Katie Couric Documentary Blames Sugar for Obesity Epidemic

“Fed Up,” a new documentary produced and narrated by Katie Couric, with appearances by food experts Marion Nestle, Michael Pollan and Michele Simon, among others, chronicles the struggle of obese children who have purportedly become addicted to food. While the film claims that unethical advertising, snack ubiquity, enabling parents, and poor school environments have contributed to America’s obesity epidemic, it primarily places the blame on this nation’s obsession with sugar and the government’s alleged capitulation to the food industry and its lobbyists, referring to them as pushers of “the new tobacco.” The film also features scientists Robert Lustig and David Ludwig, as well as real-food advocate Mark Bittman. See NPR The Salt, May 19, 2014.

Issue 524