Big Macs Can Seriously Damage Your Health

Review: Super Size Me

Big Macs Can Seriously Damage Your Health

THIS IS a brilliant, fast-paced, polemical movie aimed against
McDonald’s and the entire big business food industry. Film maker, Morgan
Spurlock, investigates the physical, financial and legal costs of
America’s huge fast food diet.

Niall Mulholland

This film is a determined, partisan attack on McDonald’s but one that
employs powerful facts to back up its arguments. It begins with an array
of startling figures: for example, 37% of American children and
adolescents are carrying too much fat, and two out of every three adults
are overweight or obese.

The film asks: "Is it our fault for lacking self-control, or are
the fast-food corporations to blame?"

To find out, Spurlock – a genial human guinea pig – decides to live on
nothing but McDonald’s meals for an entire month. He had to follow three
rules: he could only eat what was available over the counter; if offered a
‘super-sizing’ he had to accept; and he had to eat every item on the menu
at least once.

Despite what you might expect, the film does not flag. As well as
depicting Spurlock’s heroic attempts to persist eating McDonald’s meals,
the film maker interviews food and health experts, legislators,
spokespersons for the food industry and researchers.

He drops in to local schools, where children are usually only really
given a ‘choice’ of fast food from privately-run caterers. One head cook
estimates that her staff will cook a fresh meal only six times a month.
Furthermore, most American children only have a minimum of physical
exercise at school.

The advertising power and reach of McDonald’s is graphically revealed.
When Spurlock asked children under ten to identify pictures of
world-historic figures, like Jesus Christ and the McDonald’s mascot,
Ronald McDonald – guess which one they all instantly recognised!

The film also examines the diet industry, food addictions and the
extreme measures some people take to lose weight. You might want to cover
your eyes when the film shows a man having his stomach reduced by surgery.

As Spurlock’s diet continues, the audience begins to suffer along with
him. On the third day, he throws up after attempting super-sized fries.
After this, I felt a wave of nausea each time Spurlock bit into another
burger or chicken nugget.

By the third week, Spurlock’s doctors say he should give up the diet.
They are appalled at the damage it is doing to his liver and compare it to
that of an alcoholic. He also suffers constant headaches, chest pain,
panic attacks, a flagging sex life and sleeplessness. Spurlock grows
before our eyes – he puts on 25 pounds in just a month of the exclusive
McDonald’s diet (it takes many more months for him to lose it once the
experiment is over).

As well as winning a clutch of film awards, it seems Super Size Me has
had some direct impact on McDonald’s who recently ended its ‘super-size’
offer. However, the new McDonald’s so-called healthy options, like salad
side dishes, often contain high levels of sugar.

Much in this movie may not be new to the many people who have followed
the debate about the food industry. But Super Size Me is such an original
and amusing way to approach the issues that it is bound to reach many more
millions, including many working people who will find the truth about fast
food a harrowing revelation.

The film is not overtly political but it clearly puts big business in
the dock. Spurlock concludes by saying that McDonald’s cannot be expected
to radically reform and to start selling cheap, quality food. After all,
he comments, the company exists, first and foremost, to make profits for
its shareholders.

To that we would add that the food industry giants need to be taken
under the democratic control of working people, to provide everyone with a
healthy, high quality, affordable diet.