Pollan: Food and health care industries feeding off fat Americans

Apparently Michael Pollan’s seven-word philosophy on eating – “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants” – is falling on millions of deaf ears.

The author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food says the U.S. spends $500 to $750 billion on health care just because of the way we eat. Things like high fructose corn syrup are finding their way into more and more foods, which is cheap and profitable for the processed food industry, terrible for consumers and a boon for the health care industry, he says.

“The health care industry profits mightily from the sickness of the population,” he said. “You know, the food industry is producing lots of patients for the healthcare industry. It’s a very convenient relationship.”

But there is hope, Pollan argues in an interview with Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman. The proposed health care plans currently in congress are attempting to insure everyone is on an equal footing. That means healthy folks as well as people who are expensive to care for like those with Type 2 diabetes won’t be turned away by insurance providers.

A big factor of getting Type 2 diabetes is diet. If insurance companies are forced to keep diabetics under the umbrella, they will have an incentive to keep people healthy. Because, of course, a healthy diabetic requires much less expensive care. With this incentive, the health care industry and the food industry would be at odds, which can only benefit the American public. Then, instead of trying to sneak around Pollan’s food rules, which he lays out in the new book Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, the health care industry might actually embrace a new way of thinking about diet.

Now if there was only a way to pit the American people against the processed food industry directly, which would be better for us, animals and the world.