Good news: Hemp can reduce the impacts of COVID-19.
I’m not talking about cannabinoids, though new research shows there may be promise from hemp extracts.
Instead, I am referring to the potential of hemp grain as a meat alternative.
Hemp could join other healthy, plant-based proteins in a national effort to tackle obesity — if only politicians would get serious about funding efforts to improve the country’s overall health.
Obesity and COVID-19
It’s no secret that the United States has a weight problem, which has exacerbated the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that obesity triples the chances that someone who contracts COVID-19 will need to be hospitalized.
Once hospitalized, obese COVID-19 patients are more likely to need ventilators, more likely need intensive care, and, tragically, more likely to die.
That’s a scary statistic in a country where more than 42% of adults are considered obese.
The science is precise: Underlying health conditions such as obesity are key drivers keeping the United States in the unenviable position of leading the world in pandemic deaths.
Plants can help
Government spending on food and health shows how inept the United States is at addressing this problem.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack frequently points out that the U.S. now spends more each year on diabetes treatment than it does to run the entire USDA.
That’s just wild. Yet politicians seem unwilling to make the kinds of investments needed to change how America eats and reduce our staggeringly high rates of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The recent $1 trillion infrastructure law only addresses the food supply chain by improving rural broadband delivery.
For too long, the United States has incentivized monocropping and large-scale meat production. The result of this failed experiment is all around us, evident in an agriculture economy dominated by a few large players and a population so overweight that millions of Americans have developed health conditions that put them at risk for COVID-19 and other deadly diseases.
Hemp’s potential
The hemp plant could help solve the country’s obesity crisis. We need to invest in it instead of subsidizing meat production.
The U.S. government spends over $38 billion annually to subsidize the meat and dairy industries. Meanwhile, it allows less than 1% of that amount each year to subsidize fruit and vegetable production.
An analyst at the University of California, Berkeley, estimated in 2015 that a pound of hamburger would cost $30 without government subsidies.
Grain producers aren’t helping. According to the United Nations, an estimated 33% of global farm acreage goes to feed animals raised for meat.
Hemp could help change things. Hempseed products are high in healthy fats and provide all nine essential amino acids. These qualities make hemp the perfect building block for meat alternatives that could help ease the nation’s deadly obesity epidemic.
Many readers of this magazine know about hemp’s nutrition profile and don’t need me to talk it up. But the industry must do a better job talking to non-cannabis-using voters and politicians. Hemp’s food potential could be as powerful for human health as any tantalizing cannabinoid benefit.
Think of it as the pandemic promotion that’s safe for cannabis operators to talk about.
Disclaimer: https://hempindustrydaily.com/editors-notebook-why-the-pandemic-should-boost-hemps-food-potential
