Myth Busters

Many big-government ideas for food policy are based on certain myths: That people in poor neighborhoods lack access to fresh fruits and vegetables, and are surrounded by too many fast-food restaurants; that advertising forces people to choose bad foods; and that most people are too cash-strapped and uninformed to eat well. How nice to see a “helping of skepticism about the causes of Americans’ poor eating habits—and the effectiveness of political fixes” in the Washington Post by Katherine Mangu-Ward, managing editor of Reason. Click here to read the entire article, titled “Five Myths About Healthy Eating;” below are some choice excerpts:

“But the prevalence of food deserts is almost certainly overstated. Not having a supermarket in your Zip code isn’t the last word in access to healthy food. According to the USDA, 93 percent of ‘desert’ dwellers have access to a car. And farmers markets, often overlooked in surveys of rich and poor neighborhoods alike, have tripled since 1994.”

“Dinner menus are the product of subtle and pervasive food cultures, which can’t be tweaked from the East Wing.”

“The Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, has concluded that ‘current evidence is not sufficient to arrive at any finding about a causal relationship from television advertising to adiposity [excess weight] among children and youth’ … Cracking down on advertisers gives politicians a scapegoat, but it doesn’t make kids, or their parents, healthier.”

“The same study that found no effect on diet from increased access to fruits and vegetables also found that proximity to fast-food restaurants had only a small effect, and it was limited to young, low-income men.”

“Eliminating access to fast food and other junk food means taking away choices, something Americans don’t tend to like, even (or perhaps especially) when it’s for their own good.”