight and Obesity
May 22, 2013 |
not rated yet |
0
Overeating learned in infancy, study suggests
In the long run, encouraging a baby to finish the last ounce in their bottle might be doing more harm than good.
Overweight and Obesity
May 22, 2013 |
not rated yet |
0
|
Addiction to unhealthy foods could help explain the global obesity epidemic
Research presented today shows that high-fructose corn syrup can cause behavioural reactions in rats similar to those produced by drugs of abuse such as cocaine. These results, presented by addiction expert Francesco Leri, ...
Overweight and Obesity
May 22, 2013 |
4 / 5 (1) |
0
Genetic risk for obesity found in many Mexican young adults
As many as 35 percent of Mexican young adults may have a genetic predisposition for obesity, said a University of Illinois scientist who conducted a study at the Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosί.
Overweight and Obesity
May 21, 2013 |
not rated yet |
0
'Doctor shopping' by obese patients negatively affects health
Overweight and obese patients are significantly more likely than their normal-weight counterparts to repeatedly switch primary care doctors, a practice that disrupts continuity of care and leads to more emergency room visits, ...
Overweight and Obesity
May 21, 2013 |
not rated yet |
0
Engineered cytomegalovirus protects monkeys from HIV equivalent
(Medical Xpress)—A new study by researchers in the US has shown that an ancient virus can be modified to help in the fight against the simian immunodeficiency virus SIV, which is the equivalent in monkeys ...
Researchers identify first drug targets in childhood genetic tumor disorder
Two mutations central to the development of infantile myofibromatosis (IM)—a disorder characterized by multiple tumors involving the skin, bone, and soft tissue—may provide new therapeutic targets, according to researchers ...
Hormone levels may provide key to understanding psychological disorders in women
Women at a particular stage in their monthly menstrual cycle may be more vulnerable to some of the psychological side-effects associated with stressful experiences, according to a study from UCL.
Going live: Immune cell activation in multiple sclerosis
Biological processes are generally based on events at the molecular and cellular level. To understand what happens in the course of infections, diseases or normal bodily functions, scientists would need to ...
Driving and hands-free talking lead to spike in errors, study shows
Talking on a hands-free device while behind the wheel can lead to a sharp increase in errors that could imperil other drivers on the road, according to new research from the University of Alberta.
Help at hand for people with schizophrenia
How can healthy people who hear voices help schizophrenics? Finding the answer for this is at the centre of research conducted at the University of Bergen.