Netflix's What the Health Review

Hello world!

Today I'm going to do a documentary review. If you want to read then go for it, but I also have a video above if you want just watch that. If anyone knows me, you know I'm a movie buff and while I'm not the biggest fan of documentaries this one caught my attention for obvious reasons. If you haven't seen the film and you were planning on it here is a big spoiler warning. So, let's dive right in to my thoughts:

What The Health is a 2017 documentary following the director and co-producer Kip Anderson as he tries to uncover the hidden secrets of the food and health industry. He first starts off by narrating about something that's very familiar to the American public and that's family health issues. Personally, that was one of the main reasons that I started a degree in nutrition. I grew up like many kids in America struggling with my weight and healthy eating, but on top of that there's a history of diabetes and hypertension (that is high blood pressure) in my family. Similar to the director as I got older this became more of a concern and so like many people you go down different avenues to try and prevent this. As we continued through the documentary it became clear that there was a very specific diet they were trying to promote and that's vegan diets i.e., no animal products whatsoever. Now, you might be thinking 'Autumn I don't want to watch something that's just going to be a big promotion', and I kind of thought that as I was watching, but it wasn't without cause.

Let me explain, the film makes some very good points about how animal meats and products effect our body. In fact, a 2015 meta-analysis (that is an analysis that looks over different studies and compares them) concluded, "accumulated evidence of prospective epidemiological studies and their meta-analyses shows that red meat and processed meat convincingly increases CRC (colorectal cancer) risk by 20-30%" ¹

This isn't that only study to show negative effects from animal products as the director mentions a connection to breast cancer. A 2006 study on premenopausal women concluded, "Higher red meat intake may be a risk factor for ER+/PR+ (estrogen receptor/progesterone receptor) breast cancer among premenopausal women"². As with most research though there is conflicting evidence as a more recent 2019 study (mind you the documentary was released in 2017) concluded that there was no significant association between red meat, fish, poultry, and dairy, but they did find, "... a linear trend for egg consumption and breast cancer risk in which a higher intake of egg was associated with a higher risk of breast cancer..."³.

Products like dairy are up in the air as a 2017 study by the National Cancer Institute concluded, "Specific dairy foods may contribute to breast cancer risk in women, although the risk varies by source of dairy."⁴ Then on the male side of things a 2014 meta-analysis concluded, "High intakes of dairy products, milk, low-fat milk, cheese, and total, dietary, and dairy calcium, but not supplemental or nondairy calcium, may increase total prostate cancer risk."⁵

I would just like to note that a lot of these studies don't take into account that many Americans eat more than the recommended amount of these products which makes a big difference in the outcome of the studies. The general rule is that meat should be about the size of your palm, or 3-4 ounces and I've been given chicken breast double the size.

Even with the conflicting studies Mr.Anderson even goes so far as to contacting the leaders of these health organizations such as the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association, and a few others because their websites endorse red meat and animal products through the recipes they offer. By the end we find out that these organizations are sponsored by none other than the companies who sell these conflicting products. In fact, if you go to the American Cancer Society, they openly show that their supporters include Hormel, Hard Rock (as in the Hard Rock Cafe), Perdue Farms, Outback Steakhouse, and Tyson. Susan G. Komen for the Cure is openly sponsored by Panera Bread, but like most restaurants depending on what you get there you can have a relatively healthy meal. As for a couple of the other organizations spotlighted in this movie, I didn't find too many obvious sponsors from big name food companies. It's quite possible that they're still being sponsored by them, but they're making it hard to find or the other possibility is that this documentary actually led to some change in how these organizations are influenced. Unfortunately, money makes the world go round so, I suspect that they're still being sponsored it's just a little more on the down low.

Now pharmaceutical companies who profit off of the diseases that people acquire after a lifetime of unhealthy eating is another story. There is plenty of evidence for that as mentioned in the film and in fact you can go to the websites and find them front and center. Many of them are sponsored by big names such as Abbott, Pfizer, Janssen, Lilly, Sanofi, Merck, Bayer, and Genentech. Major companies who make millions of dollars off of you being sick.

Going to school the main thing that we get taught is that everyone should eat a balanced diet which is represented by MyPlate which I will show below:

Something very interesting that I just found out while researching for this post though is that MyPlate (our government program for nutrition) is sponsored by the following⁹:

I'm not saying that it's damning evidence, but I would say it's suspicious and it's not even all of them. Also, just a note if you're wondering why I put Frito-Lay up there it's because they own the brands Matador Meat Snacks and Baken-Ets. I also added Barilla because most pasta products require egg so, they have a stake in the game.

I'm going to be honest with my background in nutrition I'm somewhat biased about this topic. As you can see America and I have been taught that a balanced diet includes animals and animal products. Nutrition is like any science though and it's ever evolving. You could be like Mr.Anderson and the executive producer Joaquin Phoenix and go vegan based on the negative studies or do like many people and go by what you've been taught your whole life. The main problem I had with the film was that it made veganism seem like such an easy route to go down, but it's not like that for some Americans. They talked about a lot of good things such as buying produce that's in season and as one interviewee said (paraphrasing) "Not making excuses".

Is living paycheck to paycheck a good excuse though? Or even in poverty? CNBC reported in May of this year that 64% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.⁶ On top of that the 2020 census said that 11.4% of America lives in poverty and with the way the pandemic went I'd say it wouldn't be a stretch to assume it's gotten higher.⁷ To make it even worse the USDA reported in 2017 that 19 million Americans (or 6.7% of the population at the time) had limited access to a supermarket.⁸ The point I'm trying to make is that there are a variety of reasons someone doesn't go vegetarian or vegan. If you're having to choose between spending money on food that's good for you in the long run or paying your rent, you're more than likely going to keep the roof over your head.

The amazing thing that dietitians do is help you be healthy and happy in whatever way you can. For some people that's going meatless and for others it's adding more fruits and veggies to your meals. The idea that there's only one healthy way to eat is really closed-minded to say the least. Did this documentary change the way I see meat and animal products? Admittedly yes, but also, I still stand by the old saying that too much of anything is going to be bad for you. I think more than anything though this documentary made me realize just how corrupt everything is.

If you want to eat meat, do it! If you want to not eat meat, do it! I encourage working with your doctor and dietitian, doing your own research, and finding out what works for your body, budget, and schedule. No matter your dietary preferences there's always a healthy way to do something.

Sources

¹ Red Meat and Colorectal Cancer - PMC (nih.gov)

² Red meat intake and risk of breast cancer among premenopausal women - PubMed (nih.gov)

³ Animal foods and postmenopausal breast cancer risk: a prospective cohort study | British Journal of Nutrition | Cambridge Core

⁴ Usual Consumption of Specific Dairy Foods Is Associated with Breast Cancer in the Roswell Park Cancer Institute Data Bank and BioRepository - PMC (nih.gov)

⁵ Dairy products, calcium, and prostate cancer risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies - PubMed (nih.gov)

⁶ As inflation heats up, 64% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck (cnbc.com)

⁷ Income and Poverty in the United States: 2020 (census.gov)

⁸ Exploring America’s Food Deserts - The Annie E. Casey Foundation (aecf.org)

⁹ National Strategic Partners | MyPlate

Pharma Device Insurance Corporate Funding Fiscal 2018-2019.pdf (heart.org)

Partners Against Cancer | American Cancer Society