The right to bear fries

Paul Krugman rightly slams the junk food industry's efforts to lobby against healthier food:

The Center for Consumer Freedom, an advocacy group financed by Coca-Cola, Wendy's and Tyson Foods, among others, has a Fourth of July message for you: worrying about the rapid rise in American obesity is unpatriotic.

"Far too few Americans," declares the center's Web site, "remember that the Founding Fathers, authors of modern liberty, greatly enjoyed their food and drink. ... Now it seems that food liberty - just one of the many important areas of personal choice fought for by the original American patriots - is constantly under attack."

It sounds like a parody, but don't laugh. These people are blocking efforts to help America's children.

As important as it is to pay attention to schools, as discussed in the article, it's even more important to consider how pricing shapes adult preferences - a school meal or two per day won't have as much impact on a child's eating habits as the food consumed at home.

While Krugman notes that obesity is higher in poorer regions (rural, Southern, etc.), he notes only that this gives rise to charges of cultural elitism, without addressing the reasons for the split.

File this away as another component of the high cost of being poor. In urban areas, where all kinds of foods are imported in higher quantities, it's presumably easier to find healthier foods for a lower cost. In contrast, rural areas may have some locally-produced fruits and vegetables, but will face much higher costs for any of them that aren't as easy to import. Meanwhile, the relative ease of transporting junk food makes its cost more consistent across the board - and the relative cost lower in the areas where obesity is higher.

The decision is particularly difficult for the less well-off. For people who face a serious budget crunch, it's much easier to eat to get by with a diet of high-calorie, low-nutrient food than to try to buy more expensive meat and produce.

Preventing junk food from being promoted in schools is a start, but something more significant is needed to really stem the tide against obesity.