Junk food, sugar and additives - The dark side of the food industry | DW Documentary

Carole's struggle with obesity began in her early teens, fueled by a diet of junk food. This pattern of eating caused her to gain weight, leading to bullying and self-loathing, questioning her appearance and worth. Despite her increasing consumption of unhealthy food to cope with negative emotions, her condition only worsened. Her story exemplifies the deliberate formulation of food products with high sugar, salt, and fat contents by manufacturers, aiming to make them irresistible. This engineering targets consumers' basic instincts, creating a 'bliss point' of flavor that maximizes craving and addiction, similar to substances like tobacco or alcohol.

Carole's journey with obesity is a focal example at Lausanne University Hospital, which treats many patients like her. Despite losing weight after gastric bypass surgery, Carole still struggles with her self-perception. Meanwhile, obesity rates are soaring globally due to environmental changes and aggressive marketing by food corporations. This includes companies like Nestlé, which, despite internal recognition of the unhealthy nature of their products, have been slow to make meaningful changes. The narrative touches on a critical meeting in 1999, where food industry executives resisted altering their profitable formulas, highlighting their role in the ongoing obesity epidemic.

This section highlights the significant corporate influence on obesity rates through marketing strategies targeting children and vulnerable consumers. Despite scientific evidence like experiments showing rats choosing sugar over cocaine, companies like Nestlé maintain that their products are not addictive. The narrative stresses the resistance of food corporations to changing their product formulations despite knowing their impact on health. This is illustrated by a historical example from a 1999 meeting where executives refused to compromise on ingredients known to enhance addiction.

Mexico has experienced a drastic increase in obesity due to market deregulation and the influx of processed foods following trade agreements. This led to legislative measures like sugar taxes and warning labels on unhealthy products, pushing companies to reformulate their products to avoid negative labels. Despite these efforts, food companies continue to resist these changes, arguing that they limit consumer choice. The government's struggle against powerful food corporations highlights the tension between public health interests and corporate profits.

In Switzerland, despite the growing problem of obesity and the clear benefits seen from sugar taxes in other countries, political resistance and corporate lobbying have hindered similar initiatives. The narrative discusses the difficulty consumers face in making healthy choices due to deceptive marketing and the plethora of names for sugar, which hides its true content. A push for political action is emphasized as necessary to overcome the powerful food industry lobby that influences public health policies.

This section explores how the food industry aggressively markets unhealthy, ultra-processed foods to children, affecting their long-term eating habits. Educational programs in schools attempt to counteract this by teaching children about the nutritional content of food and encouraging healthier choices. However, the influence of food advertising complicates these efforts, illustrating the need for stricter regulations on food marketing, particularly to children.