Blu-ray Review: 'Fed Up' - a look at food industry evils narrated by Katie Couric

You’ll never want to eat processed foods again. That’s pretty much the focus for Fed Up, the new documentary directed by Stephanie Soechtig and narrated by Katie Couric. The film hits Blu-ray on Tuesday and, while it’s certainly not something you would want to watch repeatedly, it is an eye-opening film.

The thesis for Fed Up is that doctors, the government and food industry have all been feeding the American public the lie that all people need to do to get thin is do more exercising. In fact, the food industry has been poisoning us with sugar and chemically engineered food, along with constant advertising directed to children.

Fed Up is a depressing film to watch, as we see how the food industry commandeered Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign by pretending to help. There’s a look at how pizza became a vegetable, how the government has been sponsoring our sick obsession with cheese and how the Department of Agriculture is responsible for telling us how to eat healthy while also telling us to eat more.

It’s even shocking to learn how important sugar has become. Have you ever wondered why there’s no suggested Daily Value listed next to sugar on Nutrition Facts labels? It turns out that the industry has convinced politicians to pull sugar recommendations, convincing us that it’s not really dangerous to have as much sugar as we want. But the truth is that sugar is more dangerous and addictive than drugs.

Soechtig frames the story with a look at four teenagers who are struggling with their weight. It’s not that they are lazy - it’s the opposite. They are trying so hard with exercise and eating right, but the fact is that you can’t just eat less and hope for a miracle. Fed Up reveals that “low fat,” “low sugar,” “no calorie” food is still junk, even if it is allegedly “less” junk.

The Blu-ray for Fed Up, released by Anchor Bay, includes a Spanish-language version of the film and a gallery of deleted scenes. It’s not much, so if you decide to wait for it to hit Netflix, you don’t miss much.

Fed Up is an eye-opening film that will probably make you never want to eat sugar again. It’s scary to see that, even a decade after Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me, how much of a problem obesity is in the U.S. While I would be hard-pressed to call this a “must-buy” home video release, I still recommend seeing the film.

image courtesy of Roger Wong/INFphoto.com