The Role of Taxpayer Subsidies in the Obesity Epidemic

Why are U.S. taxpayers giving billions to support the likes of the sugar and livestock industries? And does this contribute to weight gain and obesity?

If it really were a government of, by, and for the people we’d be subsidizing healthy foods if anything, to make fruits and vegetables cheap or even free, but instead our tax dollars are shoveled to the likes of the sugar industry or to livestock feed to make cheap fast food meat.

It's funny, though. I‘ve been working on the How Not to Diet cookbook this week (which will be out in December) and I’ve got a bunch of sorghum recipes! So here I am in the video asking “When’s the last time you sat down to a bowl of sorghum?” and soon I hope you’ll all be like, “last night!”

We’re about halfway through this series on the obesity epidemic. If you missed any so far, check out:

Thanks for watching. I hope you’ll join in the evidence-based nutrition revolution!
-Michael Greger, MD FACLM

[NutritionFactsOrg]

Make sure you see every new video (including live Q&As -- next one is Thursday, April 23) by turning on your notifications. -NF Team

[Barnaclebeard]

I'm always discovering new ways that adopting veganism has protected *me* from cruelty and exploitation. Giving up animal products gave me so, so much and much of it has been unanticipated and unexpected.

[drvincentesposito]

Amazing information. I think often, when I bring some of this information up, I get looked at like some kind of "conspiracy theorist."


If we start incentivizing our farmers to grow more produce, I'd be interested to see what only that change would make in health outcomes...But like you mention, the profit margins aren't there....

[gracemorganspeaks]

This is so nice good you explained it. Wishing everyone good health, stay strong, wealth and be safe

[eelkeaptroot]

Sickened or killed by your own hard earned cash, the irony!

[Rikenglebert]

Thank you for being a beacon of fact & wholeness - I have been aware of these issues & attempting to tell people in a manner that is far less eloquent than this video. Bless you

[susanb]

Another informative video. This doctor is so interesting! Thanks Dr. G!

[alchemistdreams]

I wouldn’t mind if we had access to these cheap prices that manufacturers are getting. Corn and wheat (whole or flour) that I find isn’t that cheap, and sorghum is expensive. Even soybeans is more expensive than other beans.

[sooooooooDark]

0:50
unnerving table right there monkaS

[ryank]

Dr. Greger, you might consider going with a matte finish on your glasses for these videos so it doesn't reflect the green screen on your glasses.



Thanks for taking the time to put this out there. At some point, more people will become interested in how they got to where they are. Videos like this will help educate them and allow them to make more informed decisions.

[writerchik]

The billions of dollars in subsidies to bail out these reprehensible businesses and industries drives me crazy 😡

[califsherry]

It's important to recognize the difference between a currency issuer - like the US federal government - and currency users - like state and local governments, businesses and households. Only the former creates the currency. Federal taxpayer money removes dollars from the economy in ways that impact taxpayer behavior. Congress subsidizes the obesity epidemic when they pass the federal budget.

[jengilbert]

There's also subsidization through the WIC program. Like food stamps, this program provides food for low income families with young children. However, the food provided is limited to specific foods and brands. For instance, you can get eggs, but if you choose to forgo eggs, then you just lose that food. You can substitute cow's milk with soy milk, however only sweetened brands are allowed. Dry breakfast cereal is another food provided, most of the options available are heavily processed and contain added sugar, fat & salt. For instance, frosted mini wheats are a program food, but regular shredded wheat is not. This program does provide some produce, but it's limited to $9 per young child per month.

[FireweedFarm]

He's very correct that there are huge obesity problems and huge farm bill problems tied to c heap farm products, such as those used by junk food makers and animal factories. He's wrong in understanding how it happens in the farm bill, who the real beneficiaries are, what the role of farmers is, and therefore he gets the implied solutions all wrong, siding with the exploiters, not the victims, as does almost everyone commenting on this problem here, (except me, my playlists?). Like almost everyone else, he refers to "the sugar industry, " "the corn industry, " including farmers. But at the core, farmers and processors/CAFOs have opposite interests, and have fought against each other for decades over these issues, wi th farmers losing, corps winning. The term "Big Ag" represents the same false lumping. Crop farms of all sizes have the same basic ratio of huge reductions prior to any subsidies. Missing is the huge ("8 times bigger?") scandal of why subsidies were started. And no, the farm bill wasn't designed as a temporary program, but was for the permanent need of chronic market failure (cheap prices): "Lack of price responsiveness" "on both the supply and demand sides for aggregate agriculture, " price "inelasticity." This is "where the [real, non subsidy, ] money is!" It was fixed in the New Deal with minimum farm price floors, (like minimum wage floors, ) backed up by supply reductions, as needed. This unmentioned solution was needed for 60 years prior to the Depression, ("Are the five oft-cited reasons for farm programs actually symptoms of a more basic reason") and ever since, so it's permanent, not a temporary program design. Like others, he misinterprets "Sweetening the Pot, " which refers to the academic term "implicit subsidies, " But these are from chronic market failure, not the government.("Phillpot, Bittman, Imhoff and Lappe are wrong about Time Wise")  Subsidies don't cause cheap prices, (Paradox of Agricultural Subsidies, p. 21 summarizes 6 major studies, and see my "Michael Pollan Rebuttal." The interpretation of "Industrial Livestock Companies Gains..." fails for the same reason.  In fact, farm prices and net farm income have fallen much more than the subsidies given back to farmers. What happened is that the corporate lobby won, farmers lost, and Congress reduced price floors, more and more, (1953-1995, ) then ended them. Subsidies cause people to blame the farmer victims. But mere subsidy cuts or elimination does nothing to restore fair farm price floor programs to fix the problem.

[martinengelbrecht]

Dr, I love the green shirt so glad you are going green. World reset and see we are going in with all guns blazing. Dr you are going to cause a real food revolution. ♥️🇿🇦♥️✔️👍😁 You are amazing Dr! I have your book.

[hennew]

Doctor Greger, could you please take a look at histamine intolerance and how to handle it the best way?

[XXusernameunknownXX]

This has been well known for years. Government subsidies are not necessarily a bad thing, like when the are used for disaster relief (like our current situation) or in cases where they are needed to prevent over reliance on foreign markets for goods. We don't want to end up having to completely import critical crops because there is no domestic production capacity, especially when global supply chains are disrupted like they are now. Beyond that, governments should not be picking winners and losers.
This is touchy subject in many ways. Removing these subsidies could be seen as punishing the poor, who often do not have the time or money to prep fresh and nutritional meals everyday and rely on cheap calories to survive. But it's obvious, based on this data, that something needs to be done. I think there is an economic case to be made on why these policies are bad

Also, just my guess here, i think a lot of the rise in fruit/veg can be explained by the rise in organic crop production and an expansion in the variety of fruits/veg available in your local market. Organic farming is less productive and more labor intensive, and all the exotic fruits/veg have associated shipping costs.

[sooooooooDark]

some black dude recently (randomly) came up to me in the store (here in germany) when i was buying a watermelon for 1, 39 euro/kg and told me that "in my homecountry somalia i remember 20 years ago that i bought i case of 200kg of watermelons for 3 dollars; all this here is scam!"
so im asking: 😡where is my close to free watermelons tho 😡

[earthpet]

This is corporate welfare. The best cure for the obesity epidemic is to think about American politics...both sides make me lose my appetite.

[PercivalBlakeney]

It IS a bit much, I'm paying for the meat producers even here in the UK.
It Sucks!


Harrumph!
😠