Food: The Next Big Tobacco
Post by Nancy E. Roman, President and CEO, PHA (@nancyroman1)
Scott Gottlieb, M.D., Commissioner of the FDA, was inspirational yesterday in his clarion call to help solve the obesity crisis – and related diabetes and heart disease crises - with better food. You can listen to his 30-minute speech, or read the transcript. But if you don’t have time, I’ll hit the high points:
“While we’ve made progress in reducing deaths due to cancer and heart disease – in part due to reductions in smoking – some of that progress is now being offset by the increasing problem of obesity.”
“…investment in new treatments and efforts to ensure patients have affordable access to medical innovations must continue, we can’t lose sight of the public health basics - better diet, more exercise, and smoking prevention and cessation.”
“But like our efforts to reduce smoking rates; improvements in diet and nutrition offer us one of our greatest opportunities to have a profound and generational impact on human health.”
“Improving the nutrition and diet of Americans would be another transformative effort toward reducing the burden of many chronic diseases, ranging from diabetes to cancer to heart disease.”
…”22.4 percent of all male deaths and 20.7 percent of all female deaths in 2015 were attributable to poor dietary factors.”
“About three-fourths of the population has a diet that’s low in vegetables, fruits, dairy, and healthier oils - foods that are important to good health. At the same time, most Americans exceed the recommended intake of added sugars, saturated fats and sodium.”
“We have a real opportunity to reduce the burden of chronic disease through better nutrition. But this is something we can only tackle together by making better choices easier.”
“In a 2016 survey of more than 1,500 consumers, virtually all responded that it’s important that brands and manufacturers they buy from are transparent about what is in their food and how it is made.”
“The food industry is innovating to give people more of what they want.”
“We see people who are not taking equal advantage of these trends -or more likely, don’t have the same opportunities to access them.”
“There shouldn’t be one set of food opportunities for the affluent, and another for lower-income and working class families.”
“Our challenge is to help create healthy choices and foster innovation and competition that can also make these choices more affordable.”
(The) FDA can make further improvements in public health by both empowering consumers with information and facilitating industry innovation toward healthier foods that consumers want.”
“There’s more room for competition in the marketplace when it comes to the healthfulness of different foods people eat.”
And, at Partnership for a Healthier America, we believe in the power of collaborative efforts between the public and private sectors to continue to move the needle forward. Together, we can bring solutions for real change.