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Mexican states are moving to ban the sale of junk food to children

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Mexican states are moving to ban the sale of junk food to children

#201

Post by tomjakubowski »

jeffreyrogers wrote: post #86

This is a good idea, and the people in the comments are rightly pointing out sugar's problems. But just as problematic as sugar are vegetable oils which are in almost every packaged product you can buy at the grocery store. They cause all sorts of health problems because the vegetable oils are extremely reactive (due to being unsaturated fats and so having double bonds that can react with other molecules inside your…

> (due to being unsaturated fats and so having single hydrogen bonds that can react with other molecules inside your body).

What do you mean by "single hydrogen bonds"? C-H bonds are always single bonds, and I am unfamiliar with any kind of "double" hydrogen (intermolecular) bonding. Unsaturated fats, by definition, have at least one double bond, between carbon atoms.

Re: Mexican states are moving to ban the sale of junk food to children

#202

Post by rcMgD2BwE72F »

rrrrrrrrrrrryan wrote: post #171
benatkin wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We certainly can. There's a huge amount of influence america has on global eating habits. Coca-Cola, Frito-Lay, and McDonald's are some of the major corporate villains, in case you forgot, and they deserve their reputations.

I'm not totally sure - if you go out to rural, poorer Mexico, away from the corporate chains and packaged snackfoods, the traditional Mexican diet isn't especially healthy. Lots of lard, simple carbs, etc.

Since when? And what happened?

Re: Mexican states are moving to ban the sale of junk food to children

#203

Post by xtracto »

In addition to that, the federal government set new labeling rules for food. Processes food has to display a big-ugly sign as part of their label if the product contains more calories, sugar, salt or fat than the recommended dose:

(pictures)

https://www.milenio.com/ciencia-y-salud/nuevo-etiquetado-est...

Re: Mexican states are moving to ban the sale of junk food to children

#204

Post by dylan604 »

riffraff wrote: post #109
jachell wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet if you ask any random person in the US if McDonald's is bad for you, they will say yes. I don't think the obesity epidemic is from lack of information.

I remember some statistics that showed smokers thought cigarettes were more carcinogenic than non-smokers, and actually more than they actually are. So yeah, information is certainly necessary but not enough.

Information does nothing to counter addiction. Sugar is just as addictive as nicotine, but doesn't have the negativity associated with it.

Re: Mexican states are moving to ban the sale of junk food to children

#205

Post by rrrrrrrrrrrryan »

calibas wrote: post #137
navailable wrote: post #39

Covid shows that governments who fail to encourage nutritious diets will end up with higher healthcare costs.

So it's not controversial to suggest a poor diet leads to things like type 2 diabetes and heart disease, nor is it controversial to suggest that the novel coronavirus is much more deadly for people with preexisting conditions like type 2 diabetes and heart disease. For some reason though, if I put those two things together and suggest people eat healthier during this pandemic, it's this incredibly controversial thing…

People just hate being told what to eat - it's as simple as that. I've given up trying to explain that dietary preferences are surprisingly elastic, and highly dependant on what you've recently eaten. It's something that's obvious to anyone who's dabbled with any sort of dietary modification (e.g. cutting down on carbs, or trying out vegetarianism for a bit, or just cutting out soda). Your tastes change surprisingly fast. Something that you previously loved, like a burger, or a big hunk of steak, can transform from a regular craving to something that sounds kind of gross in a matter of a couple months.

But just trying to explain this phenomenon to people is often met with extreme defensiveness. You'll hear: I could NEVER give up pasta/meat/whatever. But they absolutely could, and it wouldn't be nearly as hard as they're imagining.

I'll always encourage anyone curious about tweaking their diet to just go for it, but I've given up entirely on trying to nudge people toward a healthier lifestyle if it's not something they're already working toward.

Re: Mexican states are moving to ban the sale of junk food to children

#206

Post by novaRom »

jeffreyrogers wrote: post #86

This is a good idea, and the people in the comments are rightly pointing out sugar's problems. But just as problematic as sugar are vegetable oils which are in almost every packaged product you can buy at the grocery store. They cause all sorts of health problems because the vegetable oils are extremely reactive (due to being unsaturated fats and so having double bonds that can react with other molecules inside your…

Why anything containing psychoactive drug is actually legal to sell to kids? There's a lot of reports how bad is caffeine to underdeveloped brain. And look at any developing nation: everyone is hooked to Coca-Cola.

Re: Mexican states are moving to ban the sale of junk food to children

#207

Post by auganov »

thisisnico wrote: post #13
olau wrote: post #7

Initiatives like this has always appeared to me as a cheap way for societies to improve the health of their population. Perhaps better done in the form of a tax - in the sense that junk food causes an externality in the form of health problems, that does seem warranted. The underlying problem is that the incentives are not aligned.

We tax alcohol and cigarettes because they are bad for you, but are totally fine with binge eating as much junk food as you like. Obesity is a massive epidemic. Heart attack and stroke are the number one killers, with obesity the highest cause. I'm all for putting warning labels on food showing the potential problems of overconsumption.

Any amount of cigarettes or alcohol [0] will harm you.

"Junk food" is a pseudo-scientific designation selectively targeting certain kinds of calorie dense foods. These foods may epidemiologically contribute to obesity, but on an individual level they're far from universally bad.

I think warning about food over-consumption would be great. But selectively targeting some foods only misinforms the public.

[0] And alcohol is still getting far less attention than cigarettes. Most places still don't have warning labels about the risk of cancer or even broad public awareness, despite 3.5% of cancer deaths being alcohol attributable.

Re: Mexican states are moving to ban the sale of junk food to children

#208

Post by jeffbee »

ggregoire wrote: post #127
thewickedaxe wrote: post #10

This law is way way way overdue. American Corporations are killing Mexico's youth with junk food. I know kids who exclusively drink soda. Healthy, beautiful kids who deserve to go out and play and live their best lives.

> I know kids who exclusively drink soda. Their parents probably do too. Also worth noting, there are places in Mexico where it's easier and cheaper to get a bottle of Coca-Cola than one of potable water. [1] [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/14/world/americas/mexico-coc...

Not just a Mexico problem. There are many towns in California where I wouldn't even consider asking for a cup of water at a restaurant.

Re: Mexican states are moving to ban the sale of junk food to children

#209

Post by aylmao »

iwebdevfromhome wrote: post #6

The title is a little misleading, this is happening in the state of Oaxaca only. I guess that if it works the government is going to try and implement it across the whole country.

Oaxaca and now Tabasco too. Oaxaca was first a couple of weeks ago and Tabasco just voted this in recently [1].

[1] https://www.milenio.com/estados/comida-chatarra-tabasco-proh...

Re: Mexican states are moving to ban the sale of junk food to children

#210

Post by fedreserved »

liability wrote: post #77
thewickedaxe wrote: post #10

This law is way way way overdue. American Corporations are killing Mexico's youth with junk food. I know kids who exclusively drink soda. Healthy, beautiful kids who deserve to go out and play and live their best lives.

I know it's in vogue to blame everything on America, but Mexico has a thriving domestic junk food industry too. And frankly, many of their snacks are much better than anything America makes (Takis in particular, I think I'm addicted to them...) Anyway I support this law. Banning junk food/drinks for kids is long overdue. It's little different from banning the sale of cigarettes to kids.

Fuego con limon , spicy chips with a hint of lemon are by far my favorite chip I discovered in Mexico. It took me a few months to find them when I came back state side. I wasn't able to find the standard chip, only oven baked when I got back to the USA. Although I'm sure the oven baked are healthier, it definitely came at the expense of flavor and enjoyment
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