Asparagus For Cancer Treatment

[ siren wailing in distance ] [ woman on tv ] ...on the bridge, a little bit slow right now on the lower level. upper level looking much better. [ woman #2 on tv ] thanks, al.8:05 on this wednesday morning. time now for a check of your mathis brothers-- [ man on tv ] the bottom line is, you know, the epidemic here, susan, is worse than previously estimated-- probably much worse. we have this new report coming out overnight... from the journalof the americanmedical association--

...of doctors has describedthis week what it callsan emerging epidemic-- [ katie couric ] military leaders called that a threat to national security. if it doesn't affect you personally, it will affect you indirectly by someone you know, someone in your family. - [ laughing ]- it is just going up much faster than we thought. [ man on tv ] the problem just keeps getting worse. [ man #2 on tv ] this is a terror from within. it is a global epidemic. epidemic. [ man #3 ]clearly something's gone wrong.

[ man #4 ] kids are being told the biggest lie they will ever hear in their lives. she cannot-- literallycannot calm herself down. [ couric ] in the past quarter century, the number of overweight children has grown from... one in 20 to nearly one in five. used to be you'd haveone or two heavyset kidsin a class. now we get eight or 10. [ man #5 ] this year, for the first time in the history of the world, more people will die from the effects of obesity than from starvation.

[ man #6 ] this has ramifications far beyond obesity itself. [ man #7 ] it is worse than even smoking. the cost of this is about-- [ woman #3 ] half a trillion dollars in additional health care cost-- half a trillion. [ man #8 ] the american academy of family physicians... partnered up with coca-cola. [ woman #4 ] isn't this a conflict of interest? [ man #9 ] hope that the american academy of familyphysicians is looking for ways-- researchers say obesityis causing more and morecases of cancer... and is now catching up tosmoking as the leading cause--

[ couric narrating ] it started out as a small story. i had no ideai'd be talking about weight gain and obesity my entire career. we've been covering the problem and solutions for over 30 years. [ richard simmons ] it's sweatin' time! [ couric ] in that time, entire industries have ignited over the weight problem. [ woman ] i will neverlook like that again. first came the magazines, then the talk shows-- - and how was the diet for you?- this is the miracle we'vebeen waiting for. and now our epidemic is entertainment on network television.

how is this still an issue, much less a worldwide epidemic? we get new solutions every day. everything in the grocery store is made with less fat and fewer calories, and yet our kids keep getting bigger and sicker. it makes no sense. is there a link between ourever-expanding waistlines... and the government's owndietary guidelines? [ couric ] and that got methinking, what if the solutionsweren't really solutions at all?

the bush administrationis resisting a plan... from the world healthorganization to fight obesity-- [ couric ] what if they were actually making things worse? there are a very highpercentage of young peopleoverweight... because of a number of thingsthat have happenedin our country... in the last several years. [ couric ] what if our whole approach to this epidemic has been dead wrong? sorry. okay. uh, let me fix this.

you know, one persontold me... that fat peoplewere just made to be fat. and i don't thinkthat's true. and i know it's hard,'cause i'm still overweight. and right now i feel likei always will be. [ brady ]why do you not eatvegetables, taylor? 'cause i do not like them.why? - i don't.- why not? 'cause i don't.you just say you don't,but you don't have a reason.

yes, i do.what's the reason. i don't. [ brady ]being in the south, we eata lot of fattening things. we eat macaroni and cheese,fried cube steak,fried chicken. and that's what we're used to.that's whati've grown up doing. i've done what my parents done.my parents have donewhat they've done. it's passed on from generation. and once you start overeating,it becomes the worst habit,and it just grows. [ mother ]the first time that i thinkhe ever mentioned...

the teasing--calling him fat or something-- i think it was probablyaround the age of eight. some girls told himthey wanted to seehow fast he could run, and he ran. and later,another girl came to himand told him... that they were laughing at him,and they just wanted him to runso they could see his fat shake. he stayed upsetabout that for so long. [ brady ]we ready to eat, mama?mm-hmm. [ brady ]i'm 15, and i weigharound 215 pounds.

[ tinna ]if you like it that way-- [ brady ]i'd like to loseabout 50 to 55 pounds. i could do so many more things. maybe i could play footballor play baseball. i've always had an interestin baseball. [ tinna ] we talk about ita lot-- about, you know,the weight thing and-- i've always been overweight.and i was overweightat his age. and i don't want himto be having to obsessabout weight his whole life. you know, i want himto be able to focus on otherthings that are more important.

i really thinkhe wants to lose weight. i just think he doesn'tknow how to do it. [ brady ] everybody elsedoesn't look at itthe same way as i do. i look at it as i'm failing, and they just look at itas he's just another fat kid. [ man ]kids are obese for two reasons-- they have voracious appetites,and they don't exercise enough. [ whoopi goldberg ]americans viewoverweight people as lazy, unambitiousand lacking willpower.

[ man #2 ] all we have to dois have people eat lessand exercise more. not a very big problem. the subtle message is"it's your fault you're fat." all you need to dois eat less, exercise more. it's all aboutpersonal responsibility,about willpower. that's the messagethat's been pushed on us. i want to see you all moving,all right? forget about it. [ couric ] "eat less, exercise more"...

has been the common sense answer to unwanted weight... for more than half a century. this was the science. and it started with a mouse. the year was 1953. up until this point, exercise had been considered taboo. doctors even warned it would cause heart attacks and diminish your sex drive. then came dr. jean mayer, a french physiologist,

who would become the foremost expert on obesity in the u.s. he noted that large lab mice ate virtually the same amount as smaller mice. but the big ones weren't nearly as active afterwards. mayer's conclusion: lack of exercise must be related to weight gain. his finding sparked a fitness revolution. [ man ] this is where you come and punish yourself for fun-- or rather, for your health. here we go now.we're gonna step apart together.

to the right. apart-- [ couric ] by the time jane fonda became the face of fitness, americans were spending billions of dollars trying to lose weight. [ woman ] ♪ let's get physical physical ♪ ♪ i wanna get physical ♪♪ [ couric ] but as more and more people began exercising, more and more waistlines grew out of control. between 1980 and 2000, fitness club memberships more than doubled across the united states.

during that same time, the obesity rate also doubled. a decade later, two out of every three americans... were either overweight or obese. so how is it possible... that the enormous rise of the fitness revolution... almost exactly mirrored the rise in obesity rates? [ man ]something is making that happen. the question is,how is that happeningin malaysia, saudi arabia,

sweden, norway, south africaand everywhere else? and we have obesesix-month-olds. you want to tell methat they're supposed todiet and exercise? so, how our politicianscan continue... to espouse this same mantra-- "diet and exercise,you are what you eat,it's your fault"-- is absolutely beyond me. [ girl ]i am 12 years old,and i weigh 212 pounds. my doctors have saidthat i am a statistic.

i don't really knowwhat it means. i think it has somethingto do with my weight. they normally saythat i'm justsupposed to eat healthier... and exercise a lot more, which is what i am doing. i swim four days a week... and then walking my dogson the weekends. [ woman ] we didn't reallystart to worry about it untili think she was eight, um, when the doctorwanted us...

to seek a nutritionistto kind of address the issue. and i just rememberat that time... we called the nutritionistthat he wanted us to, and we were told,"we don't see childrenthat young." it has to doa lot with their self-esteem, especially with girlsonce they hittheir teenage years, because, "oh, i'm the fat kid,and i always have toconsciously watch what i eat." my doctor, um-- he told me to joinweight watchers,

um, and i can't,because i'm notold enough yet. then we stopped at that pointand said, you know what? we know-- we have the tools.we know what we'resupposed to do. let's just tryand do it ourselves. some of the thingsthat i do when i look forhealthier choices... is doingthe reduced fat-- it's got more fiber in it.it's made withmore whole grains. i look at the fat content,but cereal, by its very nature,is generally pretty low in fat. so cereal's a good go-tofor pretty muchany meal replacement.

i know whatmy family will eat, and i try and consider thatwhen i'm purchasing things. [ maggie ] i would expect that,since i'm eating healthyand exercising a lot, that i would be ableto lose more weightthan i am. but my weight has mostlystayed the same. so, sometimes it getsa little bit frustrating. [ man ]this whole generation of kids--they're doing their best. they're torturing themselves... to do the curethat we tell them,and it's the wrong cure.

and we're blamingthe willpower, the moral fortitudeof these kids, and it's a crime. [ man ]there is a solution to obesity.it's energy balance. it's balancing calories inand calories out. [ woman ] we're eatingand drinking too muchand not getting enough exercise. [ man #2 ]we will have to havegreater emphasis... on getting that energy balance. nowadays there's this phrase,"let's practice energy balance."

okay, we're gonna make surethat we know how to match... the calories into the calories out... so that we don't get fat. it's nonsense. you eat, say,110 bites of food a day, and you only burn off 109of them, you're gonnaget obese in 20 years. even if there'sa guinness world record holderof calorie counting-- calories into the calories out-- nobody can do it.

[ man ]3.40. what do youhave next?next i have swim team. we certainly don't want todiscourage peoplefrom exercising... or underplay the importanceof physical activityto health, but we are not gonnaexercise our way... out of this obesity problem. to burn offjust one 20-ounce coke, a child would have to bikefor an hour and 15 minutes. most people don't havethat much time in their day.

[ lustig ] so if you burna calorie sleeping, or you burna calorie exercising,it's still a calorie burned. the question is,is a calorie eatena calorie eaten? and for that we havereally good data. and it says a calorieis not a calorie. why is a calorienot a calorie? all right.let's give you an example. let's take an easy one.let's take almonds. if you consume 160 caloriesin almonds,

because of the fiberin the almonds, the food is notgoing to getabsorbed immediately. so your blood sugar riseis gonna be a lot lower, it's gonna be for longer. so what's the oppositeof the almond? well, the opposite of the almondwould be a soft drink. because there's no fiber, they get absorbedstraight throughthe portal system to the liver-- the liver getsthis big sugar rush.

and when your livergets that onslaught, it has no choice... but to turn it into fatimmediately. so, 160 calories in almonds,or 160 calories in soda? you tell me which is better. [ woman ] for over 125 years, we've been bringing people together. [ couric ] and yet we are continually being sold... a message contrary to the science. [ woman ] ...on something that concerns all of us-- obesity.

[ couric ] our weight, we're told, comes down to calories in and calories out. [ woman ]one simple, common sense fact-- all calories count, no matter where they come from, including coca-cola and everything else with calories. and if you eat and drinkmore calories than you burn off, you'll gain weight. [ woman ]well, one thingwe need to understand-- that the food industryis really at the heartof this problem. we're handing the industrya big gift...

in that they get to confusethe issue by talkingabout exercise. it's all about the spin, right?so the food industryis good at... kind of taking half-truthsand then stretching them. food companiesare interestedin selling more food. that's their jobas a corporation. and one way to do that is toco-opt potential critics. the soft drink companiesfund research in universities. they donateto professional societies. and, in fact, i just sawa new major analysis...

that says that soft drinkshave nothing to dowith obesity. and the study was sponsoredin part by coca-cola. we haven't heard thiskind of association before. it's the american academyof family physicians-- they have partnered up with... coca-cola, which-- [ man ] you know-- yeah,definitely a head-scratcher. [ couric ] immediately after coke's announcement, a group of 20 doctorswho helped make up the american academy of family physicians,

publicly resigned. how can any organizationthat claims to promotepublic health... join forces with a companythat promotes productsthat put our children at risk? [ couric ] but not all doctors see it the same way, particularly those whose research is funded by the industry. [ male newscaster ] even though study after study has shown soda... to be a significant contributor to america's staggering obesity crisis, dr. allison says there's not enough "solid evidence." but his critics say allison is motivated by something else--

by all the money he has repeatedly taken... from coca-cola, pepsi... and the american beverage association. [ couric ] i know you'vereceived a lot of money fromthe food industry in general. was there evidencethat said the ingestionof sugary beverages... actually contributedto the obesity problem? ingestionof all calories contributesto the obesity problem. one question you might askis whether sugary beverages... contribute more sothan do other calories.

that's a very challengingquestion to ask. well, let me ask you that.do they? it's a good question.there's reasonsto believe they might. but i don't think the evidenceis quite clear.for example-- and what would bethe science behind that? well, the ideal study might berequiring people to, uh, uh-- excuse me. let me startagain on that. let me justget my thoughts together. okay. [ man ] we know sugared beverageconsumption is producingdiabetes and obesity.

it's just ridiculousto think otherwise. and, of course,research shows itto be the case. and people are gettingwise to industry-fundedstudies that show the opposite. [ taubes ] if you're peddlingcoca-cola, pepsi,sugar water, gatorade, you don't want your foodto be consideredinherently fattening, just as the tobacco industrywould have preferred... that their product not beenconsidered inherentlycapable of causing cancer. but just like cigarettesliterally cause lung cancer, certain foods literallymake you fat.

this is a big bag. what did you have for lunch? let's tell the truth.um-- hamburger.french fries. milk and juice. - milk and juice?- they give them both. if you ever go on a diet,and you try to eathealthier food, your brain's stilltelling you "eat, eat, eat. it's not what i want.no, get something else."

you're still used tothat fattening stuff. that's why it's hardto go on a diet. you ain't gotbut a few more to go. this time of nightsure ain't that many. gotta savor the flavor.you gotta savor the flavor? you gotta savor the flavor'cause you only getso many chips. i'm trying to lose weight. my weight is pretty heavy.180. i'm a pretty heavy dude.that's why i try toget exercise in,

eat some healthy foodevery day. [ mother ] we, um, startedeating different things,more fruits and vegetables. we limit our starches.we limit our breads. we keep healthier snacks. he loves hot pockets. so they have lean hot pockets. so i make sure to havethe lean ones versusthe regular ones. it costs moreto eat healthier. so we slip.and i'm not gonna saywe don't.

because it's easierto go in there and buythe cereals with sugar in it. it's easier to buy chips,because it's cheaper. and that's whatthe food industrywants them to think. they want them to thinkit's cheaper. kfc family feast.nine pieces, any recipe, three large sides,six biscuits, 19.99. do not give up on dinner.mmm. [ hyman ]"you deserve a break today."you can get a "value meal." these are messages that havekind of gotten embedded...

into our culture,into their thinking. but there is well-documentedscientific proof... that you can eat well for less,and they don't know that. [ woman ]okay, we're gonna bein room number nine. just come right in. and it'll bejust a moment, okay? [ man ]how is the diet control going? diet control for himis getting-- is better. at first it was rocky,but it's a lot better.

i'm happy to hearthat you think thingsare going so well, but it's a bit concerning,because when i look at wesley,he doesn't look any thinner. in fact, he actuallylooks bigger than he dida few years ago. and what i seefrom the data is... is that he's continuedto gain weight... even faster than the ratethat he was before. his weight is even higherthan it was last time. i've eaten lessthan i usually have.i've exercised more. and i don't really knowwhy i'm getting more weight.

mom, have you noticedthat his skin here... is starting to geta little bit darkand a little bit thick? - it's part of what we callmetabolic syndrome.- oh. okay. his body is already startingto show some of the adult signsof overweight and obesity. i worry about that i might havea heart attack or a seizure,or something like that. i've seenthese things on the news. and i've seen my familyhave had it too. and i'm worriedmyself might have it. [ nurse ]so relax your arm and your leg.

and take some deep breaths.and here we go. [ hyman ] it's not justgenetics. we're seeing strokesin eight-year-olds. we're seeing heart attacksin 20-year-olds. we're seeing kids at 30-- by their 30th birthdayneeding... renal dialysisfor kidney failure, because of these problems. [ lustig ]genetics are a veryimportant part of this, and certainlythere are people...

who are genetically susceptibleand genetically prone. but genetics is notwhat this is about. when i was young,the obesity rates... were actually pretty rareamong children. there's beena stunning increase. [ woman ]we haven't hadthis situation... throughout the whole historyof mankind... until the past30, 40 years. [ couric ]most experts saythe obesity epidemic...

really has taken placein the last 30 years or so. looking back,do you thinkthere's anything... that your administrationor other administrations... could have doneto prevent this? i don't know.i missed it sort of. we knew that-- we had an effortto try to increase the exerciseprograms in the schools... and improvethe cafeteria requirements, but i don't thinkwe appreciatedthe magnitude of it. we've got all these kids,even preteens,with type 2 diabetes now.

that used to be calledadult-onset diabetes. it was unheard offor young people to get it. and it's becominga big problemin other parts of the world. second-fastest growing area--middle east and north africa. it's not only a personal tragedyfor a lot of young people-- and interfereswith their quality of life,their mobility, but it will lead to... enormous complications for us. as physicians,we know how to take care ofa 50-year-old or 60-year-old...

with type 2 diabetes. what none of us have done... is to take care ofthat 10-year-old... with type 2 diabetesfor five, six, seven decades. we don't knowthe consequences of that. and that scares me greatly. [ couric ] if there's a moment in time marking the start of the obesity epidemic, it's 1977-- the mcgovern report.

the senate special committeeon nutrition... is looking into the connectionbetween heart disease and diet. [ couric ] expert testimony before the committeeon nutrition and human needs... warned senator george mcgovern that obesity would soon be... the number one form of malnutrition in the united states. when we get the kind ofoverwhelming consensus... that has developedbefore this committee, it seems to me we havesome obligation to share thatwith the american people. [ couric ] with predictions of rising medical costs,

the committee issued the very first dietary goals for americans, noting that our diet had become overly rich in fatty meats, rich in saturated fats and cholesterol... and rich in sugar. the egg, sugar, dairy and beef associations, with sales of their products in danger, united... and flat-out rejected the mcgovern report. they even demanded a rewrite. the byzantine politicsthat i saw taking place here...

the last couple of weeks... had to do with the powerof lobbies. [ couric ] despite mcgovern's best intentions, the dietary goals were indeed revised, and the words "reduced intake" were removed from the report for good. instead, they encouraged americans to buy leaner products... and buy more food with less fat. and so, the 1980s began with a new health doctrine... and a brand-new market--

every food product imaginable reengineered to be low in fat. when you take the fatout of the food, it tastes nasty. tastes terrible.tastes like cardboard. food industry knew that.so they had to do something... to make the food palatable,to make it worth eating. so what did they do?dumped in the sugar. ♪♪ [ pop ] [ man ] ♪ sugar ♪ ♪ aw, honey, honey ♪

♪ you are my candy girl ♪ ♪ and you got me wanting you ♪ ♪ honey ♪ ♪ aw, sugar, sugar ♪ ♪ and you got me wanting you ♪♪ [ couric ] between 1977 and 2000, americans have doubled their daily intake of sugar. sugar is poison. it is a chronic--not acute-- chronic--

dose-dependent--depends on how much you eat-- because there isa safe threshold-- hepato-- "liver"-- toxin. the metabolic diseasesthat are associatedwith obesity-- the diabetes, the heart disease, the lipid problems,the strokes, the cancer-- those diseasesare being driven by sugar. [ couric ] fructose, the sweet part of sugar,

can only be processed in the liver. when your liver is pushed to the max, the pancreas comes to the rescue... by producing excess amounts... of a hormone called insulin. [ lustig ]insulin is the energy storagehormone. insulin turns sugarinto fat for storage. that's insulin's job. [ couric ] high levels of insulin can also block your brain...

from receiving the signal that you're full. [ beeping ] [ lustig ]problem is your brainthinks you're starving. so how do you feelwhen you're starved? crappy, tired, slothy. sit on the couch,don't want to do anything. and, of course, hungry. well, i've just describedevery obese patient. the behaviors thatwe associate with obesity--

the eating too much,the exercising too little--the gluttony and the sloth-- they are the resultof the biochemistry,not the cause. [ brady ]all right. i'm atthe grocery store with my mom, and so far our buggy'sgot cheez-its, cookies, pudding. [ couric ] the problem is... sugar isn't just in cookies and desserts. [ lustig ] if you go tothe supermarket, there are600,000 food items in america, and 80% of themhave added sugar.

[ couric ]sugar can hide behind many names on nutrition labels, like sucrose, fructose, glucose, dextrose, lactose, maltose, invert sugar and turbinado sugar. and the most well-known of all, high-fructose corn syrup. [ lustig ]you'll absorb themexactly the same. and so, all of the studiesthat have pitted... high-fructose corn syrupagainst sugar...

show no differencebetween the two. they're both equally bad. [ couric ] so, too much sugar, in any form, is dangerous, even if the high-fructose corn syrup is replaced... with any of these other varieties. it's not just all ofthe excessive sugars, but the processedstarches too-- white bread, white rice, potato products,prepared breakfast cereals--

are digested into glucoseliterally in an instantin the digestive tract. you can eat a bowlof corn flakeswith no added sugar, or you could eat a bowl of sugarwith no added corn flakes. they might taste different,but below the neck, they're metabolicallythe same thing. [ lustig ]when you consumesugar naturally-- that is, in fruit-- you're getting the fiberthat you need to mitigatethe negative effects. am i worriedabout fruit? no.

but am i worriedabout fruit juice?oh, you bet. because when you takethe fiber out, you might as wellbe drinking a coke. i drink diet sodaall the time, and i want to knowif diet soda is good for youor bad for you. [ hyman ] a lot of people thinkthat they can just switch fromsugar to artificial sweeteners-- "diet" this, "diet" that,splenda, aspartame-- but it triggershormonal responses... that cause youto produce more insulin.

they make you crave more.they make you hungry. you think sugar's on the way.your brain's like,"wait a minute. i think sugar's coming.i tasted it." so, low sugar, low fat,diet foods-- they're dangerous,and they're actuallydisease producing as well. disease doesn't happenwith one meal, but it happenswith a thousand. but that's what we have,because now sugaris with every meal. good morning.i am just getting readyto go to school this morning,

and i just ate cereal. ♪♪ [ acoustic rock ] [ man ] ♪ sweet on the tip of my tongue ♪ ♪ you taste like ♪ ♪ sunlight ♪ ♪ and strawberry bubble gum ♪ [ brady ]i have everything i need hereto make my healthy lunch. some peanut butter. ♪ you spike my blood ♪

♪ and you make my heart beat faster ♪ ♪ own me, you own ♪ ♪ and rattle my bones ♪ ♪ you turn me over and over ♪ ♪ till i can't control myself ♪ ♪ make me a liar, yeah ♪ ♪ one big disaster ♪ ♪ you make my heart beat ♪ ♪ faster ♪ [ vocalizing ]

♪ 'cause you make my heart beat ♪ ♪ faster ♪ ♪ faster, yeah ♪♪ [ lustig ]so, 10 years of sugarin the morning, sugar in the evening,sugar at suppertime, you've got thisveritable tsunami... of obesity and metabolicdisease we see today. my name is joe lopez.i'm 14 years old. and i'm in ninth grade.

right nowi'm about nearly 400. i've trieda lot of things, but... none of them really work. i would lose some weightand then gain it back. [ man ]all of us in my familyhave always been heavy-- all of us. i guess it's culture. you know.it used to be--grandma used to say, "you don't get off of that tableuntil you eat everythingyou have on there."

and we kind of thoughtthat that's the wayit's supposed to be. [ mother speaking spanish ] [ joe ]it's not as easyto just stop eating, because i havea huge appetite... for twinkiesand all that sweet stuff. yes, i know, you're gonna sayi'm putting him in harm's way... by giving him all the foodthat he wants and stuff, but i know he sneaks stuff-- cookies and cakesand all that.

or he gets stuff at school,or he gets stuffwith his brother, and, uh-- you don't haveno control over it. i wish i did,but, uh, you don't. you don't. processed foodis much more powerful... than we ever realized. for decades,we had the science to showthat drugs of abuse... can hijackthe neural circuits... to get us to come backfor more and more.

we now have the scienceto show... that you can make foodhyper-palatable too, and that gets us to come backfor more and more. [ man ] researchers at princeton university... have been studying how ratschange their eating behavior... if they're allowed to drink sugar water. [ couric ] in a recent study, 43 cocaine-addicted laboratory rats, were given the choice of cocaine or sugar water... over a 15-day period.

forty out of the 43 chose the sugar. in another study, rats on a sugar water diet... exhibited telltale signs of addiction-- binging, craving and withdrawal-- when the sugar was taken away. food addiction is a real thing. it's not a metaphor.it's a biological fact. the studies showthat your brain lights upwith sugar... just like it doeswith cocaine or heroin.

in fact, sugar is eight timesmore addictive than cocaine. so, if you start your babyearly on addictive, highly sugary foods,they're gonna become addicted. [ lustig ]take a look at formula.certain formulas, especiallylactose-free formulas-- they substitute with sucrose. the food industry knowsthat the earlier they introducethese foods to people-- to children, to infants-- the more likely they will havebranded them for the future.

[ couric ] and every generation of kids born after 1980... has grown up surrounded by these highly addictive foods. i see food, i get hungry. it's-- i don't knowwhat it is. i just-- when i see it,i get hungry. my stomach's telling mei'm not really hungry,but my mind's telling me, "eat." if you eat foods that areaddictive-- you can'tjust have one line of coke. you can't just have,you know, two cigarettes.you're gonna become an addict. [ man ] once you pop, you can't stop!

[ hyman ]we have to understandthat the willpower idea, that personal responsibility,doesn't workin the face of addiction. a lot of times people wonder... why it's so hard to lose weight. but a big reason might be... because you actually havethose foods-- the chips and the browniesand the cookies and cakesand ice cream-- in your house. it's just like beingan alcoholic.

do you think an alcoholiccould withstand fromdrinking that alcohol... if he had a bottle of ginsitting next to him? it'd be tough to do.when you're close to it,you want it. and it's the same waywith food. [ kessler ]we like to think we makerational decisions, but the fact isour brains are gettingconstantly hijacked. you can't walk,in most cities, most places, more than a hundred feetwithout having your brain... beingactivated in some way.

[ wootan ] gas stationsused to sell gas. now they'reall convenience stores. and there's junk foodat the checkouteverywhere-- at toy stores,at drugstores. go to buy stationery supplies,linens, electronics-- every store these dayshas junk food right atthe eye level of your kids. and then you addthe emotional gloss.you add other things. you add favoritecartoon characters. you make it into entertainment.you add toys. and then you addthe carnival-like features.

you add all theseother layers of stimuli. and in the end, you end upwith one of the great publichealth epidemics of our time. sometimes it's hard. i see... chocolate,and i just want to eat it. i wish there was a pilli could take that wouldjust make me thinner. [ man ]if a foreign nation... was causing our childrento become obese, that's going to affecttheir healthand hurt their happiness, cause them to be depressed,to have poor self-esteem--

if a foreign nationwere doing that to our children, we'd probably go to war. we would defend our families. so why do we accept thisfrom our own country? [ couric ]do you think the governmentis behind... when it comes to helpingamericans reducetheir sugar intake? yes. i do.why? why are theydoing this? i think that-- or why aren't theydoing more?

i can't answer that, particularly since cornhas been turned into fructose... and is a sweetenerfor soft drinks, which i don't thinkis a good use of corn. um, but i think thatamerica is stillinsufficiently alert... to the damage we are doinglong-term to ourcollective health... by too much sugar intake. [ lustig ]in 2002,the world health organization...

put together a documentknown as trs-916-- technical report series 916. and in that documentthey say, very specifically, that sugar is a major,if not the cause... of chronic metabolicdisease and obesity. [ couric ] the w.h.o. is the division of the united nations... responsible for setting global health standards. [ man ] the world healthorganization wanted to reallyrestrict sugar intake... to a level that scientistsrecommended.

they recommended no morethan 10% of calories... in a dietshould come from sugar. well, the sugar groups... hit the roof over that one. there was a very strong pushbackin washington bythe industry. [ couric ] senators larry craig and john breaux, a republican and a democrat, asked then secretary of health and human services tommy thompson... to stop the report.

[ peter jennings ]the bush administrationis resisting a plan... from the world healthorganization... to fight obesityon an international scale. the administration saysit is too toughon the food industry. [ lustig ]tommy thompson actuallytook a jet to geneva... and basically toldthe world health organization... that if they publishedthis document, we would withholdthe $406 million... that we were going topay them as our contributionto the w.h.o.

in other words,we extorted the w.h.o.to bury this document. the sugar recommendationwas deleted from most worldhealth organization reports... going forwardup to this very day. [ couric ] lobbyists for the sugar industry... recommended that 25% of calories in your daily diet... should come from sugar, two and a half times the w.h.o. recommendation. while food nutrition labels list government-recommended... daily amounts of various nutrients,

today when you look on any food label, you will not find sugar listed with a percentage for the daily recommendation. the question iswhether or notour government... has been complacentor even complicitwith this... food debacle. and the answer isabsolutely. the sugar industry'sextraordinarily powerful, and there's a lotof money involved. [ hyman ]we have a food industrythat's feeding america...

mostly highly processed, sugaryfoods that are killing us--that are making us fat and sick. this is the fundamental problemthat nobody's talking aboutin the society. [ applause ] thank you, everyone. we're all here todaybecause we care deeply... about the healthand well-beingof not just these kids up here, but for all kids like themall across the country. and clearly we're determinedto finally take on... one of the mostserious threatsto their future,

and that's the epidemicof childhood obesityin america today. we've got some talented chefsand nutritionists here... to teach us how to makehealthy breakfasts-- farmers' marketsdo more than just... help americans feedtheir families healthy meals,they help-- we're issuing a call to action. we need you not just totweak around the edges, but to entirely rethinkthe productsthat you're offering. [ wilson ]in the first monthsof the obama administration,

she was exhorting the industryto change its products and tocut its children's marketing... and to really makesubstantive changesthat way. [ man ]my guess is when the foodindustry heard michelle obama... launch her let's move campaign, they reacted in terror. our kids don't chooseto make food products... with tons of sugarand sodiumand super-sized portions... and then to have those productsmarketed to themeverywhere they turn. [ pollan ]that's a terrifying discussionfor the food industry.

so what did they do? they volunteeredto help her. i am so pleased to announcea major agreement... on the part of the privatesector corporations... to improvethe nutrition of the foodthat we put on the table, or that we grabon the run. the healthy weight commitment... is a partnershipbetween 16 corporations-- [ pollan ]pepsi,coca-cola--

everybody's offeringto help. but you have to lookat what they'reoffering to do. we're very fortunatethat the first ladyhas taken on this initiative... so people are startingto talk about it more. in the schools,we have a program... where we have p.e. teachersand nutritionistsworking together, teaching the kidsabout calories inand calories out... and really paying attentionto what you eat, and then paying attentionto the exercise you doevery day.

also, we went tothe white house, and we did anannouncement with mrs. obama... that our companies would bepulling 1.5 trillion caloriesout of the marketplace in 2015. and so we're very happythat we can providehealthier choices... for moms as they're shoppingfor their kids. [ taubes ]fourteen calories a dayis a single bite of food. it's a couple sips of a soda.it's a bite of an apple. it's nothing. they've agreed to reformulatetheir foods in a number of ways. [ pollan ]all the food manufacturersdrew her into...

a very long, complicated,intricate discussionabout processed food-- how we can makeprocessed food better. but whatever they doto processed foods, it will be usedto sell us... more processed foods... than we should probably eat. that's the beautyof a processed food. you can dial up the carbs,dial down the carbs. same with the proteins.same with the sugars.

all these changes becomemarketing claims, designed to get youto buy more. [ hyman ]the food industry has bamboozledand hoodwinked us... into thinking that there arehealthier alternatives. junk is still junk,even if it's less junky. [ lustig ]it's about making money. that's their bottom line. they're in businessto make money, not to keep america healthy.

[ woman ] well, the companiesactually have three options... to participate in the caloriecommitment: they can change the recipeof existing products, they can introduce new productsinto the marketplace, and they can also introduceportion-size productsinto the marketplace. so, if they're--so-- you're going to be introducingnew lower- and zero-calorieproducts. well, you have a significanttransition that's taken placein the last 10 years,

and i think that, uh, mostmoms and dads know when you walkthrough the grocery store, and you're making that selectionas to what productsyou want to buy, you have options that arezero-calorie options, lower-calorie optionsand full-calorie options. [ woman ]it feels like we'reavoiding the question. [ pollan ]that's the industry'sresponse. change the conversationfrom real food... and cookingand going tothe farmers' market... to reengineerprocessed foods...

and exercise. [ man ] before too long,the first ladywas emphasizing more and more... the "exercise" partof the let's move campaign. shouldn't be so hardto get them to run aroundand play, right? this isn't forcing themto eat their vegetables.[ audience laughs ] it's getting themto go out thereand have fun. it's about how activeour kids are. this isn't aboutdemonizing any industryor any, you know-- it's not aboutdemonizing parents,

and it's not aboutdemonizing businesses. [ pollan ]from the beginningthe name "let's move"... was not meantto evoke exercise. - it was meant to evokeaction on the issue.- issuing a call to action. but what a food industryperson hears is... their interpretationof the obesity epidemic, which is thatwe are too sedentary. it's our own damn faultbecause we're sitting,watching tv too much. it's not the food.

and i think that wasa very unfortunate message forthe white house to put out... because it is the food. [ couric ] and the food, especially the abundance of cheap, processed, sugar-laden products, is a direct result of government policy. mainly the united states department of agriculture. the u.s.d.a. was initially created... to help farmers thrive by promoting their products. but in the aftermath of the mcgovern report,

the u.s.d.a. inherited dietary guidelines as well. when obesitybecame a problem, the department of agriculturewas put intoconflict of interest. because on the one handit was telling peopleto eat less... in order toprevent obesity, and on the other handit was telling peopleto eat more... to promote consumptionof americanagricultural products. [ man ]they can't doa good job of both, and because of lobbying dollarsand where the money really is,

it's doing a much better jobof promoting u.s. agriculture... than it is in teaching usand helping ushow to eat well. [ couric ] one clear example of this conflict... is the curious case of cheese. remember back in the 1980s... when the food industry began taking out the fat from its products... after the mcgovern report? [ man ]women, and girls especially, became a little bit morehealth-conscious...

and started drinkingskim milk. did you ever stop to thinkwhat happened... to the fat in the milkwhen it became skim? [ couric ] well, one way to make use of milk fat... is to turn it into cheese. as the demand for low fat milk increased over the years, the government found itselfwith a lot of cheese they didn't know what to do with. [ moss ]instead of pushingthe dairy industry... to cut backon the production,

washington came upwith this other idea. why don't we help the industrysell more cheese... by getting peopleto eat more cheese? [ female singers ] ♪ cheese, glorious cheese ♪ [ male singers ] ♪ tastes mighty inviting ♪ [ male singers ] ♪ it's so tantalizing ♪♪ [ moss ]dairy managementwas created in 1995... to act as a marketing armof the dairy industry. [ couric ] financed by the farmers,

with oversight by the u.s.d.a., dairy managementhelped flood the marketplace... with good-looking cheese. [ moss ]now walk intothe dairy aisle, and the cheese sectionis bulging... with packages of cheese-- shredded, cubed,diced, grated, made as simple as possiblefor adding to other foods. some of the things thatdairy management did...

to encouragethe consumption of cheese... were so cleverthat the u.s.d.a.actually bragged on them... in its annual reportsto congress. in 2007, for example, it noted how the industrywas able to sell30 million more pounds... by designing things likepizza hut's cheesy bites pizza, wendy's dual double meltsandwich concept... and burger king'scheesy angus bacon cheeseburger. so at the same timethe agriculture department ispromoting consumption of cheese,

its small unit, chargedwith protecting consumersand fighting obesity, puts out these little brochuresthat encourage people... to eat less cheese. if the u.s.d.a. reallywants to increasecheese consumption... and promotea healthy lifestyle, here isan easy solution-- cheesercize. just grab a setof baby bells... and reallywork those "goudes."

[ audiencecheering ]oh! [ couric ] the problem is, it's not just cheese. this conflict between public health and promoting agriculture... plays out across the board. the u.s.d.a. says to limit your sugar intake, yet has providedover $8 billion in subsidies... for corn-based sweeteners... since 1995. it's fair to say thatthe government is subsidizing...

the obesity epidemic, inadvertently,through its subsidies of corn, which gets turned intohigh-fructose corn syrup... and all those weird ingredientsthat you see in processed food-- the maltodextrin,the xanthan gum, all those wordsyou can't pronounce. so you havethe government... in this crazy,schizophrenic situation... where, on the one hand,

they're subsidizingprecisely the foodsthat are making us sick, and then on the otherare now on the hookto set the standards... for school lunchesfor our kids. [ brady ]chili cheese fries, nachos,fried chicken-- all these fatteningand greasy foods... are just clogging upour schools. school, we're supposedto be healthy. my school has nachosevery day for school, and three-fourthsof our students in high schoolchoose nachos.

all my bad decisionsare when i'm at school, at lunchtime,at breakfast time. 'cause there's no other choice.either you eat or you starve. today at lunchwe had hamburgers. you either had a chanceto get a cheeseburgeror a sloppy joe. neither one of them'sreally that healthy. [ maggie ] other optionsthat they had were this placecalled the student store. they have a daily special, like monday ispapa john's pizza,

tuesday is chick-fil-a, wednesday is arby's, thursday is pizza hut... and friday is mcdonald's. and thenthis is the slushie machinethat they have. [ pollan ]the school lunch programhas evolved in such a way... that it really is servingthe food processors... much more than it isserving the students. [ couric ] the government got in the school lunch business after world war ii.

1946. president harry truman signedthe national school lunch act... after a huge number of military recruits were rejected... because of malnutrition. on february 18i will present in detail... an economic programto congress... reducing the growthin government spendingto reduce unemployment. [ couric ] in 1981, president ronald reagan, looking to limit the role of government,

cut $1.46 billion... out of the child nutrition budget. [ reagan ] it will propose budget cuts... in virtually every department of the government. [ couric ] many schools got rid of their cooking equipment... and turned to the food industryto make lunch cheap and simple-- kid-friendly favoritesthat could be heated and served. in 2006, 80% of all high schools... operated under exclusive contracts with soda companies,

and by 2012 more than halfof all u.s. school districts... served fast food. the food industry infiltrationof the schools is deplorable. the schools have becomedependent on the money, and it's a bargainwith the devil. some schools have becomelike a 7-eleven with books. - [ applause ]- we are thrilled to be herewith all of you... as i sign the healthy,hungry-free kids act, a bill that's vitally importantto the health and welfareof our kids.

[ couric ] in 2010 president barack obama signed the bill... authorizing the u.s.d.a.to come up with new standards... for the federally funded school lunch program... in an effort to make it healthier. this had the effect ofpossibly eliminating pizzafrom school. well, the schwan companyin minnesota... is a $3 billionprivate company... which accounts for 70%of the pizza marketin the u.s. school lunches. they could not have pizzaeliminated from school.

so their senatorin minnesota,amy klobuchar, wrote a letter tothe departmentof agriculture... to protecttheir frozen pizzasin school lunches. it had kind ofa complicated process... where the effect wasto count a slice of pizzaas a vegetable. [ man ]it's common sense.it's not a vegetable. what's next?are twinkies gonna beconsidered a vegetable? rather than havinga deliberative effort, we have special interests...

inserting these provisionsinto these bills... contrary to the public health. in terms ofthe pizza issue, we proposed a setof guidelines, and congressessentially suggested... that they wanteda slightly different approach. [ couric ]was that frustratingfor you? well, it's a littlefrustrating, sure. but at the end of the day--tomato pasteis a vegetable?

really?well, it's-- well, uh-- not in my household,but, uh-- but, i mean, somebody could probablymake the, um-- the scientific argumentthat it is. but it's not howi perceive a vegetable. [ couric ]by 2012, the revised regulations were issued. the u.s.d.a. increased the lunch budget... for the first time in 30 years, by six cents,

set a new maximum on calories... and doubled the required amounts of fruits and vegetables, which still includes french fries and pizza. [ maggie ] it doesn't looklike the lunches haveimproved that much. they have hamburgersand cheeseburgers,chicken-fried steak... and pizza today. [ woman ]we have a main dishevery day... that is very healthy. we probably didabout 25 of those...

out of, like, 350. they kind of like-- "i'll have the pizza."and they'd rather get friesand cookies. but you can't choose for 'em.they have to choosefor themselves. [ woman ]i don't know any child... who would rather havevegetables over a candy bar... when both are placedin front of them. [ couric ]a lot of thesefast food restaurants... are still operatingin school cafeteriasall across the country.

and it's--it's not a good thing. i don't agree withall the new guidelines. i wish they'd gonea little further. we could cure literally80% of the problem... for children in school... if we went back toschool cafeterias where theyprepared the food in the school. - what can i get for you, babe?- can i have a cheeseburger,please? you sure can. thank you.

[ carole ]have you lost any weight? [ voice breaking ]it's just kind of aggravating... because-- i mean, my weight'snot really going... the way it's supposed to go. [ brownell ]when we release our childreninto the care of schools, we expect that they're notgoing to drink unsafe waterthat will make them sick, we don't expect themto breathe unsafe airthat will make them sick, and we shouldn't expect themto eat unsafe foodthat will make them sick.

the industry, i think,cares less aboutwhat they sell in schools... than the opportunity they haveto market their brand. we're payinga very dear price... for lettingthe food industryact at will... in recruiting our childrenas loyal customers. [ man ]i remember i went toa preschool once, and the kids were sitting onlittle chairs--little red-and-white chairs... that said "coca-cola."[ chuckles ] what do they think?well, coca-cola's good.

it's part of preschool.i should be drinkingmore coca-colas. marketers want to startto target kidsas early as they can. studies show that childrenas young as two and three... start to recognize brands. [ wootan ]the problem is, they don'tsee any commercials... for bananas, strawberries,zucchini and broccoli. it shapes the whole waythey think about food-- what they think food is. [ couric ] there have been attempts to regulate...

how we market food to children... since the very beginning of the obesity epidemic. 1977-- the same year as the mcgovern report. consumer advocates lobbied the federal trade commission, the government arm in charge of advertising, to regulate ads for sugar-laden products. it's grr-r-reat! the executive director ofthe federal trade commission...

says the group is slowlycoming to the conclusion... that television advertisingaimed at children is unfair. [ man ]the cumulative effect... of the thousands of hoursof advertisingviewed by children... is that kids are being toldthe biggest lie they willever hear in their lives. it's not fair to usethe public airwavesto encourage children... to develop health habitsand buying patterns... which they will probablykeep up in adulthood... that are hazardous to health.

[ male reporter ]the f.t.c.'s proposedrestrictions... have been defended as vitalto protect the healthof america's children... and assailed as an attack onfree enterprise, free speech... and as a dangerous intrusionby the federal governmentinto family life. [ couric ] broadcasters, advertising agencies and toy companies... all banded together... to prevent the f.t.c. from regulating children's television. [ cronkite ] and an officialof quaker oats... said one of the best usesof sugar he could think of...

was getting childrento eat their cereal. [ couric ] big food won the battle. no regulations were put in place. but marketing to kids really took off a few years later... with processed foods. and with the advent of corn syrup, a cheaper alternative to sugar, the big food makers had more money to spend... on bigger sizes with better prices... and on ad campaigns with corporate tie-ins...

and high-priced celebrity endorsements. [ michael jackson ] ♪ you're a whole new generation ♪ ♪ you're a whole new generation ♪ [ couric ] now food advertising is everywhere. - diet snapple?- i know! it tastes just likeregular snapple, doesn't it? dr. pepper'sunbelievably satisfying. [ harkin ]we in this congresshave a responsibility... to protect america's children... from the sophisticated,aggressive, relentless marketingof junk food to our children.

[ couric ] with obesity rates skyrocketing, congress tried again in 2004... to regulate food industry marketing to children. big food and fast food responded much like they did 20 years before. when i hear this discussion,i hear "marketing to children," which really you're saying"advertising to children," and you're also saying,"it's all bad." and that's just not true. ronald mcdonaldnever sells to children.

he informs and inspiresthrough magic and fun. [ brownell ]industry under threatof government regulation... will say"we can police ourselves." and they launch into this seriesof self-regulatory promises... that we'll market lessto children, we'll pullour products out of schools. when you hold them accountableand study whether changes havebeen made, what do you find? it's not a pretty picture. [ announcer ] keeps 'em full, keeps 'em focused. - get a spectacular spider-man toy! - made with real fruit!

[ child ] thanks, mom! [ couric ] with the fox guarding the henhouse, children's exposure to junk food ads, including online, increased 60% from 2008 to 2010. the federal trade commissionhas less authority... to regulate advertising to kidsthan it does to adults. you would think that would bejust the other way around. [ cohen ]there are several studiesthat show... that when childrenare watching television,

especially withfood commercials, they're primedto eat more. one study had kidswatching tv, and they gave them a bowl ofgoldfish crackers to munch onwhile they were watching. the kids that watched tv,while they showed alsofood commercials, they ate 45% moregoldfish crackers... compared to kidswatching the same tv programwith nonfood commercials. [ kessler ]i showed the data... on how our neural circuitsand the neural circuitsof our kids...

are getting sensitizedto all these food cues... to a group ofleading diabetologists, and their conclusion,when they saw that... and they realizedthat these circuitsget laid down for a lifetime, is that we're toastas a country. hearings begin todayon a proposed law... that would bangiving away toys... with meals high in calories,fat, sugar and salt. [ couric ] the trouble is,every time the government tries to regulate big food,

again and againthe industry protects itself... by sparking a larger public debate... over the role of government in our lives. the food policestriking again. they have a predictable scriptthat they roll out every timethese things come up. this is the most ridiculoussort of nanny-statism. - "nanny state."- it is the nanny state! [ woman ]these nanny-state people want to tell you what to eat. "government doesn't belongin our private lives."

apparently now we needgovernment food cops. "you're discriminatingagainst us." to single outone food or beverage-- the mayor of new york city,michael bloomberg, wants to outlaw what he callssuper-sized sodasand other sugary drinks. "you don't need the police.just look at all thegood-guy things we're doing." [ woman ]you know what ronald mcdonaldis also known for? for 35 yearshe's been known forthe ronald mcdonald houses. exactly!

the scriptis so reliable now, and the lobbying dollars... that are aimed at legislatorsfrom the food industryare enormous, and as a consequencethey're pretty goodat fighting things off. who should be makingthe decisions what to eat... and school choiceand everything else? should it be government,or should it be the parents?it should be the parents! [ slurping ] the fact that parentshave a role to play...

does not change the factthat targeting young children... is simply immoral. [ simon ]i think we need to reallyget straight in this country... the difference betweenparental responsibility... and the corporation's rolein exploiting... the vulnerabilitiesof a young child. [ edgar ]he's been having many moreproblems now with his legs. he's going through therapy,and he's still havinga hard time with it. so you've beenhaving knee pain?yeah.

[ joe ]this bariatric programcame to the hospital, and my doctor considered mefor surgery... that'll change my lifefor the better. i don't want it.i kinda need it. i've gotten to a pointin my weight where... if i-- if i keepgaining weight like i am, i'm gonna probablybe dead by 20. the surgeryhas complications.there's no question about it. but as we've talked about, youalways look at what the risk isof doing the surgery...

and compare it towhat the risk isof not doing the surgery. and we've all agreedthat the risk of notdoing the surgery... is that we're gonnadecrease your life span, increase your riskof diabetes and allof these complications. and so we know that even thoughthere's risk with the surgery, there's a bigger riskof not doing it. okay? i've never heard of,you know, a 15-year-oldhaving this surgery. um, you know-- i guess i'm stillkind of against it.

thing could go wrong,and... then i wouldn'thave my joe. that wouldn't be right.i would feel that one. [ michael bloomberg ]it's the peoplewho are least able... to know what's goodfor their health... who are the onesthat certain industriescater to... and try to focustheir advertising towards. [ family speaking spanish ] [ bloomberg ] we're sellingthese products to the peoplewho are most vulnerable...

and they're also the peoplethat society has to providehealth care for, because they don't havethe money to do it themselves. [ edgar ] i didn't even wantto be at the hospitaland see him going through that. it sounds selfish,but, um-- [ voice breaking ]it was hard. but, uh, he-he's... a tough little guy. yeah. [ medical staffchattering ]

[ ludwig ] there's probablya limited role for gastricbypass, or bariatric surgery... in the most extremecircumstances, to avoid life-threateningcomplications. but what does it sayabout our society... if we would rathersend children... to suchmutilating procedures, but yet lackthe political will... to properly fundschool nutrition... and banjunk food advertisingto children?

it reflects a systematicpolitical failure. we're the richest societyin the world. we've failed becausewe've placed private profitand special interests... ahead of public health. [ brady ]this is a vitalitymedical center. fixing to getour body scans. [ chattering ]♪♪ [ singing ] [ chattering continues ] [ brady ]it's hard for us teenagersto try to be healthy...

'cause you seeall your friends... eating fatteningchili cheese friesand nachos... and all this fatteningfried chicken... and all these fattening,greasy foods, and they're skinny,and they look good. my brothercan eat all he wantsand still be skinny, and i look at him and say,"well, he can do it.why can't i?" and that--i hold on to that. and that's howi-i don't lose weight.

many people think thatif you're thin, you're healthy, but that's notnecessarily true. you can be fat on the insideand skinny on the outside, or metabolically obesenormal weight. it's very dangerous,and it leads to all the sameconsequences as being fat, such as heart attacks,strokes, cancer,dementia and diabetes. [ lustig ] dr. jimmy bell,who is a neuroimagerin london, england, coined the term "tofi"--t-o-f-i. thin on the outside,fat on the inside.

because when you slide somebodyinto an m.r.i. and youactually visualize the fat, they might as wellbe obese. there! x-ray!yeah. nuke sign! [ couric ] brady and his brothers went to the doctor for dexa scans, a type of x-ray that measures internal body fat. the beauty of it is,you can see where the fat is. because a lot of fatis distributedin different places, and the worst fatis the belly fat.

kids who are normal weightshould be between 10 and 20%belly fat. [ couric ] brady's results were by far the worst-- 47% of his body is fat, most of it in his belly, which is 60% fat. [ hyman ]the belly fatis a dangerous, lethal fat. and his insulin levelsare high. the insulin isthe fat storage hormone. [ couric ] while his youngest brother, nicholas, had normal results, 10-year-old chandler...

had 22% belly fat... and the 19-year-old, joseph, had 28%. [ hyman ] almost allof these skinny-fat kidsare prediabetic. even though the junk fooddoesn't make them fat,necessarily, it makes them sick. the question is,do you have it? you might,and you don't know. based on the statistics, we know that 30% of americais obese. let's talk aboutthe thin people.

up to 40% of these peoplehave the samemetabolic dysfunction. they're just not obese. so when you do the math,that's more than halfthe u.s. population. this is not justa problem of the obese. this is a problemof everybody. [ nestle ]there are so many industries... that make profitsoff of people being unhealthy... that it's in their interestto have people continueto be unhealthy. and so that's why you don't seean enormous national effort...

to try to improvethe quality ofthe american diet... or people'sfood choices. [ interviewer ]is that why you seehealth insurance companies... buying stockin fast food companies? that is exactlywhy you see... health insurance companiesbuying stockin fast food companies. they're justcovering their bets. [ hyman ]unless we address thisas a society... and stop blamingthe fat person,

we're gonna bein big trouble. we're gonna havehuge health consequences... and huge economic consequencesas well. [ couric ] we've been down this road before. this isn't the first time our children have been sold a bill of goods... that leads to addiction and disease. what's been the greatpublic health success to date? it's tobacco. [ woman ] ♪ smooth and fresh ♪

♪ is the newport taste ♪ [ kessler ]we used to view the cigaretteas our friend, something that was sexy,that was glamorous,something that we wanted. what did we do with tobacco? we demonizedthe tobacco industry. we changed howwe perceived that product. [ couric ] we knew as early as 1950... that there was a linkbetween smoking and lung cancer. do you swear that the testimonyyou are about to give...

is the truth, the whole truthand nothing but the truth? [ all ]i do. [ couric ] but big tobacco would deny the science for the next 50 years. cigarettes and nicotineclearly do not meet... the classic definitions ofaddiction. [ brownell ] the public finallysaw that they were doingdeceptive and misleading things, and so we took them on. government took them on.the media took them on. it's been 30 yearssince the first reportlinked smoking and cancer.

there's disturbing newsabout teenagers and smoking. [ couric ] the u.s. was the first to require warning labels... on every cigarette pack. but we didn't stop there. a number of decades agothere was something aroundcalled the fairness doctrine, and for every tobacco adthat got run, the networks had to free up timefor anti-tobacco advertisements. smoke now, pay later. whatever you do,just don't smoke.

[ brownell ]the tobacco industry found... it was getting batteredby these advertisementsand said... we will voluntarilytake our advertisingoff television. [ tv: announcer ] come to where the flavor is. [ couric ] it wasn't long before smoking ads were removed... from almost all public spaces. and with greater public awareness, smoking was banned from all airlines. and as early as 1975,

individual states began regulating smoking in public places... and taxing packs of cigarettes. after we banned it,all of western europewent smoke-free. you would tell mein a million yearsthe irish, the italians, the spanish,the english, the french-- they don't smokeindoors anymore. [ kessler ]today we view the cigarettefor what it is-- a deadly, disgusting,addictive product. [ couric ] as a result of this critical change in perception,

the number of american high schoolers who smoke has been cut in half... in just the last 20 years. where would we be if we hadn't acted? [ announcer ]the flintstones has been brought to you by winston, america's best-selling, best-tasting filter cigarette. ♪ winston tastes goodlike a ♪ ♪ cigarette should ♪ junk food companiesare acting very much liketobacco companies did... 30 and 40 years ago.

i need your fruity pebbles!really fruity! [ roars ] post fruity pebbles cereal, part of this complete breakfast! years from now we're gonna say, i can't believe we let themget away with that. there is no evidence thatthe consumption of soft drinksin secondary schools... is inconsistentwith sound nutrition science. the argument you're makingis to advance the salesof your soft drinks... with the hopesthat these students will getused to them enough-- i hesitate to use the word"hooked on 'em" enough--

i'm suggesting, senator,that in a well-balanced diet... we all need to consumetwo liters of liquid. soft drinks can certainly supplypart of that liquid intake, and i would reject entirelyany argument that they arein any way harmful for you. sometimes i just wanna say,don't you haveany shame at all? isn't there somethinginside of you that says, "you know, what we're doingis not right"? they have to know,just like the tobacco companies. how could these peoplesleep at night for years,

knowing they werelying through their teethabout tobacco and cancer, and yet they just keptpushing those tobacco productsout there. it's the same waywith big food companies. i just-- i don't know how--i-i don't know howthey can live with themselves. [ bittman ]soda is the cigarettesof the 21st century, and the soonerwe get that clear, the sooner we get rid ofthese idiotic arguments about... free speech allows usto sell thingsthat are poisonous. [ man ]the obesity epidemic,

the diseases that fast foodplaces-- hamburgers, soda pop,whatever-- cause-- we've had this informationfor decades... and we've failed to act on ituntil now it's catastrophic. i'm trying--i'm trying to save my life... and protect myselffrom dying ofheart attack, seizures, anything--diabetes, anything. i just want y'allto realize... that y'allkillin' yourselves. 'cause i've alreadyrealized it.

i'm just making surey'all do, you guys do. [ couric ] at our current rate, over 95% of all americans will be overweight or obese... in two decades. by 2050, one out of every three americans will have diabetes. [ chattering, laughing ] [ carmona ]as we look tothe work force of the future, where will the soldiers andsailors and first-responders--cops, firemen--

where will they come fromwhen we havea generation of children... that will be physically unfitand saddled with a lot ofdisease that's all preventable? [ lustig ]the financial aspects of thisare staggering. 75% of our health care dollargoes to the maintenanceor treatment... of chronic metabolic disease. [ karp ]if you think the national debtis a problem right now, wait till you seethe tsunami of debtthat's coming... from the health care impactof obesity. it's going to bean enormous burden...

that we are going to beplacing on the shouldersof our children. i want people to know... that childhood obesity... isn't as simple as tv... and the press make it seem. and even mrs. obama. it's like, no matterhow hard you try, it's always going to bean ongoing battle. [ taubes ]when michelle obama launchedher "let's move" campaign,

she said this isn't aboutdemonizing any food industry, which is a very politicallysensible thing to do. the problem is,if you want to cure obesity, you have to demonizesome food industries. let's move!let's move!let's move! [ brownell ]i think michelle obamahas been a wonderful force... in the nation's attemptto address childhood obesity. um, but my guess is thatshe and other peoplein the administration... have to be aware ofthe lobbying mightof the food industry...

and have togo easier on themthan they may want to. i hope with time, becauseof the public supportfor these initiatives, that the politicianswill have the courageto take on the industry... the way it reallyneeds to happen. [ bittman ]there are other countries now... who have prohibitedjunk food marketing to kids, stopped serving junk foodin schools, started taxing soda. these are thingsthat i'd like to see usleading the way on.

instead, we're leading the wayon producing the world'sdeadliest diet... and basically exporting itto other countries. [ harkin ] i think the thingthat has frustrated me morethan anything else... in my now almost 30-yearcampaign against obesity... and trying to gethealthful lifestyles-- the most frustrating thingis just the way the deckis just stacked... against being healthy. [ wootan ]right now healthy eatingis like swimming upstream. if you want to eat better,you have to work so hardagainst the food environment,

which is always pushing youto eat more. i think the attitudethat someone elseis gonna change it... is the wrong attitude. if we wantbetter conditions, each of ushas to do somethingto make that happen. [ wootan ] we need tocome together as a societyto protect our children, just like we havewith seat belt lawsand car seat laws. we're not gonna tell anybodywhat they're gonnafeed their kids. we're just gonna tryto make it easierfor parents...

to do what theyalready want to do, which is feed their childmore healthfully. [ couric ] some people are already trying to change the environment... and improve the conditions for our children. there are even some kids who are taking on their own schools... in order to remove sugar-sweetened beverages from the cafeteria. there are also revolutionary food fighters... who are not waiting on government action. [ jamie oliver ]i want to tell you about whatis in some of these products.

- okay, everyone--- four scoops of sugar. [ couric ] they're educating kids on the toxic effects of sugar. they are all the same. reimagining how you can feed kids... real food on a budget. by serving the localfresh beans, we're savingabout $4,000 a year. our business model is to gointo underserved areas, into food deserts and tryto make them food oases...

and make sure we bring access tofresh, affordable healthy food. [ couric ] many of these places have seen modest decreases... in their childhood obesity rates. [ harkin ]so we've made some progress. it's not as much as we'd like,it's not as much as we need, but therein lies some hope. [ brownell ] this is supposedto be the first generationof american children... expected to lead shorter livesthan their parents did. so we have to ask ourselves,what legacy are weleaving our children?

what kind of conditionsare we exposing them tothat would make this come true? it's a call to action to dosomething pretty courageousagainst this problem. [ couric ] what if every can of soda... came with a warning label from the surgeon general? what if fast food chains were banned from all public schools? what if every time you looked at a nutrition label... you'd actually see the percentage next to sugar, what if every time a celebrity sold a soft drink, they also had to pitch a vegetable?

how would academics improve? how much more productive would we become? how much money and how many lives could we save? [ clinton ]i think the government hasa leading role to play here. we just gota long way to go. now, you can wait aroundfor the ideal day... when government regulationwill be perfect. meanwhile, you gottakeep workingthe food industry... to get them to change.

but you have to changethe diet of america.that's the most important thing. the exercise is important. all these thingsare important. but we've gotta changethe way we produceand consume food. [ tinna ] my mom always saidpeople make timefor what they want to. it's a matter of priority,you know. being willing to put forththe effort and the timethat it takes to change. the kids' health,my health,my husband's health... definitely more importantthan any chocolate i havein the cabinet,

more than any piece of cake. and even as much as i want totake the chocolate and hide it, it still has made me think. i've gotta choose. i've gotta choose between... helping brady... or-- or getting rid of the chocolate. i know what's more importantin here.

it's just hard. but it's a matterof priority, and i reallywant to change. ohh!what? [ tinna ]this is our new recipewe're fixin' to taste. i am excited.i can't believehow different i feel. and i'm so happythat, um, a light switchjust came on. it's not an easy transitionto real food,but it starts locally.

it starts, really,as local as our fork. and everybody has a choicethree times a daywhat they put on that thing. the most important thingyou can do-- and it's challengingfor many people--is cook real food. you can forget about nutrients.you don't have to worryabout sugars. if you cook real food, your family will beeating much better. [ ludwig ]does it look likeit comes from nature? or is it a productwith a long listof artificial ingredients?

that's a distinction betweenreal and fake foods... that evena five-year-old can get. [ tinna ]lot of sugar, huh? third ingredient. that's not real. [ brady ]i thought i knew the wayit was supposed to be, but in truth i had no ideawhat the truth was. and i think so many kidsin america... don't even knowwhat it really meansto eat healthy.

[ tinna ]nicholas,you are eating asparagus! i'm so proud of you! [ brady ]this is the way we'resupposed to eat all the time. not just for a dietor detox. we're supposed to eat like thisfor the rest of our life. and that's what i want itto be. [ tinna ] john is eatinghis sweet potatoes. [ couric ] it started out as such a small story... about weight, diet and exercise.

for the majority of kids, there is no happy ending. it's time for a new story about the food we eat... and the environment we want for our children. [ kessler ]this has to be about the food,not the weight. i mean,why don't diets work? sure, for 30 days, 60 days,90 days i can deprive myself. i can lose the weight. but then i go backin the environment,i get cued again,

my brain gets hijacked. so of course i'm goingto gain the weight back. unless we dramaticallychange the environment,take away all these cues, we're never gonna be ableto protect our kids. ♪♪ [ guitar: pop ] [ man ] ♪ how long have you waited ♪ ♪ for someone to come to your rescue? ♪ ♪ called up and calculated ♪ ♪ some kind of hope to hang on to ♪

♪ will the wait be over soon? ♪ ♪ feelin' so fascinated ♪ ♪ set on a course to continue ♪ ♪ discussed and demonstrated ♪ ♪ with all the sight to see right through ♪ ♪ another world created ♪ ♪ another life belongs to you ♪ ♪ when you're surrounded by ♪ ♪ something strange ♪

♪ and so brand-new ♪ ♪ it's not complicated ♪ ♪ it's just another point of view ♪ ♪ so now let's celebrate it ♪ ♪ a change is so long overdue ♪ ♪ and we should be home by now ♪ ♪ and we should be home ♪ ♪ by now ♪ ♪ i know we'd find a way ♪

♪ forever starts today ♪ ♪ we should be home by now ♪ ♪ if time permitted ♪ ♪ forever starts today ♪♪ ♪♪ [ ends ]