A Case for a Junk Food Tax

I, personally, do not need to read any one's research to convince me that raising the price on soda and sweets is a good idea. I enjoyed the economic scenario that was presented some time back by the NY Department of Health and appreciated that the tax, if nothing else, would be a great source of revenue. And YES it sounds like the cigarette tax because it is the same type of thing. Of course, like cigarettes, the first few years of the tax will bring in the most money, so good for the budget, but at the same time and over time, the result could be less money spent on those non nutritive items and ideally, obesity rates would decline.

But this week, there was another bit of news about the issue. A researcher from the University of Buffalo, Dr. Leonard Epstein, has completed at least a little experiment, but I am not finding any publication. Some of the major news outlets reported on it, but the University website does not have anything. (I did see that Dr. Epstein had a lot of published work regarding both obesity and tobacco. And he created the basis for the GoSlowWhoa programs, which I think are awesome)

Anyway, he and I imagine some of his research students, set up a very small study of 42 women who went "virtual" shopping. The stores they set up had pictures of items, not real items. They were given budgets and told to shop for the week as if there were no food at home. The grocery stores were then set up in a few different ways. One had the items all priced at current retail costs. In other words, the junk food cost what it cost and so did the healthier items, fruits, vegetables, yogurt, sugar free beverages, etc. Another scenario had the junk food prices the same as usual but the healthier items cheaper and another had the healthier items constant but the junk food items MORE. Only in the last scenario did the researchers see a change in behavior for the better. It appeared that when the shoppers saved money on the healthier food items, they used the extra cash to buy more junk food. (WHAT?!)

This is not a conclusive case for raising the junk food tax, but an interesting little study none the less.

Supplements

I am comforted to see that I am not the only one who expresses concerns about the sale and use of supplements and herbals. In reading a story in the WSJ recently, I also learned that some laws or regulations have been enacted since I first began to express my concerns in the pages of my blog.

Just briefly, my concern has always been lack of evidence, lack of oversight, lack of disclosure and lack of purity. These are still my concerns and the concerns of others, but you have options for vetting the products you would like to try.

There is also a little more accountability in that the FDA does have manufacturing standards for supplement makers and there is a law from 2007 that mandates a report to the FDA for any serious side effect. Really the big difference between supplements, which include your mulit vitamin, calcium, fish oil and all those products that promise less osteoarthritis, bigger muscles and weight loss, is that the manufacturer is responsible for proof of efficacy and safety and does not have to have FDA approval to sell or market the product. It is only after the product is on the market that the FDA can respond to problems and false claims. And as you may know, the FDA is somewhat overwhelmed with oh, all the meds and medical devices that are causing us problems.

There are resources for the consumer and it is up to us to use them. I would recommend the FDA site to check on any reports of problems, and I would recommend Medlines’ supplement page for research, efficacy and side effects. Be more careful with a supplement company website. Consumerlab is good, but you have to pay for it and I think that is unnecessary.

One piece of advice offered in the article is one I would caution against putting much faith in. That is to ask your physician about a supplement. I DO think you should tell physicians and hospital staff of anything you take, but to expect a doc to have had the time to evaluate a supplement is a little idealistic. You really have to do this work yourself.

For me, I again stick with the supplements I have found the most research to support which are vitamin D and fish oil. I stay away from any supplement promising weight loss, enhanced performance or joint repair. Be mindful that many products making those claims have been found to have undeclared and harmful ingredients with adverse outcomes of liver and kidney damage. Oh, and as a tobacco educator, skip those all natural quit smoking products also.

Here are the links I feel you would be wise to use:

http://www.fda.gov/Food/DietarySupplements/ConsumerInformation/default.htm

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginformation.html

http://www.consumerlab.com/