Just when I thought there couldn’t possibly be anything left to say about the French Paradox (ie “the path to slenderness and longevity is somehow paved with wine and cheese”), I came across this: Pierre Chandon, an associate professor of marketing at the Insead business school in Fontainbleu, France is making a name for himself studying just why (in the process of working so doggedly to stay skinny and young) Americans are fat and prone to an early demise. He’s calling it the “American Paradox.”A typical Chandon experiment looks pretty much like the following, carried out some months back on the streets of New York with the help of one of my all-time favorite New York Times reporters, John Tierney. (His rundown, here.)
When a random sampling of Americans (this part is key) were asked to estimate the calorie count of an Applebees Oriental Chicken Salad and a 20-ounce cup of Pepsi, nearly half came close to the mark. However, when just two “trans-fat free” crackers were added to the hypothetical meal, the respondents far undershot the calorie count. Foreign tourists, on the other hand, were able to make correct estimates for both scenarios.
This—among other, similar reports—suggests that Americans are uniquely susceptible to what researchers call the “health halo,” the idea that adding even a single health food puts an entire meal in the nutritional clear. In lieu of engaging in all sorts of more productive activities, I’ve spent some time today wondering where that might be coming from.
One thought I had is that we’re a culture so catered to by products competing with each other for our dollar that we expect “healthy” processed food to perform miracles.
Or perhaps we’re so used to nutritionally bereft meals that if just one component is attached to a health claim, we assume somebody’s looking out for us, and other parts have been similarly tweaked. I’m really not sure. If you’ve got ideas about this, let me know! I’d absolutely love to hear your take.
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Camille
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he he he he!!!! I find poetic justice in the fact that we ARE a nation of fatties that belong to 24-hour gyms.
Ok, malicious glee aside (and really I do so love America, if amused by it), I think Sara is right on the money. I find it astonishing that half of the American quiz-takers in the first scenario (sans crackers) guessed nearly correctly, as I’d think the word “salad” alone would trigger massive underguessing. Nah, it seems they were OVERguessing. Which is interesting: by now, the majority of us have received the bulletin that salads are deceptively fattening. Zap: halo gone.
Not true for trans-fat frees, however. It amazes me that what’s artery-clogging is confused with what’s high-cal, and vice versa. We’re totally programmed, and who among us eats solely for the joy of food? It’s the media’s fault, of course (I am vigorously excluding Camille and Sara from this).
Fascinating!
More evidence that, as far as food goes, Americans believe in magic. Vitamin Waters and pomegranate juice and açai berries are magical potions and, sure, “trans-fat free” magically erases calories!
The cause of such irrationality? I agree–I would bet that it has something to do with a lot of food marketing seeking to convince us that the answer to slenderness and health is to buy their product, and LOTS of it! (The idea that consuming less of something might be a good idea just isn’t that great at selling stuff.) Thus we have chips and breakfast cereals that promise the most remarkable things!
I’m betting the regulations about health claims on packaging are a lot stricter in Europe. That probably helps people not get in the habit of magical food thinking. But I bet our habitual sunny American optimism plays a part here, too–perhaps we need to cultivate some sunny American skepticism.