BBC 'The Men Who Made us Fat'

I watched the BBC's 'The Men Who Made us Fat' series a while ago, and am only now blogging about it. Presenter Jacques Peretti looked into the illusions the British public are under when buying and eating food everyday.

I found this programme particularly interesting, although I must admit I did switch off occasionally when he delved into deep historical content of our food production industry over the past 30 years. However, all in all it was a very interesting if not shocking programme, which I think is certainly relevant to not only students, but anyone looking to lose weight. I will be blogging about particular parts of the programme that interested me the most.

Firstly, he met with an MRI Professor who looks at peoples internal body fat (that which is not visible.) I thought this section related particularly to boys, who claim they can 'eat what they like' because they 'are skinny and don't gain weight'. And, in fairness, I've always taken the mentality of 'It's not how much you weigh, it's what you look like'. I was wrong. Here's what happened: Jacques Peretti went through one of his MRI scans, and him being a fairly average sized guy, if not on the slightly thinner size for his age, came out with shocking results. The average man of his age and size should have around 2 litres of fat in their bodies. Peretti, however, had 4-5 litres. He, and the viewers, were stunned! I'm sure everyone can think of someone they know who eats junk food like a horse and never gains weight, so warn them! These hidden fat deposits put them at risk of diabetes and heart disease more so than someone healthier!

Secondly, Peretti looks at how the idea of snacking has dramatically affected our country's health climate. Who knew that only a few years ago, it was frowned upon to eat anything between your 3 meals a day. Once chocolate bars were invented, no one knew what the limit was so ate and ate and ate! The easy thing for students is this: students are poor, therefore can't afford snacks, therefore don't eat them!

Lastly, Peretti analysed the marketing strategies of our major food producers. After snacking was brought in and the Freezer was invented (establishing what we know as the normally unhealthy 'ready meal' into people's kitchens), the public suddenly found themselves becoming fat. One American scientist came to the conclusion that fat content in foods was what was making people gain weight, so there was a sudden demand for 'low fat' products as we still see on our shelf today. A British Scientist believed that sugar as well as fat contributed to weight gain, but his ideas were shot down by authorities, claiming he did not have enough evidence. So, the major food producers began releasing 'low fat' meals and snacks, plastering the words across their packaging so it was the first thing the consumer saw. However, with no one reading the small print, they packed double the amount of sugar into it, meaning people would eat as much as they like thinking they would lose weight, when it actually did the opposite. This is an important thing to bear in mind! Something which is marketed as healthy isn't necessarily healthy! Peretti gave the example of a 'Pret a Manger' sandwich has more calories in it than a Big Mac at McDonalds, and an Innocent Smoothie more calories than a can of Coke.

Some Supermarkets began to approve the 'Traffic Light' system, which alerted the consumer whether the product was high in one area or low in another area. For example, a product high in fat would appear in Red under 'Fat' or a product low in sugar would appear in Green under 'Sugar'. 

Unfortunately, not all Supermarkets wanted to introduce this, as they feared they may lose profit from it. In my opinion, this is a ridiculous opinion to have of the system. And makes me angry to think that some food manufacturers and retailers appear to not want to help our current obesity problem. It's all very controversial, but bringing it back to a student-beneficial scheme, the Traffic Light is something to look out for in Asda, Sainsburies, Co-op, Waitrose and M&S.

I would recommend this program to anyone who has an interest in food, health and well-being!

You can gain further information about this program here