Fed Up: The Anti-Food Industry Documentary Released Today

One in three Americans will be diabetic by the year 2050, according to the Center for Disease Control. That's a scary fact, and just one of the many harsh realities brought to light in Fed Up, the grim documentary produced and directed by Stephanie Soechtig, hitting theaters today featuring narration by Katie Couric, and shedding light on the corruption in the food industry that has led to the skyrocketing obesity rate in America.

Fed Up follows the lives of several obese children across America, who, despite eating three square meals a day and (in many cases), exercising regularly, tip the scales on the side of obesity and already have issues with diabetes and heart problems.The "worst health epidemic in our history" actually began in 1977 with the introduction of the first nutritional guidelines with recommended daily values for salt, protein, fat, etc. The guidelines used to have recommended daily values for sugar intake, but with pressure from large food companies, those guidelines soon disappeared from nutrition labels. From there, we began a downward spiral.

The answer, according to Couric, lies within the food industry, where marketing and capital interest has taken over, pushing addictive sweets and processed snacks into the grocery carts of families all over America. Why? Because commercial products sell and make more money for our government than the sale of raw, natural foods.

"I hope those who watch this film will see how we are being brainwashed at an early age by the food industry and the power of that lobby to prevent our legislators from making any meaningful changes," said executive producer Katie Couric in an interview. "Our kids are the lab rats in this diet/experiment gone horribly wrong. And I hope people will get mad and demand change."

See more in-depth coverage of Fed-Up from The Daily Meal here 

Joanna Fantozzi is an Associate Editor with The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter @JoannaFantozzi