Kelly D. Brownell, PhD
Invited Address: Do We Have the Courage to Change the Nation’s Diet? (2198)
Friday, August 15
1:00–1:50 p.m., Room 210A

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Dr. Kelly Brownell, professor of psychology and epidemiology and public health at Yale University, and also director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, describes the psychology behind the obesity epidemic.

Q: What does the latest research say about what we can do about changing our national diet?

A: Changing the national diet is not an easy task. One of the reasons is that politics are in the way and the politics are driven the large part by very heavy lobbying and funding by the food industry. But with that said, the public is really warming up to ideas about changing the food environment and that's why you see so many school systems getting rid of soft drinks, for example. It's why you see in New York City trans fats being taken off of the restaurant list of foods. You see labeling legislation happening in various parts of the country. So these are all very positive changes and I think they're a sign of the future and also offer the possibility that we will be creating an environment that makes it easy rather than almost impossible to make healthy choices.

Q: Are the factors leading to these bad health decisions the same for kids and adults?

A: There are a great number of factors that are contributing to obesity and there are some cases where they might be different for adults and children, but for the most part the same factors are influential. Now those factors break into several categories: for example, there's high consumption of certain foods that make it difficult for the body to regulate hunger and satiety and body weight. And people tend to gain weight on these foods, so soft drinks, sugared soft drinks, would be an example, fast foods would be another. Then there are structural factors in the environment, like economics. The sad fact is, healthy food costs more than unhealthy food—that of course becomes a particular issue for the poor. And then you have practices of the food industry that are big players here, such as the relentless heavy marketing of unhealthy food and, in that case, children are especially targeted. And then in addition to that you have declining physical activity that is a major issue, and that's really affecting all segments of the population as well. So there's really no one thing that can be pointed out as the cause for obesity, but rather there are a number of things that are important contributing causes and I believe it's important that each of them be addressed.

Q: Tell me a little bit about the present economic situation. Is it making the current eating situation worse or better?

A: The present economic situation is interesting, in that of course there's been this rapid rise in food prices, driven by energy costs going up and a number of other world trade factors. And so in many parts of the world, the cost of the raw materials that go into food products has gone way up, not to mention the raw foods themselves, like fruits and vegetables. And this has made it very difficult for people to even survive in some parts of the world. Now some people have speculated that these high food prices would help us make progress on the obesity front because of course, one can't buy as much food if the prices are very high, but in fact it may have the opposite impact, because if people are in a financial pinch, which they are now more than ever, then they tend to be pushed toward the foods that are lowest in cost and those tend to be the highly processed foods and fast foods that are highest in calories. And because of that, it's possible that this situation now is going to exacerbate the obesity problem, rather than help remedy it.

Q: And how can psychologists help people turn this around?

A: Psychologists can be very helpful with certain parts of this food dynamics equation. For example, there is recent evidence suggesting that food may help trigger an addictive process—at least some foods may do this in some people. And if this is true, then psychologists could be very helpful in understanding the biology and psychology of food and addiction. Another area where psychologists can be very helpful is in understanding the impact of food marketing. There's a tremendous amount of food marketing, directed especially at children, and almost all of it is for foods that you'd like to see the population eating less of. And so what's needed are studies to really pin down cause and effect relationships between the food marketing and children's diets and ultimately their health, and psychologists are very well-positioned to do that.

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