0:00:02 > 0:00:06More people in the world are overweight than undernourished.
0:00:07 > 0:00:08Obesity levels are rising.
0:00:11 > 0:00:13I'm Jacques Perretti and in this series, I'm going to trace
0:00:13 > 0:00:17those responsible for a revolution in our eating habits.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23I'll be looking at how decisions made behind closed doors
0:00:23 > 0:00:26transformed food into an addiction...
0:00:26 > 0:00:28People have a hard time controlling their weight.
0:00:28 > 0:00:29Their brains are being hijacked.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36..at how business changed the shape of a nation...
0:00:36 > 0:00:40From a marketing standpoint, as long as it didn't curtail
0:00:40 > 0:00:43or anchor you in a negative way, you were fine.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48..and at how the food industry itself choreographs temptation.
0:00:49 > 0:00:53Everybody who says it's you, it's all your own fault, forget it.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56The evidence is the exact contrary.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58It is a war.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01It's a war between our bodies
0:01:01 > 0:01:05and the accessibility that modern society gives us with food.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07I'll be telling the story of those
0:01:07 > 0:01:10who turned eating food into an epidemic.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22Two-thirds of British adults are overweight
0:01:22 > 0:01:24and one in four of us is obese.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29That's 40% over our ideal weight.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32It's officially categorised as a disease.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38What's strange is how quickly this has all happened.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42The average person in Britain is nearly three stone heavier
0:01:42 > 0:01:44than they were 50 years ago
0:01:44 > 0:01:48and this extra weight doesn't just affect the way we look -
0:01:48 > 0:01:52it massively increases our chances of getting a host of related diseases.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54It's a new kind of epidemic.
0:01:57 > 0:01:58DANCE MUSIC BLARES
0:01:59 > 0:02:04At any one time, a quarter of the population is doing battle with their weight.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07But we don't know how it came to this.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11Is it down to us, or the companies which produce our food?
0:02:11 > 0:02:14Ursula is starting a new regime.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17From childhood, I was always overweight, always.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20Keep it going, bring the arms out in front.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25While Beulah has managed to lose 2½ stone.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29It's always that temptation - you've had a little bit,
0:02:29 > 0:02:31you want a little bit more.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33Excellent, keep it going.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37I still see myself going into a shop and looking at the labels -
0:02:37 > 0:02:42buy one, get one free, or buy one, get two free, sometimes.
0:02:42 > 0:02:43I tried many times.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46There's always fruits and vegetables in the house,
0:02:46 > 0:02:51it was just my choice that I used to always go for the unhealthy food.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55It's sort of like, "Yeah, I really shouldn't have eaten that".
0:02:55 > 0:02:59Sometimes I thought that I was buying healthy food,
0:02:59 > 0:03:02but I never looked at the labels.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06Only later, when you empty the packages, you realise "what have I done?"
0:03:06 > 0:03:08It's too late now.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13You've got to have great determination, got to be really strong.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20We're not becoming lazier or greedier, but the food industry
0:03:20 > 0:03:23has changed the very nature of what we eat in the last 40 years.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27And that may have changed our shape, too.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31'What's even more worrying is the fat we CAN'T see.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37'I wanted to find out whether changes in our food have altered
0:03:37 > 0:03:41'even those of us who don't consider ourselves overweight.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45'An MRI machine is about to show me the horrible truth.'
0:03:46 > 0:03:48Hello, Jacques - how are you?
0:03:48 > 0:03:51'There may be quite a lot more fat in me than I think.'
0:03:51 > 0:03:55We can actually look inside your body to see how much fat you have
0:03:55 > 0:03:56externally and internally.
0:03:56 > 0:04:00OK, so you'll be up to see all the fat that is inside my body.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02Absolutely. Your fat will have nowhere to hide.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07'Professor Jimmy Bell is a research scientist
0:04:07 > 0:04:09'working at Hammersmith Hospital in London.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13'He studies how fat is distributed INSIDE the body.'
0:04:13 > 0:04:15We're just finishing this set.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18Yes, then we'll move on and do the axial images.
0:04:20 > 0:04:25'After half an hour in the MRI machine, I'm nervous.'
0:04:30 > 0:04:33I will show you some of the images.
0:04:34 > 0:04:36The fat appears as white,
0:04:36 > 0:04:38very bright white, so you've got,
0:04:38 > 0:04:43as you see, fat external - the subcutaneous fat we're all familiar with -
0:04:43 > 0:04:47but the fat we are interested in is the fat here,
0:04:47 > 0:04:53what we call internal fat, especially visceral or intra-abdominal fat.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57There does seem to be rather a lot of it.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01Well, it's interesting that you have very low levels of
0:05:01 > 0:05:06external fat, subcutaneous fat, but you have a considerable amount -
0:05:06 > 0:05:08more than one would expect
0:05:08 > 0:05:13for someone of your size - of internal fat, or visceral fat.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15You can see here, for example,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18your kidneys are actually swimming in a sea of fat.
0:05:19 > 0:05:24At a glance, I would say you have 4 to 5 litres of internal fat
0:05:24 > 0:05:27that you're carrying around your organs.
0:05:27 > 0:05:32- 4 to 5 litres?- Yes. - And is that normal?
0:05:32 > 0:05:34We expect someone of your age,
0:05:34 > 0:05:37someone who is fit, to have less than two litres of internal fat.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40Wow, so I've got twice as much fat inside me as I should have.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44Exactly, but you have to realise that someone who is very obese
0:05:44 > 0:05:47will carry 10 to 15 litres of internal fat.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51You're a very good example of what we define as someone who is thin outside,
0:05:51 > 0:05:57so very little external fat, and fat inside - so that's a toffee. Thin outside, fat inside.
0:05:57 > 0:06:02'That's me - toffee - thin outside, fat inside.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06'It's this kind of invisible obesity that threatens many of us -
0:06:06 > 0:06:10'these hidden fat deposits put me at risk of diabetes
0:06:10 > 0:06:12'and cardiovascular disease.'
0:06:12 > 0:06:17- Long-term, this actually could be quite troublesome for your health. - Yes.
0:06:17 > 0:06:19'And it's the same for millions of us.'
0:06:21 > 0:06:25Unfortunately, normality in the UK has become someone who is overweight or obese,
0:06:25 > 0:06:29who doesn't have enough sleep, drinks too much
0:06:29 > 0:06:31and who works very long hours.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36'It's believed our appetite for high-calorie foods
0:06:36 > 0:06:40'came about 10,000 years ago, when we were hunter-gatherers.
0:06:40 > 0:06:45'Now the food industry has made fattening foods available everywhere.'
0:06:47 > 0:06:50We're cavemen that moved from a cave into a supermarket,
0:06:50 > 0:06:54and there were all these delicious things that I want to eat.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57Some of us restrain ourselves from doing it,
0:06:57 > 0:06:59other people find it very difficult.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01Genetically, we haven't changed,
0:07:01 > 0:07:04but our environment, our access to cheap food - that's changed.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09We've been bombarded all day, every day by the food industry
0:07:09 > 0:07:10to consume more and more food.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13That's their job - make money making us fat.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16It is a war.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18It's a war between our bodies
0:07:18 > 0:07:22and the accessibility that modern society gives us with food.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25As a scientist, I feel really depressed,
0:07:25 > 0:07:29because we are losing the war against obesity.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37Britain has got fat in just 40 years.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40Why?
0:07:40 > 0:07:44To find out, we have to go back to America in the early '70s,
0:07:44 > 0:07:47and the political deals that were done.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53Richard Nixon was president.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57The country was in crisis, torn apart by the Vietnam War.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05But a bigger threat to Nixon came from housewives,
0:08:05 > 0:08:09protesting at the soaring cost of food.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12Food prices shot up higher last month than they ever have
0:08:12 > 0:08:13in the past 40 years.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17Farmers wanted fewer restrictions on their output
0:08:17 > 0:08:21and with an election looming, Nixon needed their support.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28His solution was to appoint this man - Earl Butz -
0:08:28 > 0:08:31the Secretary for Agriculture in 1971.
0:08:32 > 0:08:36It was a decision which would have a profound impact on the food
0:08:36 > 0:08:37we eat today.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43Butz was from a rural Indiana family, but he was no hick.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46He was a shrewd academic and more importantly,
0:08:46 > 0:08:48a friend to the farmers.
0:08:48 > 0:08:49Now, in rural life,
0:08:49 > 0:08:52we have all the amenities of urban living and should have,
0:08:52 > 0:08:55and therefore agriculture becomes a way of making a living.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59I want as good a living for these family farmers as their city cousins can get.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03HORN HONKS
0:09:03 > 0:09:07Butz had a vision - to transform agriculture from small farms
0:09:07 > 0:09:13into mass production, delivering cheap food on an undreamt-of scale.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17When Earl Butz became the Minister of Agriculture in 1971,
0:09:17 > 0:09:21he urged farmers to farm from fencerow to fencerow.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24His motto was, "get big or get out"
0:09:24 > 0:09:27and he was to change the American landscape.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32It was the death of the smallholding and the birth of this -
0:09:32 > 0:09:35giant industrial farming.
0:09:40 > 0:09:41'This surge in farm production
0:09:41 > 0:09:44'would ultimately lead to a surge in obesity.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52'George Morton farms the land around Lafayette in Indiana.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54'As a young man, he knew Earl Butz
0:09:54 > 0:09:57'and was taught farm economics by him.'
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Tell me a little bit, George, about fencerow to fencerow farming -
0:10:00 > 0:10:02what did that mean?
0:10:02 > 0:10:06- It means you just produce as much as you can.- Right!
0:10:06 > 0:10:12You don't leave any land unproductive.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14You keep producing as much as you can.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17How did you feel when these changes were taking place -
0:10:17 > 0:10:19what did it feel like for you here?
0:10:19 > 0:10:25It felt great, because that was the opportunity we had to prosper.
0:10:28 > 0:10:29MOOING
0:10:29 > 0:10:32The new, larger harvests of corn became feed for the mountains
0:10:32 > 0:10:36of cheap beef pouring into supermarkets.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42- 'Earl Butz encouraged farmers to grow still more.'- Let's see...
0:10:42 > 0:10:48'George Morton's farm went from 20 to 3,000 acres.'
0:10:51 > 0:10:53'Butz's idea was simple -
0:10:53 > 0:10:57'to grow more corn than had ever been grown before.'
0:10:57 > 0:11:00There's been some criticism of that policy.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03I describe that policy in a single word - I call it plenty.
0:11:03 > 0:11:09The more farmers grew, the more they sold, but there was still a surplus.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14Butz championed a new product which would change everything.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21A Japanese scientist had invented a process
0:11:21 > 0:11:25that turned corn into a cheap sweetener.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29By the 1980s, high-fructose corn syrup would become
0:11:29 > 0:11:32the number one substitute for sugar.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38And it would make farmers like George very rich.
0:11:40 > 0:11:46I love the way, George, that this corn is gold. It really is gold!
0:11:46 > 0:11:50- It's gold in colour.- It's the right colour!- It's the right colour!
0:11:50 > 0:11:54And so it is gold, that's right. Gold to the farmer.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06The genius of the whole thing was that they were about to produce
0:12:06 > 0:12:11a fortune, not just from the fat of the land, but from the waste -
0:12:11 > 0:12:15the surplus corn that would have gone rotten could now be used
0:12:15 > 0:12:18to produce a brand-new industrial sweetener.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29Earl Butz transformed the American diet and, ultimately, its waistline.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36The nutritionist, Marion Nestle, has analysed
0:12:36 > 0:12:39how Butz paved the way for obesity.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44The number of calories produced in America
0:12:44 > 0:12:46and available to American consumers
0:12:46 > 0:12:51went from 3,200 in the 1970s and early '80s
0:12:51 > 0:12:54to 3,900 per person -
0:12:54 > 0:12:56almost twice as much as anybody needed -
0:12:56 > 0:12:58and that enormous increase, I think
0:12:58 > 0:13:01is the cause of a great deal of difficulty.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12The Super Bowl has come to Indianapolis this year
0:13:12 > 0:13:15and is America's biggest football game.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19and after Thanksgiving, its biggest binge.
0:13:20 > 0:13:26On one day, the US consumes 14,000 tonnes of tortilla chips,
0:13:26 > 0:13:294,000 tonnes of guacamole,
0:13:29 > 0:13:311.25 billion chicken wings.
0:13:33 > 0:13:3940 years on, America is reaping what Earl Butz and the farmers sowed.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46This is the great American meal - beef, fed on corn.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50Bread, made with corn syrup to make it last longer.
0:13:50 > 0:13:52Fries, fried in corn oil.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55Ketchup, made with corn syrup.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59Soda, made with corn syrup.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02There's a direct link, I think, between the overproduction
0:14:02 > 0:14:07in the '70s of corn and the overconsumption of food today.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18Thanks to Butz, corn syrup spread into almost all processed foods -
0:14:18 > 0:14:21everything from coleslaw to pizza toppings.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30But its greatest impact was when it was put into soft drinks -
0:14:30 > 0:14:35the largest single source of calories in the American diet.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43By 1984, Coke and Pepsi had replaced sugar with corn syrup.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49It was a decisive moment, because corn syrup had now arrived.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53It was flowing into the bloodstream of America.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06Hank Cardello was the marketing director of Coca-Cola USA
0:15:06 > 0:15:09as Coke was adopting corn syrup.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16Hank, when corn syrup was introduced,
0:15:16 > 0:15:18what was it like for the food industry?
0:15:18 > 0:15:20It was an innovation. I mean, clearly,
0:15:20 > 0:15:25it's not like the industry wanted to go to high-fructose corn syrup.
0:15:25 > 0:15:30The pricing of sugar was going up, then they had to convince
0:15:30 > 0:15:33themselves that if they switched to whatever it was - corn syrup or
0:15:33 > 0:15:37any other sweetener, that the tastes of the products weren't compromised.
0:15:37 > 0:15:42'It was a massive risk for Coke to mess with the taste,
0:15:42 > 0:15:45'but savings justified it. It was a third cheaper than sugar.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48'The economics were compelling.'
0:15:48 > 0:15:52When you sell four billion cases of a beverage, for instance,
0:15:52 > 0:15:54that's a big difference.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57So it doesn't take much - even a 10% reduction would make
0:15:57 > 0:15:59a huge difference in the price.
0:15:59 > 0:16:04Once you got past the taste, the quality, there's no downside.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07Again, there was nothing on the radar that said
0:16:07 > 0:16:09something is problematic here.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11You don't have obesity,
0:16:11 > 0:16:15there's no voices in the wilderness telling you you have a problem here.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18So obesity wasn't on the agenda at all?
0:16:18 > 0:16:24Wasn't even on the radar. In fact, the CDC - the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta -
0:16:24 > 0:16:29didn't start mapping out where states had increasing rates of obesity
0:16:29 > 0:16:34until 1985, so really, we were going along pell-mell.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39Our goal at the time was to make our products ubiquitous,
0:16:39 > 0:16:41as any marketer would.
0:16:41 > 0:16:43So, from a marketing standpoint,
0:16:43 > 0:16:47as long as it didn't curtail or anchor you in a negative way, you were fine.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55The savings from replacing sugar with corn syrup caused
0:16:55 > 0:16:59a boom in profits and inspired the drinks business to sell even more.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01They were on a roll.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04There were bigger bottles for the home
0:17:04 > 0:17:07and ever-larger cups for fast food outlets.
0:17:11 > 0:17:12Coca-Cola says these decisions
0:17:12 > 0:17:16were based on the ever-evolving desires of its customers.
0:17:17 > 0:17:22Quite frankly, the soda marketers became better marketers.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25And I think the company at the time got more aggressive.
0:17:25 > 0:17:30In two decades, average consumption of soft drinks almost doubled,
0:17:30 > 0:17:34from 350 cans a year to 600 -
0:17:34 > 0:17:37and America got fatter.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44Endocrinologist Dr Robert Lustig has analysed
0:17:44 > 0:17:48the impact of America's love affair with sweetened drinks.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55High-fructose corn syrup has a sweetness index of 120,
0:17:55 > 0:17:59so it's actually sweeter than sucrose.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01So you'd think, gee, if it's sweeter,
0:18:01 > 0:18:03you should be able to use less.
0:18:03 > 0:18:08But they don't - they use more. The question is, why is that?
0:18:08 > 0:18:12That's a question that only the soft drink companies can answer,
0:18:12 > 0:18:14but I can give you my impression.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16It's because they know that the sweeter they make it,
0:18:16 > 0:18:19the more we buy.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24The manufacturers reject this view.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26They deny that the increased consumption of soft drinks
0:18:26 > 0:18:28has made us fatter.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33Do you think that soft drinks contribute to obesity?
0:18:33 > 0:18:35No, I do not.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39In spite of all the evidence
0:18:39 > 0:18:41that they do contribute to obesity?
0:18:41 > 0:18:44Well, there is... The evidence...
0:18:45 > 0:18:52..says that obesity is caused by people consuming too many calories
0:18:52 > 0:18:55and not getting enough exercise to balance it out.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57Certainly, our full-calorie,
0:18:57 > 0:19:01regular soft drinks are a source of calories, so I guess if you're
0:19:01 > 0:19:03consuming too many calories,
0:19:03 > 0:19:08and watching too much television or not getting enough exercise,
0:19:08 > 0:19:10then you're going to have a problem.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13It's like saying because you go in the ocean,
0:19:13 > 0:19:14you're going to get bit by a shark.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16Well, people go in the ocean all the time and swim
0:19:16 > 0:19:18without getting bit by a shark,
0:19:18 > 0:19:22so there's a lot of work to try to establish causality
0:19:22 > 0:19:26and I don't know that I've seen any study that does that.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32With hindsight,
0:19:32 > 0:19:37it's easy to demonise the soda companies as making America fat.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40But at the time, when you talk to people like Hank,
0:19:40 > 0:19:43who worked at Coca-Cola, the decision was simple -
0:19:43 > 0:19:45it was a no-brainer.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48High-fructose corn syrup was going to bring costs down
0:19:48 > 0:19:50and the public seemed to love it.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52It was a very simple business decision,
0:19:52 > 0:19:57but one that just happened to have some very serious consequences.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04In 1994, the figures showed a frightening increase
0:20:04 > 0:20:07in people's weight at the very time that corn syrup
0:20:07 > 0:20:11in America's food and drinks had spiralled out of control.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20And so Lorna is going to basically hook up the patient.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24'So was corn syrup to blame for America's obesity?
0:20:25 > 0:20:27'At San Francisco's General Hospital,
0:20:27 > 0:20:32'the food scientist Dr Jean-Marc Schwarz is studying how sugars -
0:20:32 > 0:20:36'including corn syrup - are converted into fat.'
0:20:36 > 0:20:39What have we got here, Dr Schwarz? This is for Ken to drink?
0:20:41 > 0:20:46So he's going to drink that every hour today, all the way to 11pm.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49He will have one of those little shakes.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53'The shake is a liquefied version of Ken's normal daily diet -
0:20:53 > 0:20:56'but with a marker added, that enables Dr Schwarz to track
0:20:56 > 0:21:00'how the sugars affect different parts of Ken's body.'
0:21:00 > 0:21:03- How was that, Ken? - My third one today.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06- Pretty good - I'm getting used to it.- And how does it taste?
0:21:06 > 0:21:09- Is it sugary?- Kind of sweet.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12A little different to Jamba juice, but kind of sweet.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22'With this apparatus, the team can trace exactly where in the body
0:21:22 > 0:21:25'the sugars in his food are metabolised
0:21:25 > 0:21:27'then converted into fat.'
0:21:29 > 0:21:34So here we go in the kitchen, and that's where we prep the diet.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38Actually, Marlene is here.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42She's getting the diet ready for the subject.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46- These are the drinks you give to your patients?- Yes.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51'What Schwarz has found is that the sweetness of our food
0:21:51 > 0:21:55'contains one potentially toxic element associated with weight gain.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58'It's called fructose.'
0:22:00 > 0:22:04What we discovered was that some sugar will be converted to fat
0:22:04 > 0:22:09and some are not converted to fat and fructose is one sugar
0:22:09 > 0:22:12that really can be easily converted to fat.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17Fructose is in the two major sweeteners we consume -
0:22:17 > 0:22:19corn syrup and table sugar.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22It's this overall payload that is key.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25It's in almost everything that's sweet in the American diet
0:22:25 > 0:22:29and it's the sheer amount of it now being consumed
0:22:29 > 0:22:31that makes it so potentially poisonous.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35It's not like you...
0:22:35 > 0:22:38Have a toxic effect like lead -
0:22:38 > 0:22:42it's not comparable to lead or mercury -
0:22:42 > 0:22:44but it's the quantity that makes it toxic.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48The sugar industry claims that every scientific review of evidence has
0:22:48 > 0:22:52concluded that sugar in itself is not linked to any lifestyle disease.
0:22:52 > 0:22:59But the unpalatable fact is that Americans now eat 90lbs of added sugars a year -
0:22:59 > 0:23:02more than twice what is regarded as safe.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05You're interested in the effect that this payload of sugar
0:23:05 > 0:23:07has on the body and the liver in particular.
0:23:07 > 0:23:12Exactly. And I like to describe that as a tsunami -
0:23:12 > 0:23:18you really have this huge load of sugar going to the liver and that's...
0:23:18 > 0:23:20That's the impact,
0:23:20 > 0:23:25not only on fat in the blood that may lead to cardiovascular disease,
0:23:25 > 0:23:30but also maybe to fat accumulation in the liver,
0:23:30 > 0:23:34which could have some impact for diabetes and other chronic disease.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40The sugar industry claims that total calorific intake is to blame,
0:23:40 > 0:23:42not just sugar.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46The scientists are now beginning to think that there's something
0:23:46 > 0:23:50very specific about fructose which accelerates obesity.
0:23:50 > 0:23:55They found that it suppresses the action of a vital hormone
0:23:55 > 0:23:56called leptin.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02Leptin goes from your fat cells, sitting here,
0:24:02 > 0:24:05goes to your brain and tells your brain you've had enough.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08You don't need to eat that second piece of cheesecake.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10'When you overload the liver with sugars,
0:24:10 > 0:24:12'leptin simply stops working.
0:24:12 > 0:24:17'You can carry on eating and your body won't ever say stop.'
0:24:17 > 0:24:19It makes the brain think you're starving.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21And now, what you have is a vicious cycle of consumption,
0:24:21 > 0:24:26disease and addiction.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30Which explains what's happened the world over.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34'The sugar industry rejects the claim that any one ingredient
0:24:34 > 0:24:37'can be responsible for weight gain,
0:24:37 > 0:24:39'but if doctors Lustig and Schwarz are right,
0:24:39 > 0:24:42'the effect of fructose on the liver
0:24:42 > 0:24:45'is what's driving America's obesity.'
0:24:51 > 0:24:55But how did we get fat in Britain?
0:24:55 > 0:24:59In the late '70s, we were about to turn the same corner as America.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02Here, products like Coca-Cola were sweetened mainly by sugar,
0:25:02 > 0:25:03rather than corn syrup,
0:25:03 > 0:25:06but the impact was just as critical.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09Manufacturers wanted us to buy more
0:25:09 > 0:25:12and had found a new way to make it happen...
0:25:13 > 0:25:17That's my sister - she adores the kids.
0:25:17 > 0:25:18It was called snacking,
0:25:18 > 0:25:21and it was all about inventing new times of the day to eat
0:25:21 > 0:25:25and eating one kind of snack in particular - sugary treats.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29Milky Way:
0:25:31 > 0:25:34In the '70s, eating between meals was still frowned upon.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39But the food industry was working hard to change that.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46The snack society is threatening the old style of eating at home.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49On Sundays, food is still a family affair.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52During the week, the young, with money in their pockets,
0:25:52 > 0:25:54rely less and less on home cooking.
0:25:57 > 0:26:02Britain's calorie intake went up as we found new times
0:26:02 > 0:26:04and new places to eat.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08The brilliance of this idea for the food industry was that
0:26:08 > 0:26:12it moved food beyond the meal table and into what had always been
0:26:12 > 0:26:16for them the empty times of the day between meals.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19It literally created a gap in the market.
0:26:19 > 0:26:24This clever little concept is now worth £6 billion a year.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28The food industry say it's just following a trend.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34We lead busy lives, we have to graze from time to time
0:26:34 > 0:26:37and what the food industry has done
0:26:37 > 0:26:39is provide nutritious products
0:26:39 > 0:26:42that consumers can take advantage of on the move
0:26:42 > 0:26:45that match those busy lifestyles.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48Professor Philip James was one of the first to identify obesity
0:26:48 > 0:26:51as a serious medical issue.
0:26:52 > 0:26:58The increase in snacking is something that we continue
0:26:58 > 0:27:02not to focus on and it's a major deficiency, I think.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05But if you go to the industry, they love it,
0:27:05 > 0:27:09because that's a huge burgeoning part of their profit.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15Snacks didn't just change when we ate,
0:27:15 > 0:27:19they also increased our overall intake of sugar.
0:27:19 > 0:27:23# A finger of Fudge is just enough to give your kids a treat... #
0:27:23 > 0:27:25Well, there were a series of products which were...
0:27:25 > 0:27:28Let's call them bite-size, they were just small.
0:27:28 > 0:27:34The number of products like that which were, I guess, something you could just eat
0:27:34 > 0:27:36and be quite nice to eat, but they weren't filling.
0:27:36 > 0:27:42Advertising executive Paul Simons was one of those who helped develop our taste for treats.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46# A finger of Fudge is just enough to give your kids a treat. #
0:27:46 > 0:27:49The key words in that ad being "just enough".
0:27:49 > 0:27:51Just enough, yes. Just enough.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55So, it's just picking that moment that many people do
0:27:55 > 0:27:58and putting that product into that moment.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01The march of sugar was aided by a brand-new high-tech arrival
0:28:01 > 0:28:04to British kitchens - the freezer.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06Paul Simons began visiting restaurants
0:28:06 > 0:28:08looking for luxury desserts
0:28:08 > 0:28:10that could be turned into frozen products.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14If people are eating Black Forest gateau, let's say,
0:28:14 > 0:28:17when they go out for supper, dinner,
0:28:17 > 0:28:20well, why not make something like that that you can freeze,
0:28:20 > 0:28:22because then you can have it when you want it.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25So it was basically going out, seeing what people were eating
0:28:25 > 0:28:28- and thinking, "We can stick that in the freezer".- Exactly.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31We can make that and there will be millions of people who'll buy it.
0:28:33 > 0:28:37The nation's tables were transformed.
0:28:37 > 0:28:39Dishes like Black Forest gateau were no longer
0:28:39 > 0:28:42just for special occasions, but every day.
0:28:42 > 0:28:48And the number of calories being consumed went up dramatically - processed food had arrived.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51Anything that was more difficult to make at home,
0:28:51 > 0:28:56that was a bit more complicated, that you could produce in a mass sense and freeze,
0:28:56 > 0:29:00that was our job - that's what we did for a living.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04The downside was that no-one knew what was in pre-prepared meals.
0:29:04 > 0:29:07But the reality was that levels of sugar
0:29:07 > 0:29:10and salt consumption were rising.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14But Britain's love affair with American eating habits
0:29:14 > 0:29:16was only just beginning.
0:29:16 > 0:29:21In 1974, a new kind of experience had touched down in Britain
0:29:21 > 0:29:26that would seize the imagination of every child in the country.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29For my 10th birthday, I was brought here,
0:29:29 > 0:29:32to Leicester Square in London, to see Star Wars.
0:29:32 > 0:29:34It was the most exciting day of my life.
0:29:34 > 0:29:38But to top that day, I was taken to something even more extraordinary -
0:29:38 > 0:29:41it looked like something beamed down from outer space
0:29:41 > 0:29:44and it was bright orange and it was called...
0:29:44 > 0:29:46McDonald's.
0:29:47 > 0:29:51In the next 20 years, high street fast food outlets quadrupled.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54and obesity expert Professor Philip James
0:29:54 > 0:29:57began to notice something peculiar.
0:29:59 > 0:30:04Suddenly, the movement of obesity, you could see it as we got
0:30:04 > 0:30:07bits of figures from different surveys - it was going up.
0:30:07 > 0:30:11And if you say, "Why didn't we intervene earlier?"
0:30:11 > 0:30:13you bet we should have done.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16But I would have liked to have a bit more data.
0:30:16 > 0:30:19Now we're beginning to get this information.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23Now we can begin to operate, but we've been very slow.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36In America, as in Britain, people were starting to put on weight
0:30:36 > 0:30:40but nobody knew why, or even IF it mattered.
0:30:44 > 0:30:46In the '70s, obesity wasn't even an issue.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49The big health concern was heart disease
0:30:49 > 0:30:53and it boiled down to one simple question - what causes it?
0:30:53 > 0:30:56Sugar or fat?
0:31:06 > 0:31:11This man - Ancel Keys - claimed he had the answer to heart disease.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14His theory had a decisive impact on what we would all eat,
0:31:14 > 0:31:21but it also had a devastating side-effect - creating the conditions for obesity.
0:31:21 > 0:31:23He was already pretty famous here in America
0:31:23 > 0:31:28because he was the originator, the inventor of the K Ration.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31The K Ration was a way of getting 12,000 calories
0:31:31 > 0:31:36in a very small, compact little box that soldiers during World War II
0:31:36 > 0:31:41could carry with them as sustenance during battle.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47The K Ration contained a lot of very sweet food like chocolate,
0:31:47 > 0:31:50because Keys believed sugar was energy -
0:31:50 > 0:31:53never for one moment that it could be harmful.
0:31:56 > 0:32:00Keys' theory was that fat alone caused heart disease -
0:32:00 > 0:32:02an idea he picked up in Britain.
0:32:06 > 0:32:12In 1952, Keys did a sabbatical in England,
0:32:12 > 0:32:17where he saw the epidemic of heart disease himself,
0:32:17 > 0:32:20and correlated it with the enormously poor British diet.
0:32:20 > 0:32:24Fish and chips, et cetera. You know what I'm talking about.
0:32:24 > 0:32:28And decided that saturated fat had to be the culprit.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32And he actually said that back in the '50s, before he did any studies.
0:32:32 > 0:32:38And he spent the next 50 years attempting to prove himself right.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41Keys's view on fat as the enemy became the orthodoxy,
0:32:41 > 0:32:45widely accepted, not least by the food industry.
0:32:45 > 0:32:49But on this side of the Atlantic, one man disagreed.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53Whilst Keys's argument was sweeping all before it,
0:32:53 > 0:32:58here in Britain, one lone voice contested what he was seeing.
0:32:58 > 0:33:03In 1972, an academic called John Yudkin published a small
0:33:03 > 0:33:04but very important book.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07It was called Pure, White and Deadly.
0:33:09 > 0:33:14Yudkin was an outspoken nutritionist who thought, controversially,
0:33:14 > 0:33:16that sugar was to blame for heart disease, not fat.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20But his views were years ahead of their time.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23In front of us, day by day,
0:33:23 > 0:33:27increasingly more and more very tempting foods are put.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31So it's really unfair to use the word "greedy".
0:33:31 > 0:33:32This makes people feel guilty.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34And this is why they resist, many of them, dieting.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37Yudkin's belief in the harm done by sugar
0:33:37 > 0:33:40was diametrically opposed to Keys's view.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43Professor John Yudkin, who I used to work with
0:33:43 > 0:33:47when I was a young scientist, said, "Well, wait a minute.
0:33:47 > 0:33:49"There may be other things in the diet.
0:33:49 > 0:33:51"Let's consider sugar as well as the other things."
0:33:53 > 0:33:57Dr Richard Bruckdorfer worked closely with Yudkin on his nutritional research.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03He pointed out that sucrose is something which only
0:34:03 > 0:34:07came in our diet about eight generations previously,
0:34:07 > 0:34:11and was a sort of interloper into the British diet.
0:34:11 > 0:34:15And that was probably the biggest change that had taken place over the last two centuries.
0:34:15 > 0:34:20But Yudkin wasn't listened to, and he had made an enemy.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25There was a huge lobby from industry, particularly
0:34:25 > 0:34:28from the British sugar industry and the American sugar industry,
0:34:28 > 0:34:31which he complained bitterly about, that he thought
0:34:31 > 0:34:36were subverting some of his ideas because it wasn't convenient to them.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40The battle over sugar and fat got personal.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44Yudkin's ideas were rubbished by his rival, Ancel Keys,
0:34:44 > 0:34:46and Yudkin's work was forgotten.
0:34:47 > 0:34:52Keys won the battle. Yudkin was thrown under the bus. And...
0:34:52 > 0:34:54In what way was he thrown under the bus?
0:34:54 > 0:34:58Well, he was discredited by numerous societies,
0:34:58 > 0:35:01basically saying that he did not have the data
0:35:01 > 0:35:04to make his claims about the importance of sugar.
0:35:06 > 0:35:10It was a disaster for Yudkin, and the rest of us.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13Sugar had got off scot-free, and as a result,
0:35:13 > 0:35:16we were now free to consume ever-greater amounts,
0:35:16 > 0:35:19without any fear of the consequences.
0:35:19 > 0:35:24I think Yudkin was a prophet. I have such respect for him.
0:35:25 > 0:35:29If you read "Pure, White And Deadly," it's all there.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33And for him to have been discredited as he had been
0:35:33 > 0:35:36was a real disservice not just to him, but to society.
0:35:47 > 0:35:52The obesity crisis we face today is in part caused by
0:35:52 > 0:35:54our ignoring Yudkin's warnings about sugar.
0:35:54 > 0:35:58We carried on eating sugar with no idea of the dangers.
0:36:02 > 0:36:06And what's more, the industry developed a wave of new sweet foods,
0:36:06 > 0:36:10perfectly formulated to appeal to our insatiable appetites.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15OK, Sam, so we'll come through to the scanner, there.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19For those who study the causes of obesity,
0:36:19 > 0:36:22the focus has now moved to the brain.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25We're going to put you in the scanner.
0:36:25 > 0:36:30Here in the UK, Dr Tony Goldstone is researching how the mind reacts to sweet foods.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34His subject, Samantha, is on a waiting list
0:36:34 > 0:36:38to have a gastric band operation to help her lose weight.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41I think every diet that I've tried, obviously, has failed.
0:36:41 > 0:36:46I've tried hard, but no, they've all failed.
0:36:46 > 0:36:51But I do try. I do try to keep to fruits, I do eat fruit.
0:36:51 > 0:36:55With the surgery, what's your kind of ideal?
0:36:55 > 0:36:59Erm... To be more active.
0:37:00 > 0:37:02To be more confident.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05And to go out and to spend more time with my kids.
0:37:09 > 0:37:13OK, Samantha, you're going to see some images on the screen, now.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17- And just rate the images accordingly, OK?- 'OK.'
0:37:22 > 0:37:26The researchers show her pictures of high-calorie food,
0:37:26 > 0:37:30like chocolate cake and pizza, and healthy food, like vegetables and salad.
0:37:30 > 0:37:36The calorie level of the food has a direct bearing on which part of the brain is activated.
0:37:36 > 0:37:40Foods that are high in fat and sugar taste good,
0:37:40 > 0:37:43so we know that they activate brain reward systems,
0:37:43 > 0:37:46even when we show pictures. Or if we just had a word, "Chocolate",
0:37:46 > 0:37:50very similar bits of the brain would light up.
0:37:56 > 0:37:58- Take your time, cos you've been lying down.- Yeah.
0:37:58 > 0:38:00So, these are Sam's results. As you can see,
0:38:00 > 0:38:04the high-calorie foods are pretty well all five,
0:38:04 > 0:38:07the low-calories score just over three.
0:38:07 > 0:38:11It shows which parts of the brain react when Samantha sees food.
0:38:11 > 0:38:16Dr Goldstone is interested in one area in particular.
0:38:16 > 0:38:20We have an area here called the nucleus acccumbens,
0:38:20 > 0:38:24and that's an area that's involved in the drive and motivation to have reward.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27And the area we are particularly interested in, also,
0:38:27 > 0:38:30is the orbitofrontal cortex, that's here on either side,
0:38:30 > 0:38:32just above the eyes.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36And that's an area that seems to encode how rewarding we find food.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39So we find, for example, that if people rate things as more tasty
0:38:39 > 0:38:42or more appealing, you get more activation in that area.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46Dr Goldstone's work is nothing less than decoding obesity,
0:38:46 > 0:38:50discovering precisely where in the brain appetite is triggered.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53How tasty the food is, how good it looks,
0:38:53 > 0:38:56even what it sounds like, even what the crunch is like.
0:38:56 > 0:38:58So, all these different factors, the type of food,
0:38:58 > 0:39:00what our psychological make-up is,
0:39:00 > 0:39:03and these external signals from the rest of the body,
0:39:03 > 0:39:06all meet together somewhere. Not in our big toe - in our brains.
0:39:06 > 0:39:10And that's where they integrate to alter whether we actually reach out
0:39:10 > 0:39:13and buy something, or choose it in the shop or the restaurant or at home.
0:39:13 > 0:39:18So, Tony, what you're looking at is an incredibly complex interaction
0:39:18 > 0:39:22of things within the brain every time you just see, smell some food.
0:39:22 > 0:39:26That's obviously what the food industry spends a lot of time developing.
0:39:31 > 0:39:35The way the brain stimulates appetite is the holy grail
0:39:35 > 0:39:38for both the food industry wanting to sell more food,
0:39:38 > 0:39:41and the scientists fighting obesity.
0:39:45 > 0:39:49Dr David Kessler was once head of the all-powerful
0:39:49 > 0:39:51US Food And Drug Administration.
0:39:51 > 0:39:55He is now highly critical of the food industry he once regulated.
0:39:58 > 0:40:03It could be tobacco, it could be illegal drugs, it could be sex,
0:40:03 > 0:40:08it could be gambling. But what's the most socially acceptable cue,
0:40:08 > 0:40:11certainly in our countries?
0:40:11 > 0:40:13I mean, it's food. And it's everywhere.
0:40:15 > 0:40:19You can't walk more than 100 feet in the United States
0:40:19 > 0:40:25and not be cued with some signal that food is available.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28So, what's going on,
0:40:28 > 0:40:32is my brain is constantly being activated by these cues.
0:40:33 > 0:40:38Here's the fish place, here's the taco place,
0:40:38 > 0:40:41- here's the...- Mexican. - ..Mexican place.- Yeah.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44And, I'm not even thinking about food.
0:40:44 > 0:40:48The food industry denies that it exploits neuroscience.
0:40:48 > 0:40:52But Kessler believes some foods are designed to create
0:40:52 > 0:40:54what neurologists call a hedonic response.
0:40:54 > 0:40:59Hedonic means highly pleasurable.
0:40:59 > 0:41:03It gives you this momentary bliss.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06So, when you're eating food that is highly hedonic,
0:41:06 > 0:41:08it sort of takes over your brain.
0:41:08 > 0:41:12The problem is, this highly pleasurable food
0:41:12 > 0:41:16is often high in sugar, highly processed, and highly fattening.
0:41:16 > 0:41:20Here's the way America eats. Here is a bowl of chicken.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23There are nutritional components in it,
0:41:23 > 0:41:26but it's become so highly processed, so stimulating.
0:41:26 > 0:41:29I mean, you can almost sense,
0:41:29 > 0:41:34just by smelling it, how overpowering it is.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46Dr Kessler's findings suggest that the pleasure some people get
0:41:46 > 0:41:50from eating these foods is overpowering.
0:41:50 > 0:41:52It takes the brain prisoner.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57Not everybody. But for people who have a hard time controlling their weight,
0:41:57 > 0:42:02their brains are being hijacked by these highly palatable foods.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06When you put it in your mouth, you have sensors,
0:42:06 > 0:42:12receptors, that are hard-wired to the emotional core of your brain.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14So the circuits that are involved, the neural circuits,
0:42:14 > 0:42:17the learning, memory, habit and motivation circuits
0:42:17 > 0:42:23that are being activated are the same circuits that are involved in addiction.
0:42:26 > 0:42:30The idea that certain foods can be addictive is highly controversial.
0:42:30 > 0:42:35The food industry wholly denies that foods can make addicts out of consumers.
0:42:37 > 0:42:44The number one reason we like to eat foods or beverages
0:42:44 > 0:42:47is because of how they taste, and what you think tastes good
0:42:47 > 0:42:50and you like to eat or have a craving for may be different
0:42:50 > 0:42:53than I would choose, whether it's apples or grilled chicken,
0:42:53 > 0:42:55or a soft drink or a piece of chocolate cake.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58So I think we need to make clear there's a big difference
0:42:58 > 0:43:03between liking to eat something because it tastes good and being addicted to it.
0:43:03 > 0:43:05Do you think that the food manufacturers
0:43:05 > 0:43:08know what they're doing by producing hedonic food?
0:43:08 > 0:43:11They knew that people come back for more.
0:43:11 > 0:43:17- How...?- Did they understand the neuroscience? No.
0:43:17 > 0:43:21But they learned experientially what worked.
0:43:21 > 0:43:26The food industry has always used the position with regard to obesity
0:43:26 > 0:43:31that it is the responsibility of the individual to curb their eating.
0:43:31 > 0:43:33Would you think that's a fair defence?
0:43:33 > 0:43:40I don't think it's fair just to talk about personal responsibility
0:43:40 > 0:43:42and not corporate responsibility.
0:43:42 > 0:43:48It certainly hasn't been fair to people who have
0:43:48 > 0:43:52this wanting, this problem controlling their eating.
0:43:56 > 0:44:01If Kessler's neuroscience is right, overeating is not down to greed.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04The food industry could also bear a crucial part
0:44:04 > 0:44:06of the blame for the obesity epidemic.
0:44:17 > 0:44:21The US government had their own part to play in the obesity crisis,
0:44:21 > 0:44:24back in the '70s when the first warnings came.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27But in trying to fix it, they made it worse.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35In 1977, this man, George McGovern,
0:44:35 > 0:44:40was set the task of changing American eating habits.
0:44:40 > 0:44:42Beaten by Nixon in the 1972 presidential election,
0:44:42 > 0:44:46McGovern threw himself into work for a committee
0:44:46 > 0:44:50to create the first-ever set of dietary guidelines for Americans.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53It would go disastrously wrong.
0:44:57 > 0:44:59Nick Mottern was the committee's researcher.
0:45:03 > 0:45:07I was hired by the committee to write a report
0:45:07 > 0:45:12that would be like the Surgeon General's report on smoking.
0:45:12 > 0:45:17We gathered, I guess, probably half a dozen nutritionists in the country
0:45:17 > 0:45:24who were willing to talk about eating less fat, eating less sugar, eating less meat.
0:45:26 > 0:45:31The report recommended moderate reductions in fat, salt and sugar.
0:45:31 > 0:45:35But when it hit the press, the food industry was incensed.
0:45:36 > 0:45:41I don't think that McGovern anticipated the kind of kickback
0:45:41 > 0:45:45from the food industry that he got on that.
0:45:45 > 0:45:47Because we had held hearings,
0:45:47 > 0:45:51it was clear that the science was on our side in terms of our recommendations.
0:45:51 > 0:45:55The food industry, and the sugar lobby in particular,
0:45:55 > 0:45:58brought its muscle to bear to bury the report.
0:45:58 > 0:46:01This is an incredible letter that you've got here
0:46:01 > 0:46:04from The Sugar Association,
0:46:04 > 0:46:08and it says in it that your suppositions are false.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11That there's no evidence for what you're saying.
0:46:11 > 0:46:14And there's two lines in particular that are incredible.
0:46:14 > 0:46:15It says, "For several years now,
0:46:15 > 0:46:19"the sugar industry has had to live with two myths.
0:46:19 > 0:46:23"One, that consumption is increasing annually,
0:46:23 > 0:46:30"and secondly, that consumption of sugar is directly responsible for death-dealing maladies."
0:46:30 > 0:46:35What they say here is "both suppositions are false."
0:46:35 > 0:46:37What do you think about that?
0:46:37 > 0:46:41Well, possibly it could have been written by the same people
0:46:41 > 0:46:44who wrote letters for the tobacco industry, protecting their product.
0:46:49 > 0:46:51It worked.
0:46:51 > 0:46:54In the media coverage in the weeks after the report was published,
0:46:54 > 0:46:56sugar was barely mentioned.
0:46:57 > 0:46:59Instead, reducing fat
0:46:59 > 0:47:03became the concession the food industry was willing to make,
0:47:03 > 0:47:06just as Ancel Keys had advocated years before.
0:47:12 > 0:47:17The science historian Gary Taubes says this was pivotal moment.
0:47:19 > 0:47:20They had these hearings.
0:47:20 > 0:47:25One of the staff members who put together this report said that
0:47:25 > 0:47:28after the hearing, he walks out, an industry analyst walks out with him,
0:47:28 > 0:47:30and basically puts his arm round his shoulder and says,
0:47:30 > 0:47:34"I don't know what you think is going to happen, but if you think people
0:47:34 > 0:47:38"are going to start eating more broccoli and more kale and spinach
0:47:38 > 0:47:41"because you've now put together dietary goals, you're crazy.
0:47:41 > 0:47:43"What you've said is people should eat less fat,
0:47:43 > 0:47:46"so the industry is going to jump on this and create low-fat products
0:47:46 > 0:47:49"and they're going to label them as heart-healthy or whatever,
0:47:49 > 0:47:53"and they're going to be able to carve out a portion of the market for their new products,
0:47:53 > 0:47:57"and everyone else is going to have to play catch-up. And that's what they're going to do.
0:47:57 > 0:48:00"And the next thing you know, they're going to have shelf after shelf
0:48:00 > 0:48:03"in the supermarket of junk foods that claim to be low-fat
0:48:03 > 0:48:06"and good for your heart," and that's exactly what happened.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14Overnight, a whole new type of food was invented - low-fat.
0:48:14 > 0:48:18Sold as much better for us, or so we were told.
0:48:18 > 0:48:23The food industry had turned the attack on unhealthy food into a business opportunity.
0:48:23 > 0:48:25It was genius.
0:48:26 > 0:48:29But the problem was flavour.
0:48:29 > 0:48:31Dr Alice Pegg is a food scientist
0:48:31 > 0:48:34whose job is to design lower-fat foods.
0:48:34 > 0:48:37Her challenge is to replicate the taste fat brings
0:48:37 > 0:48:40to foods like mayonnaise.
0:48:42 > 0:48:45- Mm, good. - Does it taste like mayonnaise? THEY LAUGH
0:48:45 > 0:48:50It's good, because it's 80% fat, isn't it? 80% fat.
0:48:50 > 0:48:52- The fat tastes good.- Mm-hmm.
0:48:52 > 0:48:54Because fat tends to stay in the mouth.
0:48:54 > 0:48:56If you think about it, fat and water don't mix,
0:48:56 > 0:48:59so when you swallow, some of the fat remains in the mouth.
0:48:59 > 0:49:03And you'll tend to have flavours that are dissolved in the fat,
0:49:03 > 0:49:07- and so you keep getting a lingering flavour of the thing you like.- Wow.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10When you're replacing fat and you're producing something low-fat,
0:49:10 > 0:49:12I mean, do you have to replace it with calories?
0:49:12 > 0:49:15You know, what are you replacing it with?
0:49:15 > 0:49:18You really have to completely reformulate the food.
0:49:18 > 0:49:21When the low-fat first came out,
0:49:21 > 0:49:24it was a case of just taking the fat out being the issue,
0:49:24 > 0:49:26NOT to do with how many calories we're eating.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30And therefore, it didn't matter so much what you were putting in.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35But it DID matter when obesity became an issue.
0:49:35 > 0:49:40The trouble was that many manufacturers replaced fat with - guess what - sugar.
0:49:41 > 0:49:44The problem is, when you take the fat out of the recipe,
0:49:44 > 0:49:47food tastes like cardboard.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50No-one would ever eat another processed food again
0:49:50 > 0:49:52if the fat was taken out.
0:49:52 > 0:49:54Low-fat sucks.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57Ask any kid if they'll drink skim milk and the answer is, "Absolutely not."
0:49:57 > 0:50:01But if you put chocolate in it, that's a different story.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05Indeed, that's exactly what the entire food industry did.
0:50:05 > 0:50:08They took the fat out and they added the sugar in.
0:50:09 > 0:50:15Any potential benefit from the lower level of fat was cancelled out by this increase in sugar.
0:50:15 > 0:50:17'There was a theory, actually,
0:50:17 > 0:50:19'that if a food didn't have a fat in it,'
0:50:19 > 0:50:21it couldn't make you fat.
0:50:21 > 0:50:25This was one of the many theories that sort of got embraced with the low-fat dogma.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28And that meant you could drink all these sodas,
0:50:28 > 0:50:31you could drink these fruit juices, they couldn't make you fat.
0:50:33 > 0:50:34TANNOY: 'Attention, shoppers.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37'Reduced-fat Snackwell's Creme Sandwich Cookies
0:50:37 > 0:50:38'have just arrived in aisle three.
0:50:38 > 0:50:41'That's aisle three.'
0:50:41 > 0:50:45Of all the low-fat success stories, Snackwell's was the most famous.
0:50:45 > 0:50:49A cookie marketed at people trying to reduce their fat intake.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51- EMPLOYEE:- ..you eat 'em! Wa-a-ah!
0:50:51 > 0:50:53What a creamy way to cut the fat.
0:50:53 > 0:50:56Snackwell's Creme Sandwich Cookies - so good!
0:50:56 > 0:50:58They flew off the shelves.
0:50:58 > 0:51:03There would be huge lines of people waiting when the truck arrived
0:51:03 > 0:51:05to deliver the boxes to grocery stores.
0:51:05 > 0:51:07It was an incredible phenomenon.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10Within three years of its launch,
0:51:10 > 0:51:13annual sales were worth half-a-billion dollars.
0:51:13 > 0:51:17But the low-fat label didn't mean it wasn't fattening.
0:51:17 > 0:51:19People, when they ate the low-fat products,
0:51:19 > 0:51:21thought that they didn't have any calories in them.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23The sign, "Low-fat,"
0:51:23 > 0:51:29indicated to a lot of people that you could just eat as much as you want, and you could eat BOXES of them,
0:51:29 > 0:51:33and they wouldn't have any calorie effect.
0:51:33 > 0:51:36And so, that also was a stimulus to eat more.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42Snackwell's was a marketing triumph,
0:51:42 > 0:51:45but a disaster for America's waistline.
0:51:48 > 0:51:52By the time anyone began to ask if it was a good thing to replace fat with sugar,
0:51:52 > 0:51:55it was too late.
0:51:57 > 0:51:59If fat's the cause...
0:52:00 > 0:52:02..that's a good thing to do.
0:52:02 > 0:52:04If sugar is the cause,
0:52:04 > 0:52:06that's a disastrous thing to do.
0:52:06 > 0:52:11And I think that over the last 30 years, we've answered the question.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22By 2000, here in Washington, the tide was turning.
0:52:22 > 0:52:26Public health specialists from the new science of obesity
0:52:26 > 0:52:28were now talking about sugar.
0:52:28 > 0:52:32And the food corporations were getting very nervy.
0:52:34 > 0:52:38The food industry has one of the most powerful lobbies here in Washington.
0:52:38 > 0:52:44They spend millions every year, so as the science of obesity grew up and became better understood,
0:52:44 > 0:52:46that lobby was working overtime.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49With the spotlight on sugar,
0:52:49 > 0:52:51very powerful interests got to work the defend it.
0:52:53 > 0:52:592003 - Britain and America were assembling forces to invade Iraq.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02But some of Washington's most powerful politicians
0:53:02 > 0:53:05had another crisis on their minds.
0:53:06 > 0:53:08TANKS TRUNDLE
0:53:08 > 0:53:09In Geneva,
0:53:09 > 0:53:12the World Health Organisation was about to issue a report
0:53:12 > 0:53:16that set global limits on the amount of sugar in our diet.
0:53:16 > 0:53:20It was time for the sugar lobby to mobilise its own tanks.
0:53:22 > 0:53:23The sugar industry went berserk.
0:53:24 > 0:53:28They got their lobbyists to write a big position paper
0:53:28 > 0:53:33to argue with the World Health Organisation that they shouldn't do this.
0:53:36 > 0:53:41The Sugar Association wrote direct to the WHO's director general,
0:53:41 > 0:53:47threatening the organisation's 406 million of US government funding.
0:53:53 > 0:53:57They forced the Department of Health and Human Services
0:53:57 > 0:54:03to threaten the World Health Organisation with withdrawing funding from it
0:54:03 > 0:54:06if they didn't lighten up on that recommendation.
0:54:08 > 0:54:11The US Health Secretary himself flew to Geneva
0:54:11 > 0:54:14to put the sugar industry's case in person.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19The WHO never did make that recommendation.
0:54:29 > 0:54:33What happened in Geneva shows how powerful the food industry really is.
0:54:37 > 0:54:42But today, with a third of American adults now classed as obese,
0:54:42 > 0:54:45the food industry is at last offering to change.
0:54:45 > 0:54:47All the time, science is changing,
0:54:47 > 0:54:50and how they're thinking about how to tackle the problem is changing.
0:54:50 > 0:54:54This is an industry which takes, you know, with its scale,
0:54:54 > 0:54:56takes its responsibilities very, very seriously,
0:54:56 > 0:54:59and has already done an awful lot, and will continue to do so.
0:54:59 > 0:55:04And we know that there's real commitment behind us playing our full part in public health.
0:55:05 > 0:55:09The former Coca-Cola executive Hank Cardello
0:55:09 > 0:55:13now has his own consultancy aimed at getting corporations to tackle obesity.
0:55:15 > 0:55:19The beauty, if you can look at the silver lining
0:55:19 > 0:55:24in the challenge of obesity, is that, even though it's a problem,
0:55:24 > 0:55:27it creates a galvanising effect.
0:55:27 > 0:55:29Companies need to make money,
0:55:29 > 0:55:34and consumers need to eat food that is convenient and tastes good,
0:55:34 > 0:55:37and from the public health perspective, we need products that are healthier.
0:55:37 > 0:55:39And all those need to come together.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43This is a dilemma for the food companies.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48While obesity has ballooned, so have profits.
0:55:48 > 0:55:52Healthier food might be good PR, but it's a commercial gamble.
0:56:05 > 0:56:08The men who made us fat revolutionised what we eat.
0:56:10 > 0:56:15What they did in the '70s gave us sweeter food, and too much of it...
0:56:15 > 0:56:19led to one man's warnings being ignored...
0:56:19 > 0:56:23while another gave the risks in sugar a clean bill of health.
0:56:24 > 0:56:28And another man's work left us so-called low-fat food,
0:56:28 > 0:56:31with hidden calories where we least expected them.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34Theirs was a disastrous legacy.
0:56:39 > 0:56:40In Britain,
0:56:40 > 0:56:44we're still struggling to cope with our inheritance from these men.
0:56:44 > 0:56:47The number of obese adults has TREBLED since the 1980s.
0:56:47 > 0:56:52Obesity is costing the NHS over £4 billion a year.
0:56:54 > 0:56:58It's astonishing to find such a clear link between a few politicians
0:56:58 > 0:57:02and thinkers in '70s America and our present crisis.
0:57:05 > 0:57:08The question is not why there are so many fat people,
0:57:08 > 0:57:12so many obese people, it's why there are thin people
0:57:12 > 0:57:16in an environment where it's leading us all to be obese.
0:57:18 > 0:57:23It's pretty difficult to cope in this obesity epidemic
0:57:23 > 0:57:25with the prevailing conditions.
0:57:25 > 0:57:28And everybody always says to you that it's all your own fault.
0:57:28 > 0:57:32Forget it. The evidence is the exact contrary.
0:57:32 > 0:57:36Next week, I go on the trail of the men who supersized
0:57:36 > 0:57:39our appetites in the quest for profits.
0:57:39 > 0:57:43He realised that if he increased the portions, that he could sell more.
0:57:43 > 0:57:47Because people didn't like the idea of going back for two.
0:57:47 > 0:57:49They changed the rules,
0:57:49 > 0:57:53because then everyone started running around thinking, "We've got to make a bigger bar."
0:57:56 > 0:57:59Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd