Health & Nutrition: A Challenge for Governments?

Health and nutrition are issues that remain challenging for most governments. Whereas some nutritionists argue that health and nutrition is an individual responsibility, there is more to this than meets the eye. For instance, food manufacturers produce cheap but highly chemicalized foods that people of the middle class and low-class status can easily access. Although this may seem to be an economic issue, it is also a political issue. Manufacturing companies mainly drive the economy of a country. The absence of industrialization implies poor economics of any state. In as much as there are many other industries apart from those that produce food, the main focus of this paper is the role played by industrialization in health and nutrition. No population can survive without food. Farming has also become a significant source of chemicalized food with the rise of genetically modified crops. Some governments have tried to enforce policies that mitigate the increase of nutritionally-related diseases. However, several challenges have led to the failure of such systems. Therefore, this paper discusses the political issues in implementing policies related to health and nutrition while maintaining economic growth.

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Health nutrition Issues among Americans

David Freedman wrote about his experience in Cafe Sprouts in the City of Oberlin, State of Ohio (Graff et al., 123). Freedman describes having the best experience of a beverage that he had ever had in his entire lifetime. The smoothie he was served comprised of apples, kales, blueberries, and carrots. Freedman admits that the fresh farm produce was ground in a machine, and the result was a very tasty smooth (Graff et al., 123). However, Freedman also admits that the pure glass of smoothie comprised of approximately 600 calories (Graff et al., 123). The amount is higher than what he had ever consumed in a day while using his healthy diet. The smoothie cost Freedman $9 that day (Graff et al., 123). While he questions whether he would make this a habit, the question is o the consequences of such a decision. Freedman's case enlightens on common challenges that Americans face in their nutritional life. One would easily fall for such fast foods and beverages that appear healthy yet with high-calorie levels. In so doing, the paradox of obesity will continue to remain unsolved.

Another related case concerns an 'Escape from the Western Diet' with ideas reviewed by David M. Cutler et al. The group of authors wrote about 'Why Americans Have become more Obese' to the Journal of Economic Perspectives (Graff et al., 125). Cutler et al. (94) describe the eating and food preparation habits of Americans since 1995 to date (Cutler et al., 95). According to the journal, Americans spent forty-five minutes coking and cleaned up in twenty-one minutes by 1965 (Cutler et al., 96). However, with the rise of industrialization and the emergence of food processing companies, the numbers significantly reduced. By 1995, Americans would prepare food in 27 minutes and clean in four minutes (Cutler et al., 97). Between 1965 and 1995, the eating time has declined from sixty-nine minutes to sixty-five minutes (Cutler et al., 99). The implication of such a decline is a result of processed foods that cook with a shorter time than fresh foods sourced from the farm. Also, industrialization meant that most Americans could now earn a better income with the rise of employment opportunities. Therefore, people would instead order pre-packaged foods than spend time in the kitchen. More extended working periods and the need to rest may also be a reason for consuming processed foods.

Lastly, Michael Moss tells of a situation in 1999 that brought business rivals to seating to Pillsbury in Minneapolis (Moss, 97). CEOs from thriving American companies like Nestle, Coca-Cola, Mars, Nabisco, and Kraft, among others, pulled up in a private meeting to discuss the rising obesity epidemic (Moss, 98). As investors in the foods and beverages industry, the rivals had to set aside their competitive desires and discuss how best they could offer products without harming the ordinary American citizen (Moss, 99). The implication of such a meeting between men that were never friends indicates how bad the health of the American citizen was and still is at risk amidst corporate and economic growth (Moss, 99). Thus, it would take more than a meeting between involved companies in the food and beverage industry to solve the puzzle of health food production. As a result, this paper continues to look at the role plaid by American politics and challenges faced by the government in implementing health policies.

Politics and Political Challenges in Health and Nutrition

It is during the post-2015 plan of development that researchers are gladly looking into some of the drawbacks to enacting health and nutrition policies. Researchers dig up historical challenges that faced the enactment of such reforms to create a basis for future changes (Balarajan &Reichi, 2004). Such drawbacks to nutrition policies and programs are said to arise from political sources. Other than the underlying technical issues in food production and efforts of company owners, it is essential to discuss this topic from an economic and political viewpoint. Such problems include power, incentives, institutions, interested groups, and a wide range of ideas.

One of these challenges is leadership. Most nutritionists face difficulties in enacting reforms due to a lack of reliable power in homes, communities, and, worse, an entire state (Balarajan & Reich, 204). As a result, nutritionists end up with limited control over their ability to implement reforms. It could be associated with the lack of support for the ideas by local authorities. Thus, the least they can do is publish their thoughts on media platforms with no reliable power to enforce the ideas into policies (Balarajan & Reich, 204). The national government needs to have a robust institutional determination and pledge to implement nutritional leadership (English Tree TV). Nutritional policies can only be successful if the mandate is presided over by the office of the president, prime minister, or a list of powerful ministries. Therefore, it is easier to implement such policies at individual levels if the ideas are first advocated for by local authorities depending on a countries decentralization of leadership.

Coordination is also a political challenge facing nutrition policies. It entails the ability to bring together stakeholders from various ministries and form common goals that allow power management towards nutrition programs (Balarajan & Reich, 204). Despite the importance of coordinating multiple sources of power in a government, it has seemed difficult to put it into practice. As a result, there are extraordinary stories of successful multi-sectorial nutritional plans (Eat Happy Project). Also, a few people or researchers can provide evidence on how multi-sectorial programs can be run (Balarajan &Reichi, 70). The solution to this challenge is to create task forces, including a group of researchers that will offer more evidence on the implementation of multi-sectorial nutrition programs.

The third politically-related issue is the accountability that emanates from cases of weak structures of governance in nutrition bodies (Balarajan &Reichi, 204). There are multiple owners in the food and beverage industry, with most differing opinions about consumer health. Also, the multiplicity of owners leads to cases of shared responsibility where results are less accounted for by individuals. The national and sub-national levels of governance also share experiences with such challenges. Therefore, it requires strong sub-national and national nutritional leadership to implement policies affecting the health of citizens.

Another political challenge is framing, which implies the existence of a variety of information that clouds the judgment of nutrition problems and possible solutions. A variety of evidence on what the problem is may exist to brainwash the nutrition advocates and the general public who are targeted by nutrition campaigns (Balarajan &Reichi, 70). The existence of contradicting information is hazardous to the progress and enactment of nutrition policies (Eat Happy Project). As a result, there arise mixed opinions about the suggested policies amongst nutritionists (Balarajan &Reichi, 70). When such occurs, there is a lack of a consensus that divides the nutritionists leading to a loss of credibility to influence crowds.

Lastly, hierarchy appears as another political challenge facing the implementation of nutrition policies. Nutritionists have limited power and are viewed with not much authority. They do not have a lot of command to the public. Unlike other health professionals, they are treated with the least respect (Balarajan &Reichi, 70). For instance, physicians will easily attract the attention of policymakers as compared to nutritionists, who are regarded with less importance. Therefore, it will take quite a while before nutritionists make an impact on society (English Tree TV). The solution to this challenge is that the policymakers have to be informed about the role played by nutritionists in the life of an American citizen.

Conclusively, this paper discusses the politics of nutrition and health other than individual responsibility. With the listed cases of American consumption habits of packaged foods, it is realized that there are three ways in which the paradox can be solved. First, it starts with the individual. Every American has the responsibility to choose what to consume for the best of their health status. Secondly, it is the role of food and beverage companies to come together and describe what the acceptable means of producing healthy food products are. Lastly, the government has the mandate to control all activities related to nutrition by first recognizing the role of a nutritionist.

Works Cited:

Balarajan, Y., Reich, M.R. Political economy challenges in nutrition. Global Health 12, 70 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-016-0204-6 https://globalizationandhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12992-016-0204-6Cutler, David M., Edward L. Glaeser, and Jesse M. Shapiro. "Why have Americans become more obese?." Journal of Economic Perspectives 17.3 (2003): 93-118. https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/089533003769204371Eat Happy Project. Healthy Eating: An Introduction for Children Aged 5-11. YouTube (2016) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMHVEFWNLMcEnglish Tree TV. Healthy Food vs. Junk Food Song. You Tube. (2016) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE8lezHs19sFreedman, David H. "How junk food can end obesity." The Atlantic 19 (2013).

Graff, Gerald, Cathy Birkenstein, and Cyndee Maxwell. They say I say: The moves that matter in academic writing. Gildan Audio, 2014. https://www.tamut.edu/faculty/syllabi/201680/80666.pdfMoss, Michael. "The extraordinary science of addictive junk food." New York (2013). https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=BYuLBQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA127&dq=Michael+Moss,+New+York+Times,+1999,,+Obesity+in+America&ots=r1ipfWJig9&sig=ix62JXD6zooZMRUNmg5POwWPvNU