ha! blame it on jurassic park! it turns out that supersize was the concept of a McDon's exec, who realized people felt greedy when they bought TWO, but not when they bought ONE that was a bit LARGER. when JURASSIC PARK came out in 1993 (remember that? i seriously went four or five times) the accompanying fast food promotion was mcdonald's DINO SIZE.
see that? the DINO SIZE EXTRA VALUE MEAL was the beginning of SUPER SIZED FAST FOOD! but that was in 1993. the super sized PEOPLE trend had already started in the mid-80s (look at the time lapse map on post below) so it seems we cannot totally blame this on supersize alone. in fact, the phenomenon lead to the SUPER SIZE ME documentary, which i believe has started the trend of having 'healthy' options at fast food places, and seems to be a good thing (even if simply reactionary) its seems that the super size phenomenon was one of the things that highlighted the growing obesity issue.
2. HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP
seriously, do we even know what this stuff is? i sure aint completely sure! all i know is, its in practically EVERYTHING. its such a big deal when something DOESNT have it, they advertise on the front of the package. so WTF?
ok 1st - regular corn syrup is pure glucose glucose is a monosaccharide (simple sugar) that is easily metabolized and is found nearly everywhere in biology. the commercial form is created through processing of starches - which in america is almost exclusively CORN STARCH
(glucose!)
why is GLUCOSE the most common simple sugar in cell function, and not other simple sugars (LIKE FRUCTOSE)? well, apparently it not highly reactive with enzymes and proteins - while the other sugars are. this reaction of simple sugars is called GLYCATION, and it destroys or lowers the function of many enzymes. these lowered enzyme functions are known to lead to complications of advanced DIABETES (!)
now, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP is reprocessed corn glucose, resulting in a mixture of 55% FRUCTOSE for use in soda, or 42% fructose for use in commercial baking. interesting. so HIGH INTAKE OF FRUCTOSE CAN LEAD TO REDUCED ENZYME FUNCTION. we may have hit something here. lets check the use of HFCS in america over the years:
image from the golden spiral a really pretty sicknasty sustainablog - check it
so yeah... LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING TO ME. ok we got fast food, and definately corn syrup. why else are we getting SO FAT???
3. TRANS FATS - or PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED OILS
ok ok to make a long story (and some scientific jargon) short, ill try to cut down what trans fats really are. basically, liquid fats (unsaturated fats, not usable for most baking, shorter shelf life) are treated chemically in a process called HYDROGENATION that makes these oils act more like solid fats ( or SATURATED fats: butter, lard) examples of this are MARGARINE and CRISCO.
(hilarious, according to the FDA 'zero grams of trans fat' actually means less than 1 gram/tablespoon, after a reformulation of crisco in 2007 - they were gonna ban it!)
unfortunately, the process of hydrogenation can leave some of the molecules unsaturated, creating a PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED, or TRANS FAT. trans fats are unnecessary for life (some fats are!), raise levels of bad cholesterol while lowering the levels of good cholesterol in your system, and are more harmful than any naturally occurring fats.
in the 1920s, butter and lard were becoming more expensive, and use of soy protien left a large amount of unused soybean oil on the market. hydrogenation made perfect sense - use otherwise unusable product to create shortening and margarine, and sell it for less than butter. up to the 60s hydrogenated fats became the norm, argues by some for being cheaper, while others thought margarine was actually healthier than butter. by 1988, there was suggestion that trans fats might cause heart disease, and by 1994 there was an estimated 30,000 heart disease deaths caused by trans fats. reaction to trans fats has been slow, with mandatory labeling and nutrition information FINALLY adopted in JAN '08. and thats just LABELLING - also keep in mind that less than 0.5 gm/serving counts as ZERO to the FDA. (holy crap that is stupid)
while cities and counties have made some moves to lower trans fat use, it still seems VERY widespread in america, and CERTAINLY LINKED TO OBESITY PROBLEMS.
ok, super size portions, enzyme slowing corn-sugar, and cholesterol-loaded fats? the formula for a fat america is coming together. any other ideas people? its time we wrapped our heads around whats happening to our bodies.
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