In Defense of Food Summary and Analysis

Pollan, Michael. In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. New York: Penguin Press, 2008. 19-27. Print.

In Defense of Food: Chapter 1

From Foods to Nutrients

Summary:

In the first chapter of Michael Pollan’s book In Defense of Food, he talks about how societies view of food has changed. Traditionally, food was seen as the tangible substance that could be held in your hand, but soon that view started shifting to refer more to the microscopic molecules found in food such as protein, fats, and carbohydrates. After researching the correlation between food and incidence of certain diseases, it was found that there was a higher incidence of disease among those who ate more of a certain food. In order to help the population avoid these disease, the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs recommended to “reduce consumption of meat”, which were high in the molecules that were linked with disease. This causes a lashing out from the industries that would be affected by this decreased intake by the population, and therefore having a negative effect on their business, and the committee reworded its recommendation. Now instead of referring to the specific foods, they referred to the molecules found in these foods instead, and recommended to “choose meats, poultry, and fish that will reduce saturated fat intake.” This was more acceptable and this idea of referring to foods based on their nutritional value started to become more popular in the media and eventually added to food product labels.

Analysis:

The article explained how the change in food being viewed more in terms of its nutritional value and macro/micronutrients would affect both the scientific community and the food industry. There was also an argument that it should be food that is listed in dietary books instead of the isolated molecules. This is because if a trial was done to research the correlation between a food and a disease, it would be difficult to tell what exact molecule was the cause of the change. There was also another argument that the incidence of heart disease, which was linked to the consumption of animal protein, could be due to the high saturated fats, or it could be because of a decreased consumption of vegetables and other plant foods.