Nowadays, it's quite obvious to see that healthy fruits and vegetables are more expensive than processed junk food such as ice cream, cookies, noodles, etc. Just by observing the prices on the produce, meats, snacks, and desserts, that gap is easily seen. The consequence of this behavior shown by the food industry is shown through the increasing rates of obesity, rise of big food companies, more processed and corn-containing foods, and higher prices of produce.
The article explains why the price gap between these foods exist. It explains factors such as labor costs, high demand, better flavor, cheaper production, technological advancements in factory processing, and genetic modification. But because we are being geared towards those cheaper unhealthy foods, our health is declining. According to the article, research conducted in the UK showed that "almost three-quarters of men and two-thirds of women in the UK would be overweight or obese in 15 years time" unless the government takes decisive actions to help tackle it. The article suggests that "by imposing a VAT-style 17.5% tax on less healthy food and using the proceeds to subsidize fruit and vegetables would save between 3,600 to 6,400 premature deaths a year from diet-related diseases". The problem would be that most people who blindly enjoy eating the way they do now won't support these health measures.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/may/11/falling-price-processed-foods-obesity-crisis-tax
Obesity is a terrible epidemic our world has to live with or work together to rid our planet of. we need to find ways to purchase healthy fruits and vegetables at a cheaper price than artificially flavored and processed food.
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