Michael F. Jacobson | |
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Born | July 29, 1943 |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Occupation | Nutritionist |
Notable work | Center for Science in the Public Interest |
Michael F. Jacobson (born July 29, 1943), who holds a Ph.D. in microbiology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is an American scientist and nutrition advocate.
Jacobson co-founded the Center for Science in the Public Interest in 1971, along with two fellow scientists (James B. Sullivan, Albert J. Fritsch) he met while working at the Center for the Study of Responsive Law in Washington, DC. When his colleagues left CSPI in 1977, Jacobson became its executive director. In 2017 he was replaced as the executive director by Peter Lurie and held the position of Senior Scientist; he remained on the board of directors of the organization until 2022. [1] He has been a national leader in the movement for healthier diets, focusing both on education and obtaining laws and regulations. It was Jacobson who coined the now widely used phrases "junk food" [2] and "food porn". [3] In 2022 Jacobson founded the National Food Museum. [4]
Jacobson and his organization have both publicized healthy diets and criticized a wide variety of foods and beverages as unhealthful. He and CSPI frequently use colorful terms to emphasize their opposition to certain foods, for instance referring to fettuccine alfredo as a "heart attack on a plate". [5] In addition to publicizing concerns about or praise for foods, Jacobson lobbied for improvements in government (U.S. Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture) regulations and guidelines and for new legislation.
He founded Food Day, [6] a nationwide celebration of healthy, affordable, and sustainably produced food and a grassroots campaign for better policies. Food Day was celebrated annually from 1975 to 1977 and from 2011 to 2015. Jacobson also founded Big Business Day [7] and the Center for the Study of Commercialism. [8]
"Soda is the quintessential junk food—just sugar calories and no nutrients," says Jacobson. "Americans are drowning in soda pop—teenagers, in particular. The average teenage boy is consuming two cans of soda pop a day." [9] Jacobson proposes several warning labels, including "Drinking (non-diet) soft drinks contributes to obesity and tooth decay," and "Consider switching to diet soda, water, or skim milk." He once asked a CBS News reporter: "Obesity is an epidemic. One-third of youths already are overweight or obese. Are we just going to sit around and do nothing? Or should we do something—a modest, sensible step of putting a health message on cans and bottles?"
In 2005, Jacobson's organization proposed mandatory warning labels on all containers of sugar-sweetened soft drinks, to warn consumers about the possible health risks of consuming these beverages on a regular basis. [10]
Beginning in 1993, Jacobson spearheaded efforts to require that artificial trans fat, a potent cause of heart disease, be labeled on food packages. [11] As evidence of trans fat's harmfulness accumulated, in 2004 CSPI petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, the source of artificial trans fat. The FDA banned that oil in 2015, with June 18, 2018, being the effective date to stop using it. [12]
He also led efforts to reduce the sodium content of processed foods, such as soups, snack foods, and processed meats. Excess consumption of sodium increases the risk of high blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes. In addition to publishing several books and reports, CSPI's work led to the FDA's issuing voluntary sodium-reduction guidelines in October 2021.
To bring about changes in eating habits, Jacobson advocates higher taxes on unhealthy foods, greater use of warning labels on food and beverage packaging, restrictions on advertising and selling junk foods ("snack foods"), and lawsuits against food producers and retailers whose practices he believes are detrimental to public health. His publicity campaigns and legal actions regarding such harmful ingredients as urethane (a carcinogen) in alcoholic beverages, sulfite preservatives (deadly allergen) in fresh vegetables, wine, and other foods; sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite (sources of cancer-causing nitrosamines) in bacon and other processed meats; olestra (an artificial fat); and acrylamide (a carcinogenic contaminant) in baked and fried foods led to governmental restrictions or voluntary actions to reduce or eliminate those substances. Jacobson led the effort to get "Added Sugars" listed on Nutrition Facts labels. [13]
Jacobson stepped down as executive director of CSPI in October 2017 and then, as a senior scientist at CSPI, published Salt Wars: The Battle Over the Biggest Killer in the American Diet.. [14] That book addresses the scientific controversy about the health impact of lowering sodium consumption, industry opposition to government action to lower sodium, and advice to consumers.
In 2022, after he resigned from CSPI's board of directors and his position as senior scientist, Jacobson founded the National Food Museum. That nascent institution "explores food in all its dimensions." [4] The museum's exhibits and other activities will focus on the history of the human and American diets, food marketing, ethnic cuisines, farm animal welfare, and, especially, the impact of food and farming on health and the environment.
Due to the public-interest passion he brings to his efforts and in part to his criticisms of the food industry, Jacobson's methods have been questioned by the libertarian community, with the Center for Consumer Freedom awarding him "nanny of the year" on three occasions. [15] Some argue that parents have control over their children's diet and can moderate their intake of sugar-sweetened soft drinks. However, Jacobson contends that "kids know about vending machines, and they can go to 7-Eleven and get a Big Gulp which contains half a gallon (0.5 US gal (1,900 ml))—a thousand calories, almost!—of soda pop in a single serving... We've come a long way from the six-and-a-half ounce (6.5 US fluid ounces (190 ml)) Coke bottles some 50 years ago." [16]
A soft drink is any water-based flavored drink, usually but not necessarily carbonated, and typically including added sweetener. Flavors used can be natural or artificial. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a sugar substitute, or some combination of these. Soft drinks may also contain caffeine, colorings, preservatives and other ingredients.
7 Up or Seven Up is an American brand of lemon-lime–flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The brand and formula are owned by Keurig Dr Pepper, although the beverage is internationally distributed by PepsiCo.
"Junk food" is a term used to describe food that is high in calories from sugar and/or fat, and possibly sodium, making it hyperpalatable, but with little dietary fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals, or other important forms of nutritional value. It is also known as HFSS food. The term junk food is a pejorative dating back to the 1950s. Many variations of junk food can be easily found in most supermarkets and fast food restaurants. Due to easy accessibility, commercially-oriented packaging, and often-low prices, people are most likely to consume it.
Diet or light beverages are generally sugar-free, artificially sweetened beverages with few or no calories. They are marketed for diabetics and other people who want to reduce their sugar and/or caloric intake.
A healthy diet is a diet that maintains or improves overall health. A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrition: fluid, macronutrients such as protein, micronutrients such as vitamins, and adequate fibre and food energy.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit watchdog and consumer advocacy group that advocates for safer and healthier foods.
Enviga is a Nestea carbonated canned green-tea drink. Enviga is a trademark of Nestlé licensed to Beverage Partners Worldwide, a joint venture between The Coca-Cola Company and Nestlé. It is available in three flavors: Green Tea, Tropical Pomegranate, and Mixed Berry. According to Coca-Cola, Enviga burns 60 to 100 calories per three 12-oz.(330 ml) cans due to its high EGCG and caffeine content. The makers of the drink were sued for making fraudulent health claims about weight loss, and agreed to settle and cease repeating them.
Liquid Candy: How Soft Drinks are Harming Americans' Health is a report published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) which examines the increasing levels of soft drink consumption in the United States, particularly by children and teenagers, and the health problems this poses. Originally published in 1998, a second edition containing updated data was released in 2005.
The nutrition facts label is a label required on most packaged food in many countries, showing what nutrients and other ingredients are in the food. Labels are usually based on official nutritional rating systems. Most countries also release overall nutrition guides for general educational purposes. In some cases, the guides are based on different dietary targets for various nutrients than the labels on specific foods.
A fat tax is a tax or surcharge that is placed upon fattening food, beverages or on overweight individuals. It is considered an example of Pigovian taxation. A fat tax aims to discourage unhealthy diets and offset the economic costs of obesity.
The "jelly bean rule" is a rule put forth by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on May 19, 1994.
Nutritional rating systems are used to communicate the nutritional value of food in a more-simplified manner, with a ranking, than nutrition facts labels. A system may be targeted at a specific audience. Rating systems have been developed by governments, non-profit organizations, private institutions, and companies. Common methods include point systems to rank foods based on general nutritional value or ratings for specific food attributes, such as cholesterol content. Graphics and symbols may be used to communicate the nutritional values to the target audience.
The Western pattern diet is a modern dietary pattern that is generally characterized by high intakes of pre-packaged foods, refined grains, red meat, processed meat, high-sugar drinks, candy and sweets, fried foods, industrially produced animal products, butter and other high-fat dairy products, eggs, potatoes, corn, and low intakes of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, pasture-raised animal products, fish, nuts, and seeds.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) provide nutritional advice for Americans who are healthy or who are at risk for chronic disease but do not currently have chronic disease. The Guidelines are published every five years by the US Department of Agriculture, together with the US Department of Health and Human Services. Notably, the most recent ninth edition for 2020–25 includes dietary guidelines for children from birth to 23 months. In addition to the Dietary Guidelines per se, there are additional tools for assessing diet and nutrition, including the Healthy Eating Index (HEI), which can be used to assess the quality of a given selection of foods in the context of the Dietary Guidelines. Also provided are additional explanations regarding customization of the Guidelines to individual eating preferences, application of the Guidelines during pregnancy and infancy, the USDA Nutrition Evidence Systematic Review, information about the Nutrition Communicators Network and the MyPlate initiative, information from the National Academies about redesigning the process by which the Dietary Guidelines for Americans are created, and information about dietary guidelines from other nations.
A Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) was a nutrition facts label originally designed in 1996 in the United Kingdom (UK) as a collaboration between the government, the food industry and consumer organisations. GDAs appeared on the front and back of food packaging to help raise awareness of how much a food item represents as a proportion of a balanced intake each day in each food element. The British initiative was followed in the European Union (EU) and influenced similar systems in other countries including the United States.
A sugary drink tax, soda tax, or sweetened beverage tax (SBT) is a tax or surcharge designed to reduce consumption of sweetened beverages. Drinks covered under a soda tax often include carbonated soft drinks, sports drinks and energy drinks. This policy intervention is an effort to decrease obesity and the health impacts related to being overweight. The tax is a matter of public debate in many countries and beverage producers like Coca-Cola often oppose it. Advocates such as national medical associations and the World Health Organization promote the tax as an example of Pigovian taxation, aimed to discourage unhealthy diets and offset the growing economic costs of obesity.
A sweetened beverage is any beverage with added sugar. It has been described as "liquid candy". Consumption of sweetened beverages has been linked to weight gain, obesity, and associated health risks. According to the CDC, consumption of sweetened beverages is also associated with unhealthy behaviors like smoking, not getting enough sleep and exercise, and eating fast food often and not enough fruits regularly.
The Real Bears is an anti-soft-drink advertising campaign by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which debuted in October 2012. It is a parody of the Coca-Cola Company's ad campaigns depicting polar bears, in particular the "Open Happiness" ads, and was produced with the help of Alex Bogusky. Michael Jacobson said that the ad was "...our attempt to reposition soft drinks from a source of happiness to a major cause of disease." CSPI chose Bogusky to direct the ad because, they said, they had long admired his work in creating anti-tobacco ads through his agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky. The song playing throughout the CSPI ad is by Jason Mraz and is entitled "Sugar." The ad depicts polar bears suffering from a wide variety of health problems as a result of soda consumption, such as type II diabetes and erectile dysfunction. In response to the ad, Coca-Cola spokeswoman Susan Stribling stated that the ad was "irresponsible and the usual grandstanding from CSPI,” and Karen Hanretty, a spokeswoman for the American Beverage Association, noted that soda consumption has decreased over the last decade or so, whereas obesity rates have still risen over the same time period, saying, "CSPI is better at producing videos than they are doing math." The video has over 2 million views on YouTube.
Sugar is heavily marketed both by sugar producers and the producers of sugary drinks and foods. Apart from direct marketing methods such as messaging on packaging, television ads, advergames, and product placement in setting like blogs, industry has worked to steer coverage of sugar-related health information in popular media, including news media and social media.
Food labeling in Mexico refers to the official norm that mainly consists of placing labels on processed food sold in the country in order to help consumers make a better purchasing decision based on nutritional criteria. The system was approved in 2010 under the Norma Oficial Mexicana (NOM) NOM-051-SCFI/SSA1-2010. The standards, denominated as Daily Dietary Guidelines, were based on the total amount of saturated fats, fats, sodium, sugars and energy or calories represented in kilocalories per package, the percentage they represented per individual portion, as well as the percentage that they would represent in a daily intake.