Five Myths about Healthy Eating October 20, 2011 With first lady
Michelle Obama urging everyone to get moving, obesity remains a
political hot potato. Below, Katherine Mangu-Ward, the managing
editor of Reason Magazine, exposes five myths about eating
healthy and the effectiveness of political fixes. Myth One:
People in poor neighborhoods lack access to fresh fruits and
vegetables. - Not having a supermarket in your ZIP code isn't
the last word in access to healthy food -- according to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA), 93 percent of "food desert"
dwellers have access to a car. - Moreover, a study published
this year in the Archives of Internal Medicine found proximity
to a grocery store or supermarket doesn't increase consumption
of healthy food. Myth Two: Advertising forces people to make
unhealthy choices. - The Institute of Medicine, an arm of the
National Academy of Sciences, has concluded that "current
evidence is not sufficient to arrive at any finding about a
causal relationship from televisio