Who is behind deadly food in Russia?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Chemically poisoned foods, together with unhealthy diets, lead to obesity, infertility and early death. Wrong habits must be corrected, the composition of the products must be monitored. Rational nutrition and sobriety are the norm of life …

The head of the Ministry of Healthcare Veronika Skvortsova criticized the irrational nutrition of Russians. According to her, more than two-thirds of the surveyed Russians have "abdominal obesity." Simply put, the belly grows.

“At the age of 35-40 years, 27% of men and 25% of women are obese, and at the age of 55-64 - 36% and 52%, respectively. A twofold increase in the prevalence of obesity in men from 12 to 27%, - Interfax quotes the words of the minister responsible for the health of the people.

In 2017, the consumption of vegetables was 73% of the recommended norms, and sugar and confectionery - 130%, Skvortsov's figures cited. "50% consume salt in excess, more often men." “Every fifth Russian eats fast food, especially the inhabitants of the megalopolis,” she said.

This practice leads to an increase in the incidence of diabetes, hypertension and oncology, the head of the Ministry of Health stated. That is, diseases with a frequent lethal outcome. However, aren't the authorities responsible for this state of affairs? What did they do to prevent this from happening?

For example, more than 40% of dairy products supplied to children's institutions in Crimea are counterfeit. But the peninsula is now a visiting card of Russia. Money is invested there. The situation is under special control. It's scary to imagine what is happening in other regions.

Or a well-known story in the Saratov region, where the local labor minister is sure that you can live on 3,500 rubles a month. MP Nikolay Bondarenko, who decided to conduct an experiment on himself, lost 5 kilograms in just two weeks. Obviously, there is no need to talk about healthy eating for that kind of money.

No wonder, the deputy's conclusion was unambiguous: the cost of the consumer basket in Russia should be at least 10 thousand rubles, and the size of the living wage should be 20 thousand rubles. It turns out that the problem of inappropriate nutrition is connected, among other things, with the income of the population. For more than 20 million poor people in our country, the principle is true: “I’m not up to fat, I would live”.

Nutritionist Natalya Pavlyuk believes that the responsible departments in the sphere of the health of Russians should act more energetically.

- What Skvortsova is talking about is absolutely true. In general, it is so.

"SP": - Our country is big. The situation probably depends on the region?

- Yes, the larger the city, the better the food. And vice versa. For example, my mom lives in a small town. There is absolutely nothing to buy that I advise her. Good bread cannot be bought, there is no variety of vegetables either.

"SP": - Good bread - what is it?

- It is better that it was made from whole grain flour. After all, the same black bread can be made from rye wallpaper flour, from peeled rye, there is from seeded. Wallpaper is whole grain. But there is no such bread there. Perhaps "Borodinsky", but it quickly gets boring.

Or, for example, cottage cheese in the provinces has a very long shelf life and tasteless. And only 9 or 11 percent fat. But in Moscow there are different options. Delicious, inexpensive low-fat cottage cheese.

"SP": - These are particular examples. What is the general state of affairs in Russia with a rational diet?

- In different countries, there are proven food pyramids in which the correct eating habits are reduced. There are even official dietary recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) on how to make these pyramids. They are usually reviewed every 5-10 years. Depending on the country. This is not the case in Russia. Alas, this is a global Russian flaw. And this is exactly what the Ministry of Health and the Research Institute of Nutrition should do.

In addition, we have the technical regulation of the Customs Union, which regulates products for Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus. It is not very well written. There are not entirely adequate and correct formulations, which are very different from the international ones and from the "Voz" ones. Many cases of substitution of concepts.

"SP": - For example?

- For example, WHO identifies such a concept as “free sugars”. These are sugar, high-calorie sugar substitutes, including fructose, maltose, all kinds of sorbitol, honey, and even fruit juice and syrups. There should be no more than 10 percent of such sugars in the human diet. This is one of the most important and costly problems as it leads to tooth decay.

Also, there is the concept of added sugars. This is what is usually written on the label in the same America. This is a "controlled evil" that can be removed from the diet. Thanks to this unsuccessful regulation, we have none of this in Russia. They can add honey to the product and write that it is natural sugar, although it is a substitute, which means it belongs to the category of "added sugars".

All this affects the consumer, how he understands what is good and what is bad. We just don't have the information we need about all of this. People, for example, do not understand why vegetables and fruits are good and cookies are bad. And vegetables should be included in every meal. Carrots, radishes, turnips, beets, pumpkin. It is there and it is not expensive.

"SP": - Potatoes, probably …

- We really combine potatoes with vegetables. The weekly rate is 700 grams. This is a bit too much. In addition, WHO does not include potatoes in vegetables at all. Somewhere in England, potatoes are in the same category as bread, as a source of carbohydrates. And vegetables are a low-calorie source of dietary fiber. Cabbage is a vegetable. Eat to your health.

According to the WHO, you need to eat 400-500 grams of fruits and vegetables per day. Otherwise, there will be an imbalance of nutrients, an increased level of salt and sugars in the diet. But no one knows anything about this. Some people don't eat vegetables at all.

"SP": - But aren't people themselves responsible for their own diet? I opened the Internet and read everything I needed …

- There should be a state educational program. Because people believe that if a particular product is sold in a store, then it is necessarily harmless, safe. But this is not the case.

"SP": - Well, yes, palm oil is poured everywhere, where it is possible and not …

- Palm oil is bad because it contains not the best saturated fats. They certainly need to be limited. But palm oil is better than, for example, trans fats.

"SP": - And what is this?

- Trans fats are a huge problem in Russia. This is a consequence of the oil hydrogenation process, which is used to increase the shelf life of vegetable fats. During this process, good fats are converted to bad, mutating fats.

Previously, they did not know this, but since 2005, they have been banned all over the world, since they definitely increase mortality. But it never reached Russia. Our products can contain up to 5 percent trans fats. Although all over the world has long been zero. But people believe - they say, if they sell, then they can. And then they blame the nutritionists for not communicating their concerns to the government.

"SP": - That is, one of the reasons for this state of affairs - the weak expert support of the topic? Are you nutritionists who are simply not listened to in the government?

- Yes, the connection between specialists and decision-makers is very poor. Perhaps some interested companies play an important role in this. But Russia suffers from this!

"SP": - The eternal problem of isolation of the authorities from the real problems of the people … What other problems are there in your area?

- Things are very bad with education, nutritionist training … Evidence-based nutrition has long been around the world. There they prove facts, make gradations of facts, develop recommendations for their interpretation, etc. Several meta-analyzes (research studies) are now released annually and are used to make judgments by communities of experts.

And in Russia there is too much paternalistic consciousness. The opinion of a professor is considered higher than the international one. And this professor relies on his own rather limited personal experience. But after all, not a single person has enough life to collect the amount of information necessary for correct conclusions. And in our country, no one sees the difference between these levels of research.

"SP": - And how should it be?

- In order for some proposals to be included in the recommendations, studies must be written first on the population, then planned studies - this is the second level, then highly planned studies. It is desirable that this be carried out in different countries, and then combined, published in different journals, where a bunch of smart people sit in the collegiums.

And only then the communities will write their recommendations, and we, nutritionists, will be guided by the opinions of the three communities. I myself prefer the Americans, Australians and the British (These communities are "fed" by their oligarchy. You have to learn to think with your own mind, to conduct your own research. RuAN). Without this, I will never make a decision in my practice. However, we do not even know that there are other doctors. Although everywhere in the world, a doctor can be deprived of his diploma or even sued for a gag.