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July 9th, 2016 
Awake Goy
Susanne Posel ,Chief Editor Occupy Corporatism | Media Spokesperson, HEALTH MAX Group
America has a weight problem and there are many theories as to why this is so, but a new research paper produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers a new twist in the debate.
Apparently government subsidies to select food industries, such as meat, cheese, and corn, has contributed to the expanding waistlines of Americans for two reasons: 1) they have unhealthy levels of cholesterol and sugar; 2) these are the foods identified as contributing to weight gain.
According to the study: “The US Department of Agriculture and US Department of Health and Human Services Dietary Guidelines for Americans emphasize consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein and moderate amounts of dairy, while recommending limited consumption of saturated fats, sugars, salt and refined grains. At the same time, current federal agricultural subsidies focus on financing the production of corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, sorghum, dairy and livestock, the latter of which are in part via subsidies on feed grains.”
This research involved the data from a federal survey wherein ten thousand people were asked about their food-eating habits. Fifty-six percent of the participants ate food that was subsidized such as meats and cheeses; while thirty-seven percent of those questioned were likely to be obese and fourteen percent were expected to have “too much belly fat”.
The researchers explained this problem: “The present finding that higher subsidy scores are associated with adverse cardiometabolic risk highlights the effect that agricultural subsidies may be having on health disparities in the United States, in part due to the lower cost per calorie of unhealthier food and the higher cost per calorie of healthier food. Although eating fewer subsidized foods will not eradicate obesity, our results suggest that individuals whose diets consist of a lower proportion of subsidized foods have a lower probability of being obese.”
Corresponding to this study is previous research that shows there has been a steady decline in fruit and vegetable consumption over the course of 10 years.
Between 2003 and 2013, the USDA’s website describes “loss-adjusted supplies of total fruits and vegetables available to consume in the United States have fallen from 299 pounds per person in 2003 to 272 pounds per person in 2013.”
And yet the USDA is hopeful that “the drop is related to declining consumption of orange juice, potatoes, and head lettuce, which could signal a move toward healthier fruit and vegetable products.”
In the end, the USDA concludes that “the higher the education level of consumers, the more likely they will be to consume a wider variety of vegetables over traditionally not-so-good-for-you foods.
The federal agency stated: “In 2007-08, college-educated adults consumed 187.4 pounds of total vegetables per person per year, of which 100.7 pounds were other vegetables. Adults with only a high school education ate 181.9 pounds of total vegetables per person, of which 87.6 pounds were other vegetables. Adults who had less than a high school education consumed 158.2 pounds per person of all vegetables, of which 76.3 pounds were other vegetables.”
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