New food policy report calls for a global war on meat and sugar

The concept of a “syndemic”—basically, two or more related pandemics—is pretty novel. So is tying climate change to both the overconsumption and underconsumption of calories. But the solution the authors propose will sound frustratingly familiar. In short, their big fix is to treat food companies like tobacco companies and tax meats and sugary food and drink.

Some members of the media love the report. A Vox piece, which reads like a combination press release/op-ed, eats up the report, quotes several supporters, including Marion Nestle, and ignores any and all critics. It even closes with a call to embrace the report’s assault on large food producers: “It’s about time that changed.”

Some things in the report jump right out. For example, the article doesn’t waste any time making some rather astonishing claims. For example, the third sentence argues that climate change is a pandemic. (The World Health Organization defines a pandemic as “the worldwide spread of a new disease.”) A previous Lancet publication argued that physical inactivity—e.g., sitting on your couch habitually—is also a pandemic.