Highly engineered additives in processed foods should be called drugs

Task: Summary of a reading text

Instructions: Read the text on pages 2-3 below until you understand and summarize it by following these steps:

x look up any unfamiliar words x put the main ideas in your own words (use appropriate synonyms) x include only the main points x condense the information by leaving out the details x avoid cutting too much important information x make your summary much shorter than the original x do not change the meaning of the original x maintain the order of the original text x revise and edit your summary for grammatical and mechanical

errors

 

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Summary should end with the in-text citation of the reading text

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Word count should be stated at the end of the document (… words)

You need to include 150-250 words for your summary

Assignment should be submitted on Turnitin

 

 

 

 

 

Stop calling food addictive

It is highly engineered additives in processed foods that should be called drugs. And these really are addictive. By Kima Cargill

29 August, 2017

Many of my colleagues ± researchers who study overeating ± routinely use the term food

addiction, and advocate for its recognition as a psychiatric diagnosis.

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foods that elicit addictive behavior share one thing in common: they have been significantly

altered or enhanced through manufactured flavor chemicals and ingredients ± also known as

drugs.

Quite simply, food is not addictive; drugs are addictive. And food companies are putting drugs in

our food. The correct name for this problem is food additive addiction, or perhaps refined food

addiction.

Was anybody living 200 years ago addicted to food? I have never come across an account of an

apple addiction, a cashew addiction, or a salmon addiction. But were people living 200 years ago

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properties, containing a specific psychoactive compound that causes intoxication, dependence or

withdrawal. Such addictive substances rarely occur in nature and are typically created through

processing.

Commercially sold cookies now share many of the same reward-JLYLQJ�SURSHUWLHV��7KDW¶V�

because they contain highly palatable and highly profitable ingredients, often forms of sugar or

salt. These are not youU�JUDQGPRWKHU¶V�VDOW�DQG�VXJDU�± they are complex formulations

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definition of an addictive substance.

For example, forms of salt have been developed that dissolve far faster than normal and deliver

a jolt to the brain. These do not resemble natural salt in the least degree. Of course, the average

consumer naively believes that the basic seasoning in their kitchen could hardly be corrupted.

If we were to remove the HQJLQHHUHG�IODYRU�FKHPLFDOV�IURP�RXU�SURFHVVHG�IRRG��LW�ZRXOGQ¶W�VHOO�±

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is there in food, not food itself, that is addictive. Interestingly, home-made mayonnaise has a very

 

 

 

different taste from the mass-manufactured one, and when we say that Heinz tastes

exceptionally good, we praise the additive in it.

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carbohydrate-rich food such as cake, pastas, chips and cookies. Still, carboholic misses the mark

because plain carbohydrates, such as bananas, beans or peas, do not generally elicit cravings,

bingeing or addictive behavior. It is only the highly altered carbohydrates, with refined

ingredients, that see addictive behavior.

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is time-consuming, which is why, when left to market forces, production and distribution of such

substances tends to occur in complex networks separate from the end user.

So, if the manufactured chemicals are the problem, why do we talk about food addiction? The

Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS), created in 2009 and now translated into several languages

and cited in hundreds of studies, cemented the concept of food addiction in the public and

scientific imagination. But the scale prompts respondents to answer questions about foods such

as ice cream, doughnuts, chips, French fries and sodas ± foods that include drugs in their

ingredient list.

There is no doubt that the great many people struggling with overeating deserve compassionate

and effective treatment. My colleagues are not wrong in wanting to create a diagnosis to help

those suffering. But the term food addiction misleads the public, is scientifically inaccurate, and

clouds the specific and deliberate role food companies have had in adding drugs to our food.

Rejecting the term food addiction is not just a matter of language precision. Calling food addictive

can complicate or even damage our relationship to it ± the expression pictures food as a

dangerous substance, something to be afraid of because it can overtake and defeat us. In

addition, fearing food creates nutritional confusion. By contrast, correctly calling it drug addiction,

food additive addiction or refined food addiction focuses public health efforts on the real culprits

of our food woes: the food industry, and not food itself.

(717 words)

Taken from:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/29/food-addiction-processed-drugs-addictive

Author:

Kima Cargill is Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Washington, Tacoma

and the author of The Psychology of Overeating: Food and the Culture of Consumerism.

 

 

 

 

Summary Rubric

Criteria Very Good (15-20) Average

(9-14) Poor (0-8) Score

Organization (20 points)

The summary has a clear topic sentence and several sub- topics that explain key ideas from the original. The summary is organized.

The summary is overly general or very short; The topic sentence does not express the main idea of the original article the organization is unclear or inconsistent.

The summary has no topic sentence; the paragraph is disorganized; it contains ideas in a random order.

 

Accuracy of main idea

(20 points)

All the key ideas from the original are included.

Some of the key ideas from the original are omitted; minor details or examples are included

Several key ideas from the original article are included; or ideas that are not in the article are included.

 

Complete/accurate paraphrase (20 points)

All sentences paraphrase the original source completely.

There are some sentences that “echo” the original source and some sentences contain incomplete paraphrases of the original.

The summary contains same sentences as the original.

 

Grammar and Mechanics (20 points)

 

The summary is free of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar/usage errors; transitions are used appropriately.

Occasional errors are found. There are some problems with capitalization and punctuation. Transitions are used occasionally.

Very frequent errors are found. Sentence organization impedes understanding. No transitions are used.

 

Originality and critical thinking

(20 points)

 

Content clearly displays evidence of independent and critical thinking.

Some ideas display capability of independent and critical thinking or perspective.

Ideas are unrefined and/or fail to demonstrate independent and critical thinking.

 

 

Total Points

 

______ / 100 %