Then and Now - Portion sizes ??

One of the interesting things that change while a country goes through development path is the changes in "food habits, consumption patterns". Some of the good things that happen during developing stages is that

• abundance, easy availability and ease in sourcing of stuff that otherwise not earlier feasible (If it is grown somewhere in the world, I am sure it is available for consumption in US somewhere !)


• extended life through improved preservation, packaging and distribution through grocery chains linked across country


• switch from commodity base to variety focused (for eg ordering Coffee in old days was just that -coffee, you never asked for other options - now you go to starbucks the menu listing is quite a mouth ful !)


• easier processing / bulk manufacturing through automation (even mother's milk is available in packets)

So all of these have made our life easier such that we get the food that we like best, closer to home, in best possible condition and comfort, ofcourse at best possible prices.

Now let's look at the negative side & impact of these changes- particularly focusing on one topic "Portion sizes of food items". Most of you have watched the movie Supersize me (If not, you should !)

I did notice this too like most immigrants, the size of what is considered small in US is equivalent to probably a medium or large elsewhere in world. So the common complaint heard from an American visiting other countries is that portions are generally small, where as those visiting US are in awe of the supersizes when they order for example a large soda or pizza.

So on one hand we should be happy that we get a better value for money in quantity terms(physical measures like lb or gram per $ spent), but what about the qualitative impact the bigger portion has on

• long term health of population exposed ?
• amount of food wastage ?
• impact on food shortages ? or resulting rise in prices ?
• ofcourse the impact of overconsumption on earth's resources ?

Unquestionably bad right!! but what do we do about it ? or more importantly as relevant to this blog is how are developing countries dealing with this trap of increased size portions while adopting to the new food habits such as prepared meals, packaged meals, fast foods, refrigerated items etc ? or what should they be doing differently and pro-actively learning from lessons

So here is where I spent sometime exploring the world w/respect to Portion sizes, for example "what size should a pizza slice be ?", or "how much coffee should be there in one cup ?", or "how do we avoid food wastage ?" etc . Also the measures being adopted (good and bad if any) in different parts of the world to control this epidemic.

Facts to know :

> Excellent quiz from National Institute of Health (NIH) to gain an awareness of how portions of food have grown in US in over last few decades.

> Portion sizes offered by fastfood chains are often two to five times larger than when first
introduced.

Hershey's chocolate bar 0.6 oz in 1908 ; 1.6 - 8.0 oz in 2002
Burger King Hamburger sandwich 3.9 oz in 1954 ; 4.4-12.6 oz in 2002
McDonald's soda 7 fl oz in 1955 ; 12-42 fl oz in 2002
Coca Cola bottle 6.5 fl oz in 1916 ; 8-34 fl oz in 2002

> Portion sizes of these items offered in the United States exceed those available in Europe. Largest orders of French fries and soda at McDonald’s in the United States contain about 100 calories more than the largest sizes offered in Sweden, for example.

> Fast-food portions in Europe ofcourse also are also larger today than they were in 1998. Today’s largest soda at Burger King in the UK is 10 oz larger than in 1998.

> Americans spend nearly half of their food budget on foods prepared outside of the home and consume about one-third of daily calories from outside sources, much of it from fast food.

> Rather than reducing portion sizes, the top fast-food chains are engaged in sleight of name, so don't be fooled by the so-called voluntaty efforts. McDonald’s and Wendy’s have dropped descriptors such as Supersize, Biggie, and Great Biggie and replaced them with Medium or Large

> Discussion about fast food and its negative impact

Sources : Journal of Public Health Policy (2007) 28, 238–248. The Contribution of Expanding Portion Sizes to the US Obesity Epidemic

Efforts being done in India:

FSSAI - established under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 which consolidates various acts & orders that have hitherto handled food related issues in various Ministries and Departments. FSSAI has been created for laying down science based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.

Food quality regulator to rate Delhi eateries ahead of 2010 Games

Lessons to-be learned & measures to be adopted :

Policy approaches are urgently needed in developing countries to establish, educate and enforce portion size controls & reduce energy intake from fast foods learning from the experiences of developed countries.

Governments, health care regulatory agencies, industry, political parties, NGOs, citizens in general from developing nations like India to immediately look for ways to avoid this problem in first place, and aggressively initiate proactive measures.

Derived from my own research and assessment, here is a sample list of such measures that are needed for places like India :

• A single front-of-pack labelling scheme for all packaged foods & publishing mandatory nutritional information on menus for food eaten out of home
• smaller portion size restrictions & increased taxation for energy-dense and high salt foods & saturated fat and sugar levels in particularly beverages
• guidelines for marketing food to children in schools, cafeterias
• increasing public awareness and consumption of healthier and balanced foods and media-based communication of key healthy eating messages to explain and act on the relationship between portion sizes, calorie intake, and weight gain.

Ofcourse to implement these, there is no need to reinvent, here are some examples of already work done globally which can be tailored to local needs:

• CDC Brochure and Dietary recommendations for Americans in US on portion control
• In 2001, the Surgeon General announced a "Call to Action" for obesity prevention which stressed the importance of portion control.
• The New York City Health Department recently approved regulations to require fast-food chains to post the calorie counts of foods directly on menu boards
• Taxation : A Healthy Tax - taxing drinks/foods oversized or loaded with sugar or salt is the right step toward fighting this epidemic.
• Efforts in UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) directing all stakeholders including businesses, trade associations and non-governmental organisations to take action.

As you are aware this is by no means is end of this topic, but rather a beginning - feel free to add your comments, raise local awareness among politicians, join a non-profit group, initiate your own actions to help out.

Striking similarities ?? or do we never learn ??

WSJ posted an article this week titled "Recession Turns Malls Into Ghost Towns ". Quoting from this ...

"With their maze of walkways and fast-food courts, malls have long been an iconic, if sometimes unsightly, presence in the American retail landscape. A few were made famous by their sheer size, others for the range of shopping and social diversions they provided.

But the long recession is helping to empty out the promenades.

Some analysts estimate that the number of so-called "dead malls" -- centers debilitated by anemic sales and high vacancy rates -- will swell to more than 100 by the end of this year...

Now my blog always tries to compare and contrast the developed countries vs the developing countries, and hope they don't commit the same blunders in the name of progress and development. So let's go to the otherside of the world, to India where the headlines scream ..

India :

• 328 new malls by 2010: retail report - LiveMint.com ;
• Are luxury brands, malls future of Indian economy? - Economic times, India
• India's Mania for Malls - Time

Related Posts & Links

"how US got malled" - look back at the American Mall's rise to prominence and recent woes from 1950's to present day.

Malls R US documentary trailer



Groceteria - a history of the American supermarket, from both an architectural and a business perspective.

India's shopping as it still exists in most parts of India until the recent mall mania took over ...





A glimpse of current Malls already open in India's cities

India's Elections

Now that the elections are over in India, where the ruling Congress party came back with a thumping majority much contrary to the predictions of political pundits. So here's an interesting article in Indian express revealing statistic about the wealth of the recently elected members of parliament (MPs). Infact all MPs elected from my home state of Andhra topped the list with a combined wealth of 600 crore rupees (6 Billion rupees).

Now is that a statistic that one should be proud that India is getting rich and the rich bloc are getting into politics finally or to be ashamed that democracy is being hijacked by the rich while increasing even further gap by the rich and poor (nearly 15 per cent of the people living in abject poverty for eg in Andhra Pradesh). Ofcourse we also need to be reminded that declared wealth of politicians is only tip of the iceberg, the true wealth could be beyond our imagination.

No wonder when I spoke to my Dad in India on his opinion of the recent elections, he said one word "despicable". Ofcourse all is not gloom and doom.. there's a brighter side to these elections and change is occuring of course at a snail's pace.

This again from own home state of Andhra, where JP, the former buearucrat leader of the newly formed Loksatta (People's power) Party won against cash-rich traditional political parties and all odds, on ideal beliefs of rooting out corruption, and getting back to grass roots movement that once Gandhi led, through what JP calls "a second independence movement". It's one seat only that the party won, but it's a beginning.. and am sure we will only see it grow in to a formidable opponent in the years to come.

Gurgaon, what grows outside Delhi

What do we want to see emerge from this greatest crisis of capitalism in 70 years?

Excerpts from a recent article published in Guardian, UK by Timothy Garton Ash ...

"What do we want to see emerge from the greatest crisis of capitalism for 70 years? If I had to answer in a single phrase, I would say: new models for a sustainable social market economy. This requires us to change as well as our states.

Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, has observed that today's big private banks are global in life but national in death. When it comes to the bailout, it's the national government most directly concerned that takes the lead. And that means us, national taxpayers, picking up the bill.

Yet all this talk of states and systems is only half the story. It was the conduct of individual human beings that led us into this mess, and it is the behaviour of individuals as well as the structuring of systems that has to change.

Bottom line :

"More than 30 years ago, Daniel Bell explored in his Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism the paradox that the dynamism of capitalism depends on individuals living by somewhat different values in their personal lives as producer and as consumer.

Extending Max Weber's famous argument about the protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism, he suggested that the production side depends on people harking to values such as hard work, punctuality, discipline and a readiness to accept deferred gratification.

The demand side, by contrast, depends on them being self-indulgent, expansive, pleasure-seeking and given to living in the now. Add to this the new constraint that the planet will not sustain more than 6 billion people enjoying constantly rising living standards achieved by the methods of production and consumption so far used. Complicate matters further by the moral argument that the world's rich have no right to deny the world's poor a materially better life, which would still be a fraction of the affluence we ourselves enjoy.

What you end up with is not just a systemic conundrum but also a personal challenge to every one of us. The challenge is to find a new balance in our double-lives as producers and consumers, at the same time consciously contributing to a larger set of new international balances between economy and environment, oversaving east and overspending west, rich north and poor south. That, too, is what I mean by a sustainable social market economy."

3.5M Kids Under 5 On Verge Of Going Hungry

Normally this headline would have been generally associated with a thrid-world country in Asia, Africa.. no big deal right, not exactly.. it is quite shocking to find that this is recent statistic for US.

The not-for-profit advocacy group Feeding America based its findings on 2005-2007 data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Agriculture Department. The study, released Thursday, May 7, 2009 is the first to look at these numbers for children under the age of 5, according to the group.

The study also shows that in 11 states, more than 20 percent of children under 5 are at risk of going hungry. Louisiana has the highest rate, with just under a quarter of children at risk, followed by North Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Idaho and Arkansas.

According to the Agriculture Department, 11 percent of households lacked enough food for an active, healthy life, before the economy worsened late last year.

The U.S. study coincides with a U.N. statement claiming, the number of hungry people in the world could soon hit a record 1 billion, despite a recent drop in food prices.

Deglobalization

Regulators in Britain have started asking U.S. banks selling bonds there to provide hundreds of pages of proof that the mighty U.S. government, which is backing the bonds, could actually repay them.

Tens of thousands of burned investors around the world complaining loudly that they were sold toxic bonds that were supposed to be safe. In street demonstrations from Hong Kong to Hamburg, protesters are demanding that their governments do something to get their money back.

Now there's a growing fear among economists, policymakers, and business groups that in the name of protecting their citizens from global financial institutions, governments could slow the flow of capital between countries—at a time when the world economy is already contracting. "We're looking at a period of, at best, a pause of globalization, and more likely a period of 'de-globalization,' "