The Cure for Obesity and Diabetes Is Processed Food (Part 2): Incentives, Influence, and Innovation

Continued from: The Cure for Obesity is Processed Food (Part 1): When the Poison is the Antidote. Original article appeared on Actualize.

‘Big Food’ is the New ‘Big Tobacco’: Using Economic and Social Deterrents

In 1994, the CEOs of the seven largest big tobacco companies testified under oath to Congress, shamelessly claiming “nicotine is not addictive”, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary. Like obesity, smoking seemed like an unwinnable war at the time. But major successful lawsuits against ‘Big Tobacco’ paved the way for successful public health efforts. Progressive state governments like California delivered a one-two punch that helped many people kick the habit. First, they significantly taxed cigarettes, which skyrocketed costs from $1/pack to currently over $10/pack, which financially penalized consumption to cost thousands of dollars a year for chronic smokers.

Second, by banning cigarettes from workplaces, restaurants, and bars, societal norms around smoking dramatically changed. Not that long ago, I distinctly remember sitting in a confined meeting room at an international office of McKinsey, where a partner felt it was fine to smoke in front of everyone…