|
I’m afraid we
will
be judged on a never-ending sea of oversized caskets below a surface
littered with empty prescription bottles and crumbling
Food Pyramids
built by congressional pharaohs run
amok. |
general interest
article
How the colon got the shaft
by Jeff D Leach
Amidst the usual
mob of protesters and tear gas, WTO ministers met last December in Hong
Kong to discuss – among many things – the crippling global affect of
low-cost export commodities from the US made possible by mammoth farm
subsidies. However, the effects of US agricultural policies on global
pricing continue to overshadow the more devastating health effects of
these policies within our own borders.
The farm bill
signed by President Bush in 2002, which pledged an astounding 190 billion
in subsidies over the next ten years, was the latest in a long line of
legislation that likely guaranteed that the next generation of Americans
will suffer higher rates of obesity and diabetes, have more strokes and
heart attacks, and consume less fiber than any previous generation in
human history. While bulging waist lines and clogged arteries grab all the
headlines, the decreasing health of our colons through diminishing amounts
of dietary fiber as a function of government policy is a looming and
disastrous health crisis that will knock the healthcare system flat on its
back.
As an
anthropologist, I’ve had the opportunity to peer into our nutritional past
at the bits and pieces of meals and lifeways left by our ancient
ancestors. Fortunately, they were messy.
In ideal
preservation contexts we often see evidence for daily intake of diverse
species of plants that provided 75, 100, and up to 150 grams of fiber a
day. This is similar to fiber intake noted among many healthy, rural Asian
people today, or what we saw 75 years ago in places like South Africa,
Uganda, and other far away non-westernized regions. But in the US today,
depending on gender, age, and activity level, our government recommends we
only eat 25 to 38 grams a day – give or take. Based on this guidance,
Americans promptly consume about half of that.
The important
physiological role of fiber in human health lies in its ability to
stimulate the growth and health of the trillions of good bacteria that
live permanently in our colons. These evolutionary hitch-hikers have
evolved a special symbiotic relationship with humans over eons and have
become so intertwined in our health and well-being they are considered an
organ. Importantly, these healthy bacteria require fiber to live.
Our diminishing
dietary intake of fiber is literally starving our colonic bacteria,
inhibiting their ability to defend us against invading pathogens that make
millions of people sick, many of whom will die. A healthy and well-fed
population of colonic bacteria increases mineral absorption (think
calcium), has positive affects on biomarkers of colon cancer, reduces
symptoms of IBS, and reduces the risk to coronary heart disease by
modulating bad cholesterol. And the list goes on.
We cannot simply
go from a species that evolved on a diet of nutrient-rich fibrous plants,
to one that eats almost no fiber. The current US guidelines for fiber
intake are – from an evolutionary perspective – in actuality, low fiber
recommendations that represent nothing more than the efforts of lobbyists
who represent industries that have an interest in seeing the “number of
servings” for their “food groups” maintained or increased.
To understand the
decreasing role of fiber in the American diet, we need not look farther
than farm subsidies. Aside from boosting profits within the industry,
these subsidies result in low-cost commodities – especially grains - which
end up as highly processed (read: no fiber) ingredients in many popular
foods. This is one of the reasons you can buy five boxes of macaroni and
cheese – which supplies nearly 6,000 nutrient-poor calories – for $1.
Further, the average American derives nearly 40 percent of daily caloric
needs from heavily subsidized added sugars and fats/oils.
Though the
government says we should eat more fiber-rich fruits and vegetables, these
categories historically receive very few subsidies. This is why fresh
fruits and vegetables increased a whopping 120 percent in price from 1985
to 2000, while grain, fats/oil, and sugar-laden products increased far
less. With an ever-increasing number of Americans barely making ends meet,
choices for “what’s for dinner” have already been economically
predetermined, and fiber-rich foods can barely be seen on the plate.
As anthropologists of the future look back
upon our society, what will they see? Unless we stem the tide of
unbalanced agricultural subsidies and honestly address the gaps in
nutrition education among consumers, I’m afraid we will be judged on a
never-ending sea of oversized caskets below a surface littered with empty
prescription bottles and crumbling Food Pyramids built by congressional
pharaohs run amok.
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