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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

#241

Post by stickfigure »

benatkin wrote: post #107
stickfigure wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't blame this on Americans. Walk into any tiendita in rural Mexico and you will find isles of candy and sugary beverages, much of which Americans wouldn't recognize. Mexico loves sweets. I'm glad they're recognizing that dietary health is a serious issue and trying to make changes. But I wonder what effect this will have on paleterias? They're one of the many things I miss from Mexico.

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.

Mexico has Jarritos, Sabritos, Barcel, and lots of other local brands that are much more prevalent than their American counterparts. If Coca-Cola, Frito-Lay, and McDonalds all vanished suddenly, it would not significantly change the diet of most Mexicanos. You might be able to formulate a coherent hippie rant about "corporate food" but it isn't a specifically American phenomenon.

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

#242

Post by aisengard »

dj_mc_merlin wrote: post #58
sitkack wrote: post #16

Sugar is an addictive poison. These products should be outright banned. Folks can make wonderful pastries at home. https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2009/06/8187/obesity-and-metabolic... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

> These products should be outright banned. This attitude is more dangerous than sugar.

Maybe, but there doesn't seem to be much danger in them being enacted on a global scale. Even the OP article is treating added-sugar products like age-restricted alcohol, not an outright prohibition. We've seen what happens to laws that try to prohibit consumption in adults (soda ban).

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

#243

Post by nostromo »

munk-a wrote: post #136
controversy wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not just encourage. What we’re finding is that the government has to be authoritarian. China welded people into their homes to keep them from spreading COVID. They literally caged them like animals and threw them into trucks. Now Mexico is denying children potato chips. Think about universal healthcare and alcohol. How much money is spent on alcohol related issues? The best answer is to ban its sale. Same for to…

That doesn't really go any way towards explaining why Canada, Europe or the Oceania[1] democracies have done so well in the crisis - nor does it explain how Brazil has done so poorly. I think there is more counter evidence then supporting evidence for authoritarian governments being necessary for dealing with pandemics. 1. Please note - comparatively well, Canada, Europe & Oceania aren't doing perfect they're just do…

> Europe [has] done so well in the crisis

UK, Sweden, Italy, Spain, and Belgium all have had more COVID-19 deaths per capita than the US. And France has a rate nearly equal to the US.

UK, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Belgium, France, and Netherlands all have worse case fatality rates than the US. And so does Canada. (But, this may be because the US has done more testing.)

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/08/05/8993658...

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

#245

Post by aisengard »

dj_mc_merlin wrote: post #135
smt88 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is dangerous about banning products with added sugar? I mean, I'm against it. A lot of traditional foods, like fruit preserves, have added sugar. But what is danger, exactly? People would just not have food that tastes as good...

The danger is not in banning products with added sugar, but in the government having the power to regulate what one may do with one's body. If I wish to drink beer, smoke cigarettes and drink/do coke, that is my decision. The primary argument against that is that it puts strain on society to provide for people when they experience health issues from that. I have paid my entire life for social health programs and heal…

The government does have the power to regulate what you do with your body when your body interacts with the public. Cigarettes are rightly banned in enclosed spaces and shared public spaces. Alcohol is rightly banned if you combine it with operating heavy machinery. I agree that drug use should be decriminalized (complex topic), and that the outright banning of sugary products is a dumb idea.

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

#246

Post by aylmao »

x87678r wrote: post #183

Can we ban sugary breakfasts too? Captain Crunch, Froot Loops & their ilk should be illegal.

I think another good move here is to ban the use of cartoon characters to promote unhealthy food. It's outright targeting of the population group most vulnerable to this marketing.

In Chile they implemented regulations on the packaging of junk food and they yielded great results. They apparently saw a 25% reduction in sugary drink consumption in the first 18 months [1].

[1]: https://www.eleconomista.com.mx/internacionales/Consumo-de-b...

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

#247

Post by spanhandler »

plafl wrote: post #96
liability wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I don't think most people blame USA, it's just "progress". Yesterday at the supermarket I noticed the disproportionate ratio between healthy food (and I count there red meat) and junk food (snacks, sweets,...)

Low- or zero-prep junk food is also incredibly cheap. When I see comparisons done it's usually ingredient costs of healthy food to full-price junk food costs, but that's not how poor people shop for junk food. They go to Taco Bell when the tacos are like 60¢ each or less, through promotions or coupons. They buy Totino's frozen pizzas eight at a time, on sale at half-off. They buy giant bags of store brand sugary cereal and pairs of 3L bottles of store-brand soda, again, on sale. Costco pizzas (they are so cheap on a calories-per-dollar basis, for zero-prep hot food) and bakery items for the enterprising slightly-less-poor who can scrape together the annual fee. Whichever chips or snack crackers are on sale. Off-brand pop tarts—holy crap those are calorie bombs and very cheap and you wouldn't believe how many kids have a couple of those for breakfast most every day. And so on.

Even relatively-healthy-but-not-really-healthy frozen meals can't compete with the outright crap. It's so very cheap.

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

#248

Post by munk-a »

stickfigure wrote: post #241
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.

Mexico has Jarritos, Sabritos, Barcel, and lots of other local brands that are much more prevalent than their American counterparts. If Coca-Cola, Frito-Lay, and McDonalds all vanished suddenly, it would not significantly change the diet of most Mexicanos. You might be able to formulate a coherent hippie rant about "corporate food" but it isn't a specifically American phenomenon.

It's unclear whether all of those soft-drinks would be as successful as they are if Coca-Cola didn't open up that market though.

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

#249

Post by munk-a »

amelius wrote: post #212
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.

Most kinds of soda are available in sugar-free form, so drinking soda shouldn't be the problem.

Aspartame is pretty terrible for you, so sugar-free alternatives that use artificial sweeteners (instead of just naturally savory flavorful options) aren't great either.

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

#250

Post by munk-a »

plafl wrote: post #96
liability wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I don't think most people blame USA, it's just "progress". Yesterday at the supermarket I noticed the disproportionate ratio between healthy food (and I count there red meat) and junk food (snacks, sweets,...)

I think it's pretty easy to tie that "progress" back to American interference in local economies - I can't really speak to how much that is attributed, but blaming America certainly isn't a stretch.
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