Have you ever wondered why a salad costs more than a Big Mac? Well, here’s why. Just compare the pyramids below, prepared by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (1) and reported in the New York Times (2).

There is a huge imbalance between what the Government recommends we should eat and the foods they actually subsidize. Why is this? Because of lobbying, Congress chooses to subsidize the production of foods that we should be eating less of. The end result is that we continue to experience very high levels of obesity and chronic disease in the USA, accompanied by ever increasing health care costs.

Christopher J. Jones, M.Sc., Ph.D.

References

1) Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (2007) Health vs. Pork: Congress Debates the Farm Bill.
http://www.pcrm.org/magazine/gm07autumn/health_pork.html

2) The New York Times Business Section (2010) http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/why-a-big-mac-costs-less-than-a-salad/