Ever wondered how your daily meal impacts the economy, or how your phone usage affects your family and health? Brace yourselves as we dissect these layers of influence in our everyday existence. From deflation in the food industry, as indicated by Walmart CEO Doug McMillan, to probing the alarming decline in birth rates linked to certain agricultural chemicals, we unravel the intricate interplay of food, health, and economics.
Are today's retail dietitians standing firmly on ethical grounds or swaying to personal biases and paid endorsements? We scrutinize this question as we delve deeper into the role of dietitians, their commitment to providing accurate nutritional information, and navigating their personal beliefs. We also explore the fascinating world of phone usage, its impact on family dynamics, and how it intertwines with nutrition. Don't miss the chance to join our charged conversation about these pressing topics and more in our next episode.
Ever wondered how your daily meal impacts the economy, or how your phone usage affects your family and health? Brace yourselves as we dissect these layers of influence in our everyday existence. From deflation in the food industry, as indicated by Walmart CEO Doug McMillan, to probing the alarming decline in birth rates linked to certain agricultural chemicals, we unravel the intricate interplay of food, health, and economics.
Are today's retail dietitians standing firmly on ethical grounds or swaying to personal biases and paid endorsements? We scrutinize this question as we delve deeper into the role of dietitians, their commitment to providing accurate nutritional information, and navigating their personal beliefs. We also explore the fascinating world of phone usage, its impact on family dynamics, and how it intertwines with nutrition. Don't miss the chance to join our charged conversation about these pressing topics and more in our next episode.
Welcome to the Lempert Report LIVE. I hope you and your family had a great #FoodN ot Phones Thanksgiving. Now a big thanks goes out to Marion Nestle, who highlighted #Food Not Phones Initiative in her 'Food Politics' Special Thanksgiving newsletter. Thanks, Marion.
Phil:On today's episode, Walmart CEO signals hope on the horizon. How our foods are affecting our birth rates. University of Colorado offers a tool to find where our foods come from. Is that good or bad? And on Food Not Phones, it turns out that parents are the problem. On the Bullse ye. A first-hand look at the controversy over registered dietitians' endorsements. Let's get started.
Phil:So Sally, Doug McMillan, CEO of Walmart, said last week that the US food industry may be heading into a period of deflation. After three years of price hikes, food prices have increased 25%, according to CNN, since the pandemic started. He was very particular in his statement. He's saying that dry grocery and consumables start to deflate in the coming weeks and months, but certain staples such as bacon, seafood and eggs have already dropped. I'm curious when I hear his statement, because what he doesn't talk about? While we might see deflation from where it's gone up 25%, that doesn't mean that they're going to be less expensive prices than it was before we had this food inflation and, frankly, we still have these consumer packaged goods companies fighting retailers like Walmart wanting to take increases. Some retailers say justified, some retailers say not so much.
Sally:Well, let's hope that Doug McMillan is right and that people are going to get a break on their grocery prices. A 25% increase since the pandemic started is really massive, and people have felt that sting when they're shopping in the grocery store, so it could be good news. On the other hand, we are warned about periods of deflation and how this can cause. If consumers aren't spending as much, then we're looking at these companies laying off workers or raising costs, and so it's a double-edged sword, I guess, however you look at it. But we hope that people will get a break in the grocery store in the coming year.
Phil:And also this morning the market research company Circana has forecasted the same thing that after three years of food and beverage volume sales decreases, the market will see modest volume growth in 2024. The dynamics that are supporting it include easing of inflation and improving macroeconomic environment and food and beverage manufacturers growing their promotional investments. So that's the other thing that we really haven't seen a lot since the pandemic, where a lot of these food and beverage companies are adding more promotions, adding more coupons, really to help consumers every time that they go to the supermarket. Also, the University of Michigan survey of consumers illustrates a cloud of consumer pessimism hanging over the US economy. What it's done is, in the fourth straight month, consumer sentiment has slipped, falling 5% just in November, and the question is going to be, when we look at the higher interest rates, we look at the wars in Ukraine and in Israel, how people really feel about that and according to a lot of the surveys that I'm reading, consumers are more apprehensive. People are nervous. They don't want to spend a lot of money as a result of all this. So it's something that we need to be watching and retailers certainly need to be helping consumers wherever they can with the added promotions frequent shopper cards, yada, yada, yada.
Phil:Okay, so let's talk about sperm count.
Phil:What a new survey has come out from the College of Public Health at George Mason University in Virginia is that over the past 50 years, the sperm concentration has fallen about 50% around the world.
Phil:What their study found is there's a strong association between insecticides, too, in particular, and the decline of sperm concentration. These insecticides are used in nerve gas, herbicides, pesticides, insecticides also used to create plastics and solvent. They are obviously used in agriculture, but also within our homes, within our buildings, apartment buildings and ornamental lawn upkeep. So we've got these substances that are there that, frankly, are affecting our birth rates, our birth counts, and it's really a very serious situation because when we look around the world this study really and it was published last week in the Environmental Mental Health Perspectives they looked at 25 studies around the globe on these two chemicals. They included 20 studies in meta-analysis and 42 levels of different impact across men 1774 men and what they found is sperm counts are down, in particular, for those people who are working in agriculture, because obviously they're more on the front lines, more exposure to it, and this could really have some major impact on our future population and the health and wellness of our offspring.
Sally:Yes, Phil, and we have seen. The CDC has reported that birth rates have been down, particularly since 2007. We've seen a big decline in birth rates in the United States. It's not clear what the reason is, but people speculate it's cost of living, it's I have too much student debt, I can't raise a child. Women have more opportunities in the workforce right now. That could be a reason.
Sally:There are a lot of different reasons, but what this study does is it brings us to take a look at physiologically, what's going on with our bodies. While we're talking about these pesticides being an offender and also being in all of these plastics that we just talked about a couple of weeks ago on the show here, about how plastics are getting even into newborn babies, we've got these plastics in our system and if those pesticides are in there, that's really frightening. But we also should be looking at and the authors of this study say this as well that we should just be looking at overall health of men. We have a problem with obesity. We have a problem with with heart disease. We have diabetes. We have all of these chronic health conditions that have been on the rise in the United States and that also could be something that is affecting this lower sperm count in men.
Phil:And the other thing that this study points out, and this article points out from CNN, is that a recent study of men, 18 to 22, who use their phones more than 20 times a day that's, either texting or verbal had a 21% higher risk for a low overall sperm count and a 30% higher risk for low sperm concentration. Now what can we do? So, according to the Environmental Working Group, what we can do is if we switch to an organic diet, the level of pesticides are rapidly decreasing in our systems. So if you don't have organics, if you can't afford it or it's just not available, what they recommend is peeling and washing fruits and vegetables thoroughly and just rinsing with water. Don't use the detergents or other produce washes. They really are creating other issues. So just wash it with warm water and hopefully we can turn the tide on lower sperm counts and get those sperm counts back up. So I'm really torn on our next story.
Phil:The CU Boulder and the Plot Line has created a new product called Food Twin. It's a digital twin of the country's already sprawling and potentially fragile food system and basically it's a map where you can look where the food comes from, from 25 critical food crops, where it's coming from to your area and how it flows both here in the US and overseas, and it's really interesting because when they chose how fragile and how precarious our food network is. So from an education standpoint, I think that this is great. People can really understand the path. That's what we did with Food Sense on PBS over 10 years ago following our food, so that people pretend aware of that path that our foods travel and with that, really align them to understanding why we need more vertical farms, why we need more indoor farming and bring out closer to where people are consuming. But I have some issues with it and I wanted to get your input.
Sally:Yes, this map is very interesting, and two things I learned from it, Phil, was I had no idea how important Kern County in California was as far as the crops that are produced there.
Sally:Over 600 billion calories worth of crops every year come from Kern County and, in addition, I did not know that Boulder, colorado, was also another vulnerable area where we are getting a lot of our calories. That also is a pathway for how our food gets distributed throughout. What I do like about this map is that there is the intention that this could be created on a global level, so that we can see globally where our food is coming from, and this could be really helpful, particularly in two days, the United Nations will be having their big COP28 climate change meeting in Dubai, and this could be something very, very useful for leaders that are meeting about climate change and how we all globally need to come together. On a consumer level, yes, it's great to be aware and know where our food comes from, but I can only imagine, Phil, that consumers might be scratching their head seeing well, what am I supposed to do about it?
Phil:Great, and I think information is always good and helpful to your point. You know, once you have the information, what can you do about it? Maybe it gets people to buy more local as a result of that reduce their carbon footprint. But here's my concern about. My concern is what this food twin does. Is it really points out, as I said before, how precarious, how fragile our food system is? My concern and I know I'm gonna come under a lot of criticism for bringing this up and saying it, my concern is we're also pulling back the veil on our food touch points that can be affected either in terrorism or military actions. If we take a look at what's gone on in Gaza and Israel, what we've found is, by cutting off water and food supply, you know, quickly it becomes a humanitarian problem and I'm just concerned. I love the fact that they've done this. I'd like it to be more internal and not consumer facing, which is just the opposite of everything that I always talk about. That I'd like things more transparent.
Phil:But this makes me nervous that it's just online to say you know, if you do some blockades from Kern County, the rest of the country shuts down from a food standpoint. So let's use this information widely. On Food Not Phones today, there's a great story. I love this story. Pamela Paul did this in the opinion today newsletter and she talks about the fact that the hardest rule that she ever had to set for her kids was refusing them to use cell phones until high school that she brings up and I didn't know this. I mean you might know this because of your kids that schools have really integrated the use of cell phones within the curriculum, whether it's to you know, register for a course using a QR code or just you know constant use of cell phone or mobile devices in order to get information and you know what they've done is really created a problem and there's been a couple of examples of places around the world that have stopped this use of mobile devices in schools and they've had some pretty good, you know results.
Sally:Yes, and you know this article is really interesting to me as well. I applaud Pamela for being able to say no to the cell phones until her kids were in high school. I know that must have been very, very difficult, especially considering that so many kids enjoy having a phone now and also as parents, you know it feels like an extra way to. You know, make sure our kids are safe. My kids ride public transportation back home from school. They have to get on two buses and so I do like having that. I like that they have a phone and I can keep track of where they are on the bus. But the but. Then there's the other side of it, where it where. You know we have to have a phone to do some things. And, phil, it was really interesting.
Sally:Last week I was in Kroger and I wanted to get the 49 cent per pound special they had on turkeys for Thanksgiving. But the only way that I could get that was not through my loyalty card, was I had to use my phone to scan a QR code to get that deal. And I thought about well, what about people who don't use smartphones? What about older generations? That this might be tricky to do? And I wondered you know there, there there should be another alternative than having to use the phone.
Sally:But getting back to this, you know our we, as parents, are using our phones a lot in front of our kids and and they see how dependent we are and our behavior affects their choices and the and the healthy or unhealthy habits they choose to live by.
Sally:But what I like about our initiative #Food Not Phones is that we are not asking people to just give up those phones completely because we know that's not realistic. W e're sort of treating it like like a diet that doesn't restrict everything. You know, if you want to eat healthier, if you take everything away that you enjoy and you know brings you pleasure and comfort, then it makes it really, really easy to fail on that diet. You set yourself up for that. But with our phones, you know we can use that same concept as we do with our food and trying to eat healthier. We can limit our use and what we're talking about is just putting it down. When you sit down to have a meal with your family, engaging more in face-to-face communication and pausing from it, for that, you know 45 minutes that you sit down to dinner with your family.
Phil:And what we're seeing around school districts around the country, and in Ireland, matter of fact, where they're banning the use of cell phones one district in Florida, orange County, who has banned phones during the entire school day. What they found is less bullying, increased student engagement, even actual eye contact between students and teachers in the hallway. The result in Ireland, when they banned cell phones in schools in 2018, was a significant increase in students' face-to-face social interactions. So, whether it's around the dining room table with mealtime as we're talking about with Food Not Phones or in schools, what we need to do is pay attention to each other. More eye contact is a good thing, and just relating to another. So thanks, Sally, appreciate it.
Phil:On the Bulls eye, the Washington Post and the Examination, which is a nonprofit newsroom that focuses on global health reporting, published their investigation of how brands have made registered dieticians to promote their products, their studies or commodities. There's nothing wrong with that. What is wrong is that the social media posts of these RD's did not disclose that they were paid to promote these brands or trade groups. What's also wrong is that in some cases, their postings were in direct conflict with basic nutritional science. Yup, a pure pay for play. Now one could mislead and harm consumers with bad or incorrect information for sure, and the FTC is now involved and the investigation will change how all health professionals post their opinions and proven scientific findings.
Phil:As you know, over a decade ago I founded the Retail Dietitians Business Alliance as an organization for those registered dietitians to reach out beyond their organizations and foster relationships with retail dietitians throughout the US and, in some cases, the world, and to further their careers through business skills. Paramount to the effort was to adhere to the guidelines that are set by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, especially as it relates to what's going on in our stores and ethical standards. At each of our in-person and virtual events, there was always presentations and discussions about the importance of shoppers being able to trust their retail dietitians, and I'm proud to say that, in the retail RD space, these consummate professionals have done just that. The supermarket industry needs to applaud and recognize our retail dietitians' ethical standards, which not only is an important part of their training, but also fundamental to their everyday lives. We need to call out the standards that our retail dietitians and their organizations have set in offering nutritional advice and information.
Phil:We need to promote these standards in order to really educate shoppers, to reinforce the difference between popular, pseudo-celebrity RD's, whose main goal it is, frankly, to build their followers in order to get the biggest payday, versus the retail dietitians who are on the front lines helping shoppers every day of the week. There's a huge difference between them and their objectives are very different. Our retail dietitians are in the aisles, they're in schools and they're in businesses. They're in the community to offer science-based nutritional guidance to their shoppers.
Phil:Early on in RDBA, I recall a discussion between members about the importance of separating their own beliefs from those of their shoppers. One RD who was vegan talked about how they worked hard to understand all aspects of animal and fish protein, beef, pork, chicken, salmon and the like so that they could answer and recommend these foods to their shoppers without any bias. That's the commitment and ethos that retail dietitians make to their organizations and to their shoppers. As the controversy that surrounds a few dietitians that step over the line continues and I'm sure it will and get even more negative press as an industry, we need to reinforce the difference between our dietitians and celebrate them internally and to our shoppers. Thanks for joining us and we'll see you back here next week for more of the Lempert Report LIVE.
Sally:Be sure to visit SupermarketGuru. com for the latest marketing analysis issues and trends, and don't forget to join us back here next Tuesday at 2:30 pm Eastern for more.