HEALTH : ‘Munchies’ Critic Is Hard to Swallow : Food industry resents Michael Jacobson’s attacks on nutrition risks. But the head of the FDA thinks he’s on target.
Michael Jacobson has a mission in life: to take the joy out of America’s favorite munchies, from burgers to pasta to popcorn.
To the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, there is much to admire about this soft-spoken academic whose idea of letting his diet go is eating rye bread instead of whole wheat. But in the food industry, Jacobson’s name can be heard at the start of sentences that end with “Ayatollah Khomeini.”
Jacobson is director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which over the last two decades has delighted in decrying the health risks of some of the nation’s most popular eats. From Big Macs to Italian food, Jacobson and company have analyzed and itemized ingredients and then with great fanfare shared the often surprising findings with consumers.
On April 25, the group stunned movie-goers with a study of theater popcorn. A medium “buttered” popcorn at a typical theater contains “more fat than a bacon-and-egg breakfast, a Big Mac-with-fries and a steak dinner with all the trimmings . . . combined,” the nonprofit consumer group said.
Faster than you can say “pass the salt,” another of life’s simple pleasures was in full cardiac arrest.
“The great Ayatollah of the food industry,” said Jeff Nedelman, spokesman for the Grocery Manufacturers of America, a food industry trade group. “He’s single-handedly responsible for taking all of the fun out of eating.”
Perhaps, but in the view of Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. David A. Kessler, Jacobson has been years ahead of the curve with a public that now cares more about what it eats. Kessler recalled that Jacobson and the center were issuing their warnings long before there was much consumer awareness about food content.
Jacobson, 50, who holds a Ph.D. in microbiology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, founded the center with a partner in 1971 after briefly working with consumer activist Ralph Nader.
Over the years, he has been a major, if not the only, player behind the introduction by supermarkets of extensive selections of health food, and the move by McDonald’s and other fast-food chains to offer low-fat alternatives, such as the McLean Burger and fat-free bran muffins.
His battles are shrewdly orchestrated: scathing but pointed studies, followed by aggressive media campaigns, and finally his personal favorite--a behind-the-scenes, work-the-phones lobbying of officials.
He is convinced that his group’s efforts have led to vast improvements in the food supply in the United States. But about 400,000 deaths are still occurring each year as a result of poor diets, he said.
“If we can make changes in the food supply that result in food that tastes just as good, it will be just as much fun to eat seasoned air-popped popcorn as heart-stopping popcorn,” he said.
A week after releasing the popcorn study, Jacobson’s nutrition blitzkrieg could claim victory. Three major holdout chains--Loew’s, United Artists and AMC--announced the introduction of low-fat alternatives to popcorn popped in the fat-laden coconut oil.
“I think the battle’s pretty much over,” Jacobson said recently, delighting in an announcement by Cineplex Odeon, the last holdout, that it too had surrendered. Immediately after release of the study, the chain had launched a vitriolic counterattack, saying the center has a history of creating “needless fear”--citing an earlier description of fettuccini alfredo as “a heart attack on a plate.”
“It’s hardly surprising that an organization with a history of passing judgments on some of life’s most innocent pleasures would eventually find its way to popcorn . . . (it) is a study long on scary snippets, and short on truly convincing study techniques,” said leaflets distributed by the chain to customers.
But after the second week, popcorn sales had plummeted 10% to 30% at various theater chains, according to reports. Cineplex Odeon ate its words, announcing that its patrons “will soon see the ‘Lite’: air popped popcorn coming soon to a theater near you!”
Those concessions, however, hardly quelled the criticism.
“We don’t need nutrition nannies out there scolding us over every bit of joy we have in life,” said Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, an epidemiologist and president of the American Council on Science and Health in New York. The council receives about 40% of its funding from corporations such as the American meat industry, the National Soft Drink Assn. and the Malaysian palm oil industry.
The popcorn issue was completely overblown by Jacobson, Whelan argued. Each individual food is so irrelevant in terms of the fat it adds to the total diet that the benefits gained through negative publicity are not worth “scaring the daylights” out of unsuspecting consumers, such as movie-goers who eat delicious but fatty popcorn about five times a year on average. Most nutritionists agree, she said.
“I think he realizes he went too far this time,” she said. “There’s a big backlash.”
The assault on popcorn, however, actually pales in comparison to Jacobson’s past chutzpah. He once sent 170 extracted, rotten teeth to the Federal Trade Commission to protest sugary food ads directed at children. Last year, he took a hammer and chisel into a 50-pound block of hydrogenated vegetable oil on the nightly news--to show Americans how the oil used by fast-food restaurants resembles soap more than oil.
Kessler defended the center’s aggressive tactics, arguing that “to get things done in Washington, you have to take a position that will serve as a counter-balance to other groups.”
In an interview, Jacobson defended his techniques by pointing out that McDonald’s spends $750 million a year on advertising. “We don’t have that kind of money,” he said.
Besides some small private foundation grants, the center operates mostly with dues paid by about 750,000 subscribers to its Nutrition Action Health Letter, Jacobson said. The center now employs 35 workers and recently moved out of old row houses into a plush corporate-like office building.
And for the record, Jacobson does not see himself as a food Nazi. “Sometimes I’ll have butter on bread,” he explained. He shuns movie-theater popcorn, but not for health reasons. “It’s outrageously priced,” he complained.
Jacobson’s Junkyard
Michael F. Jacobson, executive director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, has put fettuccini Alfredo at the top of his hit list. Item: Fat (g) Fettuccini Alfredo (dinner size): 97 Kung Pao chicken (typical dinner size with rice): 76 Jack in the Box Colossus sandwich: 75 Burger King Double Whopper with Cheese: 63 Lasagna: 53 Popcorn, 7-ounce bag popped in coconut oil and topped with butter: 42 *
Fat Guideline
Based on a 2,000-calorie diet, the consumption of fat should be limited to less than 65 grams per day.
Source: Center for Science in the Public Interest
