That’s hard to argue with. But somehow, we’re not quite ready to start holding our breath.
I know this statement stands in against of my working spot but considering either side of coin, it is the unavoidable fact. Technological advances in food production have done at least as much harm as good.
In this fast moving life, one has no time for themselves thus they surrender themselves in front of so called healthy packaged food. It saves time, it saves efforts, it also economizes space but we have to see that all this is at what cost? The cost you bear is not only on account of money but in terms of health as well.
It is said that science is divine but technology is bad. Food Science is definitely divine but the new technologies developed in the name of science are bad for human health.
It is well known fact that processed food cannot stand in front of Fresh food. The diet of modern community people bear little resemblance to the foods our ancestors ate, and this discrepancy is often noted in discussions about the causes of the current “obesity epidemic”. One has to understand the difference between lavish food and wholesome, good food. Our ancestors’ food was not lavish food but it was good, nutritional and balanced food which was evolved out of years of their usage, study and experience. Unfortunately this nutritionally dense food is fast disappearing from our dining tables due to our blind pursuit of western world.
The argument goes like this: Since fat and sugar were historically hard to come by, our bodies are built to hold on to them to help us get through the lean times. This may have served us well in the caveman days, but not so much in the era of the KFC Double Down sandwich and McDonalds
Dr. David Ludwig, director of the Optimal Weight for Life program at Children's Hospital Boston, takes a fascinating look at how innovations in food technology have backfired for humankind over the millennia in this week’s edition of the Journal of the American Medical Assn. The roots of World’s weight problem go back much further than the invention of high-fructose corn syrup and the introduction of frozen TV dinners.
Indeed, in early hominids, who got by on a diet consisting primarily of plants and insects. Then, about 2 million years ago, the first “transformative technology” arrived on the scene: stone tools. These made it possible to hunt large animals and – along with the discovery that meat could be made safe to eat by cooking it in a fire – allowed humans to evolve large brains.
“If food addiction exists, blame the brain -- not the cookies“
Though the development of grain-based agriculture roughly 12,000 years ago, made it possible for the human population to multiply and for advanced civilizations to develop, it also made possible the development of less nutritious diet, since grains contain fewer nutrients per calorie. As people shifted from hunting and gathering to an agrarian lifestyle, their average height dropped by several inches. Diseases caused by a lack of protein and nutrients also became widespread for the first time.
From there, Lets jump to the Industrial Revolution, which (among other advances) made it possible to mass produce flour and sugar. “This era culminated in the widespread dissemination of ultra-processed products such as fast food throughout the World”.
Processed foods tend to emphasize tasty ingredients like sugar, salt and fat. To decrease transportation costs and extend shelf life, they contain less water, leaving each morsel of food more densely packed with calories. The detrimental health effects of these innovations are obvious.
But we can’t simply abandon food technology– indeed, if the nearly 7 billion people on the planet are to be fed, we must embrace it. However, we should keep in mind that “reducing the burden of obesity-related chronic disease requires a more appropriate use of technology that is guided by public health rather than short-term economic considerations,”
That’s hard to argue with. But somehow, we’re not quite ready to start holding our breath.
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