Today I am joined by Laura Schmidt Ph.D. to discuss how some tobacco companies took over the world’s largest food companies in the late sixties and early seventies. How junk food companies market their products to children and why regulation is key to solving the countries weight pandemic and much more. 

Topics Include:

• Sugar addiction
• Chronic diseases connected to sugar consumption
• Taxing sugar and soda
• Campaign finance reform
• Why will power isn’t enough to stop us from eating unhealthy foods
• Effective regulations
• Food versus food-like substances
• And other topics…

Laura A. Schmidt, Ph.D., is a Professor of Health Policy in the School of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. She holds a joint appointment in the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies and the Department of Anthropology, History and Social Medicine She received her Ph.D. training in sociology at UC Berkeley and while there, completed doctoral coursework in public health, and holds a masters degree in clinical social work.  

Dr. Laura Schmidt works to understand how changing lifestyles are contributing to globally rising rates of chronic disease and seeks options on what to do about it. Dr. Schmidt bridges the worlds of biomedical research and population health in exploring the growing pressures of globalizing economies, rising inequality, and the marketization of products that are undermining our health. She is currently writing a book about the rise of corporate medicine in America. 

Resources Mentioned:
NY Times Paper – How Big Tobacco Hooked Children on Sugary Drinks
Website – https://sugarscience.ucsf.edu
Ted Talk – Why we can't stop eating unhealthy foods
USFC - Sugar, and other food industry documents