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Old 01-06-2019, 12:04 PM
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Bob Womack Bob Womack is online now
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Join Date: Dec 2000
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I think the unintended consequences of fad diets are probably the biggest problem. For example, nearly 10% of the U.S. population have diabetes. As the percentage has increased, food producers have begun developing "no sugar added" products. These go into an interesting little ghetto in the grocery stores along with other specialty foods. Before the gluten-free kit came out, the gluten free products occupied what you'd expect for a disease affecting .4% of the population. That is to say, the ratio of no-sugar-added products to gluten-free products was about 10-1. Once the kick hit, the manufacturers turned their sights on making gluten-free products to cater to the popular trend. Now the ratios of available food products have inverted - the supply of no-sugar-added products shrank dramatically and the supply of gluten-free products burgeoned so that now the amount of products in the two categories are just about exactly inverted, about one no-sugar-added product to every ten gluten-free products available.

It isn't just the offerings at the supermarkets, either. Manufacturers discontinued many no-sugar-added products to make manufacturing time and space for gluten-free products.

That means that the 10% of diabetics have lost many products to make way for the .4% wheat intolerant people. Now, I don't want to get into one of those "my disease is worse than your disease" thangs but this percentage reversal is pure popular marketing caused by a fad.

Bob
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