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Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills

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Re: Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills

#191

Post by TheCoelacanth »

ptaipale wrote: post #120
johndevor wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a CEO in the US you're legally obligated to maximize profits. In that sense I don't see this as a problem with Nestle, more so the greater system in which Nestle sits.

Is this really true? Over here (EU), the purpose of a corporation does not have to be maximising profit (although that is the default) and CEO does not have to use every legal method to maximize profit, at all costs.

Even in the US, it is not really true. The CEO is not allowed to unreasonably undermine the company's profitability, but they are allowed nearly unlimited business judgement. As long as they can come up with any remotely plausible business justification for their actions, no court in the US will stop them.

The CEO of Nestle could say something as simple as "acting in this manner will be perceived negatively and will harm our future sales" and they would be safe from legal action.

Re: Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills

#192

Post by Dylan16807 »

cisstrd wrote: post #143
borplk wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the equivalent of RTFM or the 15 page terms of service documents that no one can possibly read. Sure it makes sense in some cases but you can't use it as an excuse to shift the burden to the consumer however you like.

15 page terms of service document versus an easy to read table that lists sugar, salt and fat content of a product? It is my view that companies have the obligation to make information available about their products and do so in an easy-to-read manner, everything else is consumer's choice. Your comparison lacks relevance in my opinion. (and in cases where someone asks stupid questions, which can be easily answered by…

If you're willing to completely upend your diet, then you might only look at the nutrition table and buy the things with the lowest sugar.

If you're trying to make a normal diet healthier, then the amount of unnecessarily added sugar becomes much more relevant. It tells you when you need to find a better brand, improving the health of your food without disrupting your diet.

And to do that, you need to read and decode the ingredient list. Doing this for every single food you buy is slow.

When it comes to RTFM: Sure, read before asking, but if something was confusing in the first place it's often the fault of the design. Don't let yourself forget that.

Re: Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills

#193

Post by parennoob »

piquadrat wrote: post #133
Kristine1975 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt people in third-world countries are unaware of the value of clean water.

Oh come on. He is clearly referring to the problem of water being wasted as a valueless common good, mostly in the western world. And indeed, what is happening for instance in California right now can be seen as tragedy of commons problem (see e.g. http://legal-planet.org/2015/07/13/tragedy-of-the-commons-ca... ) But sure, if you need to confirm the BigCo CEO as incarnation of Satan, go ahead...

> Oh come on.

As long as we are using this form of persuasion – come on, this is the company that is trying to say it has rights to collect water from Strawberry Canyon based on a claim from 1865 – http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/environment/2016/05/07/n...

How on earth can you think they are a socially responsible company committed to avoiding water wastage?

Re: Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills

#194

Post by Dylan16807 »

escherize wrote: post #189
ams6110 wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The blame also rests with regulators like the FDA, who for decades promoted a food pyramid that was basically upside-down in terms of what was healthy; who for decades promoted that partially-hydroginated oils (trans-fats) were preferable to natural saturated fats; who encouraged a "low fat" diet that prompted food producers to substitute sugar for fat to make foods tasty and consumers to consume an unhealthy high-st…

... while being funded under the threat of force (taxation).

There are many ways the government could raise money for a small program like designing the food pyramid. It's really not relevant which one they picked.

Re: Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills

#195

Post by GFK_of_xmaspast »

tremon wrote: post #153
jensen123 wrote: post #72

The other day I went to buy some canned refried beans. When I read the label, I noticed that it contained refined sugar. WTF?!? There should be no need for sugar in refried beans! After recovering from the shock, I went to another grocery store, where I found refried beans without sugar. Why does this happen? Obviously, sugar tastes good. That has to be why companies add it to all sorts of things. However, if most pe…

if most people were like me, they would read the label and refuse to buy Well, obvious conclusion is obvious: people are not like you. Especially since you said earlier: WTF?!? There should be no need for sugar in refried beans! So why would you expect people to read the label for a product that clearly names what it should contain? There can only be one explanation: most consumers are dumb. In light of the above, I…

I read the label for unfamiliar brands of re-fried beans to make sure they're vegetarian.

Re: Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills

#196

Post by dopamean »

CaptainZapp wrote: post #141
kazinator wrote: post #125

Yamaha wants to sell you noise-canceling headphones, and a motorcycle.

Although most people know Yamaha as a manufacturer of motor bikes and possibly electronics its origins are in manufacturing music instruments. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_Corporation "Yamaha was established in 1887 as a piano and reed organ manufacturer by Torakusu Yamaha as Nippon Gakki Company, Limited (日本楽器製造株式会社 Nippon Gakki Seizō Kabushiki Kaisha?) (literally Japan Musical Instrument Manufacturing…

I had a Yamaha piano and a Yamaha motorcycle growing up. I always thought that was really cool.

Re: Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills

#197

Post by Dylan16807 »

jensen123 wrote: post #89
Nagyman wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A bit harsh to make a blanket statement about intelligence; people just need information which isn't being readily provided or is being drowned out with too much information. The collective actions seem counterintuitive to people paying attention, but paying attention requires time - which doesn't come easily if a swath of the population is busy with two part-time jobs and recovering with reality TV in the meantime.

If you read a few books on nutrition, you will learn that refined sugar is unhealthy. This is not hard for anybody with half a brain to figure out. As for working two part-time jobs etc., many of the people doing this buy status symbols like SUVs, iPhones, big houses etc. If they didn't buy so much unnecessary stuff, they wouldn't need to work so much.

> iPhones

Yep, buying a nice phone for half the price of phone service is why poor people are poor. How stupid of them. If they had just saved an extra $10 a month, they wouldn't need that second job.

Re: Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills

#198

Post by malz »

cisstrd wrote: post #155

Nestle is a very big company making all kinds of products, and since ever more people are following the health and fitness craze, there are so many people obsessed with health, they want to profit from it. They want to adjust their company in order to guarantee future profits, that's actually (a) the most normal thing in the world and (b) a form of following consumer's choice and wishes. I don't see how selling sugar…

My local drugstore sells both kinds of products too. If it's evil for Nestle, it's arguably even more evil for Walgreens, since that's where the consumer is making their purchasing decision.

Re: Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills

#199

Post by lake99 »

GordonS wrote: post #149
lake99 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to eat a lot of sweets when I was young. Not for breakfast, because that's not the customary here, but at all other times. I liked that stuff. As I grew older, I lost my taste for all that. I have seen this pattern in so many other people too. Kids like sweet stuff. As long as they are active and are in the normal weight range, I don't see any reason to discourage it either, except at night, after brushing tee…

> As long as they are active and are in the normal weight range, I don't see any reason to discourage it either Diabetes is a pretty good reason.

Hardly. Sugar has been made the scapegoat. Many things contribute to diabetes, sugar is but one among them. Meat has been shown to contribute significantly[0]. If you dig into it further, you'll see study after study blaming "normal" amounts of meat consumption as a factor for an increased risk of diabetes. And yet, few people want to give it any thought.

[0] http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/27/9/2108.full

Re: Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills

#200

Post by malz »

jensen123 wrote: post #72

The other day I went to buy some canned refried beans. When I read the label, I noticed that it contained refined sugar. WTF?!? There should be no need for sugar in refried beans! After recovering from the shock, I went to another grocery store, where I found refried beans without sugar. Why does this happen? Obviously, sugar tastes good. That has to be why companies add it to all sorts of things. However, if most pe…

Another explanation: EVERY can of beans at a mass supermarket like Safeway has the same ingredients. You have to go to Trader Joe's or Whole Foods to avoid the national brands. Many people don't have that option or choose to use it.
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