Ozempic Won't Solve America's Obesity Problem
America faces an unprecedented chronic disease crisis, with 75% of the population overweight or obese. The root cause isn't individual willpower—it's our toxic food system. Since the 1970s, government subsidies have made corn, soy, and wheat artificially cheap, leading food companies to replace real
40mKey Takeaway
America faces an unprecedented chronic disease crisis, with 75% of the population overweight or obese. The root cause isn't individual willpower—it's our toxic food system. Since the 1970s, government subsidies have made corn, soy, and wheat artificially cheap, leading food companies to replace real ingredients with processed alternatives like high fructose corn syrup and inflammatory seed oils. Today, the average American gets 20% of calories from soybean oil alone. The single most actionable step: restructure crop subsidies to stop incentivizing the mass production of ingredients that make us sick.
Episode Overview
This episode explores America's chronic disease epidemic and its roots in our food system. Justin Mares traces how government crop subsidies beginning in the 1970s created perverse incentives for food companies to replace real ingredients with cheaper, processed alternatives. He discusses how 60,000-80,000 novel chemical compounds in U.S. food (banned in Europe) contribute to obesity and disease. The conversation covers policy solutions like subsidy reform and chemical regulation, the role of GLP-1 drugs, and how Mares' company TrueMed is working to make healthy food and lifestyle interventions part of the healthcare system through HSA/FSA eligibility.
Key Insights
The 1970s marked the beginning of America's chronic disease crisis
Childhood obesity, heart disease, and metabolic conditions began rising sharply in the 1970s when government crop subsidies incentivized mass production of corn, soy, and wheat. These subsidies made these ingredients artificially cheap, leading food companies to systematically replace real ingredients (like sugar and olive oil) with processed alternatives (like high fructose corn syrup and soybean oil) to maximize profit margins. This 50-year trend has fundamentally transformed the American diet into one dominated by ultra-processed foods.
Soybean oil represents a hidden driver of chronic disease
The average American now gets almost 20% of their caloric intake from soybean oil—a historically unprecedented phenomenon. This isn't because consumers actively choose soybean oil, but because government subsidies make it artificially cheap, causing it to appear in virtually every processed food. Research in both animal and human models shows soybean oil is highly processed, inflammatory, and contributes to obesity and metabolic dysfunction.
The U.S. regulatory approach to chemicals is uniquely permissive
America allows 60,000-80,000 chemical compounds in food that are banned in the European Union. Under the GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) system, companies can introduce novel chemicals into the food supply simply by declaring them safe, without rigorous testing. In contrast, the EU requires chemical compounds to undergo years of safety testing similar to pharmaceutical approval processes before being allowed on the market.
Health is primarily determined by environment, not individual choices
Just as zoo animals develop diseases and behaviors never seen in the wild, humans develop chronic diseases when existing in environments mismatched to our biology. Our great-grandparents didn't need to 'eat organic' or 'avoid seed oils'—they were healthy by default because their environment wasn't systematically sickness-promoting. The solution isn't just individual discipline, but reshaping our environment to make health the natural default outcome.
The healthcare system incentivizes treatment over prevention
A person at risk of heart disease who exercises, eats well, and invests in prevention pays entirely out-of-pocket with no insurance coverage. Meanwhile, someone who does none of these things and suffers a heart attack receives hundreds of thousands of dollars in healthcare coverage. This fundamental misalignment means the system profits from treating disease rather than preventing it, creating no financial incentive for lifestyle interventions that actually work.
Notable Quotes
"When you look at our food system today, majority of what people are eating is ultraprocessed crap. The average child spends less time outside than like a maximum security prison where people are spending eight plus hours on phone. We are in the midst of one of the biggest problems in the country."
"I think now the problem is we're feeding our kids poison and like all of them are sick. I think many of our problems are downstream of the fact that the majority of the country is just sick."
"The environment that we exist in is just structurally just hard to be healthy, which is why you see the default health outcomes in the US being so poor."
"If China or one of our adversaries deployed a bioweapon that made 75% of our population obese or overweight, 45% of kids obese or overweight, everyone in America would be up in arms and trying to figure out like how do we solve this? This is an existential crisis."
"No matter if we win the AI race, get rich or whatever. If most of the country is sick, it's kind of like what is the point? You know, we're not thriving as a nation."
Action Items
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1
Audit your environment for health-promoting defaults
Instead of relying on willpower, reshape your environment to make healthy choices automatic. Remove ultra-processed foods from your home, set up your kitchen to make whole foods the easiest option, arrange your schedule to build in movement, and eliminate digital distractions that promote sedentary behavior. Health should be the path of least resistance.
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2
Prioritize whole foods over processed alternatives
Focus on eating foods your great-grandmother would recognize: vegetables, fruits, well-sourced proteins, and minimally processed whole grains. Avoid products with ingredient lists full of unfamiliar chemicals and processed oils. Shop the perimeter of grocery stores where whole foods are typically located, or consider local/organic sources when financially feasible.
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3
Investigate HSA/FSA eligibility for health interventions
If you have a chronic condition or are at risk for one, explore whether you can use tax-advantaged HSA/FSA dollars for preventive lifestyle interventions through services like TrueMed. A letter of medical necessity from a healthcare provider can unlock these funds for healthy food, supplements, exercise equipment, and other prevention-focused purchases.
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4
Advocate for food system policy reform
Support policies that reform crop subsidies to stop incentivizing production of corn, soy, and wheat that primarily become ultra-processed ingredients. Advocate for stricter chemical regulation similar to European standards, better school lunch programs, and healthcare system reforms that reward prevention over treatment. Contact representatives about these systemic issues.