I don't feel as though all substitutes are a bad thing though. Every morning i eat egg whites as opposed to the natural state of the egg. Pollan would probably tell me that i am missing out on the vital nutrients found in the yolk of the egg which can only be found in its natural state. But is my substitute for the egg hurting me? The way i look at it i am getting all of the protein without the fat and cholesterol.
Pollan then goes on to define nutritionism, stating that, "foods are essentially a sum of their nutrient parts." Every piece of food that enters the human body is broken down to micro (vitamins and minerals) and macro nutrients (fats, carbs, and proteins). If this were the case, if we simply broke down all foodstuffs into macro and micro nutrients, then the food substitute would look like the healthier option right? But just because it contains the proper amount (x) nutrient compared to the whole food does not make it superior.
Margarine. Michael Pollan has some serious problems with margarine. Margarine was the very first imitation food put on the market in the beginning of the 19th century. The country was up in arms when discovering "the lipid hypothesis." (the idea that saturated fat and cholesterol led to heart disease) Manufactures jumped on the idea to create the better butter, and remove all of the harmful ingredients and substitute them with good ones (polyunsaturated fats and vitamins). Hello trans fat. The harmful effects of trans fat are almost equivalent to those of cholesterol and saturated fat. Although in 1938, the the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act imposed strict labeling of all imitation products, it was later tossed out in 1973; allowing new products to no longer be considered "fakes" if they nutritionally equivalent to the original.
I almost feel bad for the whole foods in the supermarkets. They cannot compete with the low fat, high fiber, no cholesterol tags we see when perusing the isles of the supermarket. Most foods today seem to be enhanced with more vitamins... all the way down to the idea of lean pork. (come on people) Honestly though, who in their right mind is buying Cinnamon Toast Crunch because on the front of the box it states, "More fiber, 35% less sugar." Supermarkets have become a competition of what food has less of the bad and more of the good. Recently though many people have jumped on the bandwagon of buying foods with more antioxidants, such as pomegranates, and of the "better skin, and hair vitamin", also known as omega-3's.Food science is clearly in its golden age.
