It’s a fact that, for better of for worse, many Americans pursue immoderate habits when it comes to food and drink. Even among the poorest Americans, poor food choices, along with a ready market, make this possible. One result is that in the U.S. we have been getting noticeably more chubby. So, it seems, have our American mice.
I don’t blame the rotund mice of recent newspaper notoriety. They’re innocent conscripts in a rigged experiment. The rest of us, however, are not laboratory mice. We’re just generally over-indulgent.
For better or for worse, there are lots of voices out there urging, pleading and commanding us to reform ourselves for our own good. Yet in a free society and a market economy, people tend to pursue what they wish to pursue.They also consume what they wish to consume, unless they face incentives to change. The more we insulate people from the personal consequences associated with risky behaviors, the less likely they are to give them up. These include overeating, overconsumption of alcohol, smoking, recreational drug use, and many other elective choices.
The latest villains in the obesity story (other than the obvious–the overfed consumers themselves) are the fast food industry, including the suppliers of fats that go into fast-fried and other convenience food. We are now warned to completely avoid trans-fats. Research currently suggests that we are actually better off with butter than with margarine.
Nutritionists remind us that the switch to trans-fats—partially hardened or hydrogenated oils—is due to earlier health alarms about saturated fats like butter, lard, and beef tallow. The latest public health push would have producers switch to monounsaturated fats, especially for high temperature commercial cooking.
Oddly, just as the food moralists are targeting our bad habits with legislative ‘fixes,’ science may be opening a door that could make everyone happy. It now seems possible that some vices, in the right combinations, may actually be good for you.
Take body fat and alcohol consumption, for example. Though moderate red wine consumption is generally considered beneficial, heavy drinking definitely is not. An obese person who overconsumes alcohol in any form should expect to increase a variety of health risks.
But now, enter science and the market. According to documented experiments with mice , obesity paired with the heavy influence of red wine yields a surprising result: fat mice have the same healthy profile as their normal-weight counterparts! The catch? The red, red wine is administered in a concentrated extract form known as resveratrol (alas).
Is there a lesson here? I think so. Whatever a wonder pill solution says about our self-discipline (not much that’s good), it scores points for market ingenuity. At least one clear benefit among the unknown costs can be discerned: an innovation like resveratrol makes social and market regulation of our foods and consumption habits less excusable—or more transparent—than might otherwise be the case. This innovation underlines the fact that the market is not a moral compass—it simply responds to perceived wants, whatever they are.
Being significantly overweight is a frustrating and difficult situation. The following cliché says it all, and a little bit more:
“Inside of me there’s a thin woman trying to get out,” complains the ever-suffering Edina. “Are you sure it’s just the one, dear?” asks her mother. (TV characters Edina and June Monsoon, in the BBC’s Absolutely Fabulous, the “Fat” episode.)