Sugar Takes Over France
Well, October has shattered quite a few of my naive thoughts about the French people and their children. As it turns out the French like junk food just as much as their American counterparts. The other day at the preschool that I intern at the kids’ afternoon snack was bread and butter and two squares of a chocolate bar…. The kids, who are normally quite polite and courteous, lost all control, they were begging and getting out of their seats trying to steal their friends’ chocolate. They looked like crazed Frankensteins with their faces and hands just covered in messy, melty chocolate. I was shocked. The image I had in my mind of them as tiny French stereotypes, wearing striped black and white shirts with a red scarf around their tiny necks with baguettes tucked neatly under each of their arms walking politely next to their thin, chic parents wearing practically a matching outfit, has been shattered. Who were these tiny beasts that had taken over the bodies of tiny, polite, sophisticated French kids that I knew?
I think everyone at the crèche (preschool) regretted this chocolatey decision pretty quickly. These tiny, polite french kids went absolutely bonkers. The kids were running around, running into each other and then crying, then recovering only to do the same thing again. It was insane. I was surprised to find that the crèche felt comfortable giving all these little kids a sugary treat in just a short window of time until their parents arrived to pick them up. I guess, conversely this is also the smartest way to do it. Give the kids chocolate and make their parents deal with the sugar rush and the subsequent sugar crash. Honestly, I especially found it strange because the preschool I worked at in Austin would have never been allowed to give the kids straight chocolate. We had to send home permission slips for birthday cupcakes (I know, ridiculous). Finally, is this an instance where America is winning on the healthy food front? Or is this yet another example on how we will make something into a taboo, which only serves to make the problem worse?
Anyway, this sugary snack and the kids’ subsequent behavior made me think of Fed Up, which shows how the role of exorbitant amounts of sugar in the diets of children cause children (and adults’) risk of obesity and diet related diseases such as diabetes to increase exponentially. America is leading the way in added sugar and obesity, and we have been for quite a while now. For example, from 1977 to 2000, Americans have doubled their dietary sugar intake (Washington Post). As if this weren’t disturbing enough, since 1995, corn-based sweetener companies have received over 8 billion dollars, yes that’s right…billion, in government subsidies. In fact, one large american company who produces sugar, American Sugar Refining, Inc., which sells under many different brand names including Florida Crystals, Domino Sugar, C&H Sugar, and about a hundred more, does not even have any “key executives, board members or committee members” publicly recorded (American Sugar Refining). All their site says about “Our People” is: “ASR Group has more than 5,000 talented people working with us to grow our business and nurture our brands.” As if they are some kind of CIA operation. We as consumers cannot even find out who is making, and profiting unimaginable sums off of this product that we all consume so readily. Our American “free enterprise” is going to kill us and make a few very, very rich.
Sugar isn’t the only culprit contributing to our demise. Between 1970 and 1990, the consumption of high fructose corn syrup in America has increased by one thousand percent (Topic: Sugar Industry). Just to exemplify this, a typical 20 ounce bottle of soda contains 16 teaspoons which equates to 64 grams of sugars from high fructose corn syrup (Soechtig).
Another sugar form is beet sugar. Actually, the European Union is the world’s biggest producer of beet sugar, with around 50 per cent of the total and the main importer of raw cane sugar for refining. The European Union sugar market is tightly regulated by implementing production quotas, minimum market beet prices and trade mechanisms to protect consumers and producers alike. While the European Union is the world’s leading producer of beet sugar, beet sugar actually only represents about 20 per cent of the world’s sugar production. Most of the EU’s sugar beet is grown in the northern half of Europe, where the climate is more suited to growing beet. The most competitive producing areas are in northern France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Poland (Agriculture and Rural Development).
The saddest part of this sugar dilemma is that this American obsession with sugar has spread throughout the western world and beyond. From our tiniest children in formula, to all the way from “cradle to grave” at McDonald’s, the sugar takeover does not stop with Americans. A recent french study concluded that the stereotypically thin french are actually not as thin as they used to be. The French study concluded that the most significant weight gains were among 18 to 24 year olds, whose obesity levels have shot up by 35 per cent in the past three years. A recent Ipsos-Logica Business Consulting study found that six out of ten adolescent French people say that they eat at least half the time in front of an electronic screen, often skipping meals to instead munch on snacks throughout the day. More than a third of French adolescents said they did not participate in a sport while a quarter “often” consumed soda drinks at meal times (Samuel).
French adults are not immune to this new reality. They may still officially be among Europe’s thinnest people but the average French person has put on more than 7 pounds since 1997. That means that 15 per cent of the French population is now obese and 32.3 per cent overweight (Samuel).
After I finished Fed Up, I went to make myself some plain white rice for dinner and just out of curiosity I checked out the sugar content. I almost fell on the floor! 38 grams of sugar per serving of Carrefour brand plain white rice! The American Heart Association’s daily allowance of added sugar is 24-36 grams (Ervin and Ogden), (but the human body actually requires no sugar whatsoever). So, keeping that in mind just one serving of plain white rice would take me over the limit for daily allowance of sugar!
But France’s consumption of sugar is still is in no comparison to America’s consumption. On average, french people consume 68.5 grams per day while americans consume 126.4 grams (Halter). France does not even make the list of top ten sugar consuming countries. Americans on average eat 130 pounds of sugar per year, which equates to 3,550 pounds in an average lifetime (Walton).
Works Cited
“American Sugar Refining, Inc.: Private Company Information.” Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.
Ervin, R. Bethene, Ph.D., and Cynthia L. Ogden, Ph.D. “Consumption of Added Sugars Among U.S. Adults, 2005–2010.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 01 May 2013. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.
Halter, Dr. Reese. “Fed Up Spotlights the American Sugar Epidemic.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.
Langlois, Kellie, and Didier Garriguet. “Sugar Consumption among Canadians of All Ages.” Sugar Consumption among Canadians of All Ages. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.
Soechtig, Stephanie. “Fed Up.” Fed Up. Katie Couric and Laurie David, n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.
“Sugar.” – Agriculture and Rural Development. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.
Samuel, Henry. “Number of Obese People in France Doubles to Seven Million.” The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 16 Oct. 2012. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.
“Topic: Sugar Industry.” Www.statista.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.
Walton, Alice G. “How Much Sugar Are Americans Eating? [Infographic].” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.
“Where People around the World Eat the Most Sugar and Fat.” Washington Post. The Washington Post, n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.