Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills • Hacker News Board

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

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Post by gurkendoktor » Tue, May 10, 2016, 10:30 PM UTC

cynicalkane wrote: post #106

gurkendoktor wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's fascinating. I've been boycotting Nestlé for many years based on documentaries and articles in German-language media. I've just tried to dig up some English articles for the first time, but they are much harder to find. Compare the German-language version of Nestlé criticism on water: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestlé#Trinkwasser ...to the English one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestlé#Bottled_water Ther…

> Nestlé does not seem to believe in water as a human right. Otherwise, why sell water from areas where it is already scarce? Selling is often the best way to manage scarce resources, particularly in the presence of a government that cannot be trusted to effectively ration them. Most reasonable people don't object to companies selling food or clothing.

Of course people object to companies selling food when it is scarce. Many reasonable people (governments included) are trying to stop the overfishing of the oceans or poaching of endangered animals.

Is there an example of a scarce resource that was better off being managed by company than a government?

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

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Post by unclebucknasty » Wed, May 11, 2016, 1:38 AM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #236

unclebucknasty wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> someone should be able to carefully select healthy foods, the evident reality is that people aren't able to do so You are conflating people's ability to select healthy foods with their desire to do so. There is no lack of information regarding eating healthy, at least here in the U.S. It's just that people frequently eat what they like and, then, too much of it.

> There is no lack of information regarding eating healthy There's a very high noise-to-signal ratio in information purporting to be about eating healthy, with considerable investment in misinformation by commercially interested parties. So, while it is in one sense true that there is not a lack of information, that should not be taken to mean that it is simple for laypeople to get and identify accurate information o…

That's a bit of a red herring. Sure, misinformation and even disinformation exists, but many people knowingly make choices that are widely and irrefutably known to be poor: fast food, high sugar content, fried and overtly fatty items, processed foods, gross overeating, and on and on.

This is overwhelmingly the problem versus health-conscious people being consistently duped into making poor choices.

Given this, there's little reason to believe that resolving controversy over "finer points" of misinformation to which you refer would be significantly impactful.

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

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Post by unclebucknasty » Wed, May 11, 2016, 1:50 AM UTC

cookiecaper wrote: post #240

unclebucknasty wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> someone should be able to carefully select healthy foods, the evident reality is that people aren't able to do so You are conflating people's ability to select healthy foods with their desire to do so. There is no lack of information regarding eating healthy, at least here in the U.S. It's just that people frequently eat what they like and, then, too much of it.

No, I disagree. Foods are regularly marketed as healthy when they are in fact unhealthy. Labeling is frequently deceptive. Foods that are well-known to be healthy, like fruits and vegetables, are modified to accommodate preferred taste profiles. Go to Walmart and look at the maple syrup section. You'll see about 8 SKUs that claim to be "Syrup", meaning they're just a viscuous fluid, but cleverly omit the actual term…

But, it's all right there on the label. The problem is that many people just don't care.

Sure, not every obese person eats 40 Snickers a day. But, short of glandular or other medical reasons, they are surely aware that their diet and lifestyle are unhealthy. You don't get to 400 lbs without realizing that it may be something you're doing. So, It's a little misdirection to suggest that people are consciously attempting to make healthy choices, but are tricked into the exact opposite without once questioning it during their journey to obesity.

Add to this the fact that messages about calories, sugar, exercise, etc. are copious and inescapable.

Yes, marketing and even labeling can be deceptive, but it's not the root of the problem by a longshot.

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

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Post by nikdaheratik » Wed, May 11, 2016, 6:57 AM UTC

AndrewUnmuted wrote: post #210

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…

First of all, diabetes pills are not really 'health products.' They are more like 'you fucked up your health, now try not to die' products. Even Nestle's low-fat and low-sugar "foods" are a far cry from "health products." You are being disingenuous by conflating the two, or even for suggesting that Nestle is in the business of selling "health products." Beyond that, however, I see a pretty big flaw in your reasoning…

But they don't sell "problems" they make and sell food, some of which is good for you and some not so much.

The reason why they exist at the level they do is because of the economies of scale you gain from being able to order millions of tons of grain, sugar, milk, etc., then processing them in huge factories, then distributing them to other huge companies that own grocery stores and vending machines, etc. It doesn't strike me as morally questionable to include other products, including medicine (OTC or not) in that process. In fact, if it makes the medicines more affordable it can be more beneficial for the people who need it than not.

The reason why activists keep going after them and other large corporations is because getting them to change their behavior, when they're one of the largest purchasers or creators of something, can make more difference than lobbying the government to make every corporation follow suit. Which is why we should try to encourage them to do better about issues that matter, including changing packaging and contents of "junk" food.

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

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Post by staticelf » Wed, May 11, 2016, 11:19 AM UTC

pluma wrote: post #148

staticelf wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We will probably become fatter and at the same time remain very unhappy about it. People don't get sexually attracted by fat people.

I know this may come as a shock, but any one person's specific sexual preferences aren't always universal.

I was writing in a general sense. You don't see many fat models, do you?

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

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Post by bduerst » Wed, May 11, 2016, 6:25 PM UTC

miles wrote: post #325

bduerst wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The very next sentence they wrote (after what you quoted out of context) is in alignment with the studies you linked. Their point was that consumption behavior causes Type 2 diabetes, not the substance alone.

I'm not sure this can be much clearer: "For a while the association between sugar consumption and type 2 diabetes was thought to solely relate to weight gain, but new research conducted at UC San Francisco indicates that sugar intake may also be directly linked to diabetes." "As far as I know, this is the first paper that has had data on the relationship of sugar consumption to diabetes. This has been a source of con…

All that says is that obesity isn't the only precursor of diabetes. Mass consumption of simple sugars is shown to be a cause of diabetes and a cause obesity. Mass consumption of sugar is not moderation.

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

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Post by gerardnll » Wed, May 18, 2016, 10:02 AM UTC

md224 wrote: post #256

gerardnll wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are not talking about what is health or not, the sugar they sell is bad, that's it, there's no questioning, there are doctors that agree on that, non biased studies, half the USA is ill with diabetes, etc. Every company has to have a social responsability, I don't see it here. They are causing harm with their products and they also sell the 'cure'. (actually the best is not to eat any of their products, then you d…

> the sugar they sell is bad, that's it, there's no questioning I dunno, I think sugar is pretty delicious. Not everything has to be about maximizing your lifespan, you know. A balanced life can include tasty stuff.

I don't use any sugar in any of my recipes (a part from pastry) and they are tasty. More than all this processed food. Just using whole foods. Maybe it's the mediterranean diet, we eat too good here in Spain ;P

At the end it is all about balance as you say, but I really prefer to be balancing between meals that are too caloric than processed foods which we don't even know which ingredients contain.