What Effect Will Food Experts Have On Our Culture?
The fact that the food we eat has an impact on our health has long been recognised by health experts. The specific advice, however, is far from clear with differnet experts offering a wide range of opinions. A classic example of this is the atkins diet which gained a big following with the Hollywood and celebrity culture before falling out of fashion due to a lack of specific evidence relating the diet to sustained weight loss.
Over the past 5 years there has been shift in perception and the public are starting to eat healthier. Ad campaigns such as Jamie Oliver’s Sainsburys adverts have contributed to this phenomoenon along with Gillian Mckeith’s ‘You Are What You Eat’ TV show. While the shift towards healthier food is beginning to catch on with the public the government is also starting to follow with stringent rules on advertising fast food to children and just recently there is talk of banning food colourings across Europe.This kind of shift would go a long way towards changing the public’s perception of ‘healthy food’.
So what effect will this have on our day to day lives? I think it will lead to more and more food experts arriving in our media - from Gillian Mckeith to Jamie Oliver. It will also signal a clearer emphasis on healthy food in supermarkets and highstreet shops. Banning chemicals such as food colourings from products on our shelves will also have a direct impct on making all the food we buy healthier.
I’m only speculating here but I’d like to see studies into the overall effect on the population of eating healthier. Will it lead to less crime?! Perhaps a happier work force? No doubt there will still be people arguing both sides of this story for many years to come.
