COMMENTARY SECTION

Linda Bonvie and Bill Bonvie are writers in New Jersey who specialize in health and environmental issues.

Section: EDITORIAL

Page: A35

By Linda Bonvie and Bill Bonvie

Like some evangelical Jack Spratt, Michael F. Jacobson seems to have made it his mission in life to warn society of the dangers of eating - and becoming - fat.

He's proven to be so good at it, in fact, that the organization he heads, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), seems to be getting fatter and fatter on publicity every month.

But the very success of this apparently well-intentioned crusade may be giving rise to some other dangers to our collective health - hazards far less obvious than the ones CSPI has seen fit to make the subjects of its incessant sermonizing.

They are, in essence, the dangers of desensitization, oversimplifications and omission.

The first is what often happens when people are constantly nagged about one thing after another - the tendency to react by shrugging off any and all such unsolicited advice, no matter how much they might benefit from paying attention. 

But even those who take the group's admonitions seriously may be having a disservice done them by allowing Jacobson and company to eclipse other important dimensions of the problem.

Admittedly, obesity is a major concern for many Americans, and most of us would certainly benefit from a reduction in our intake of fat, particularly the artery-clogging saturated variety. But that, unfortunately, is only half the dietary risk picture.

By inadvertently hogging the spotlight, however, Jacobson's crusade has managed to largely obscure the dire warnings of many other quite credible authorities about the widespread use of certain food additives, such as the flavor enhancer monosodium glutamate (MSG), and the artificial sweetener aspartame, marketed as NutraSweet.

Both have been associated with a wide variety of ill effects described in thousands of complaints made to the Food and Drug Administration and by organizations dedicated to having them removed from our food supply. Some experts, in fact, have maintained that these "excitotoxins" can cause brain damage and affect behavior, especially in children and adolescents, and help accelerate the course of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. Among those making the claims are Dr. John Olney, a neuroscientist, Dr. George Schwartz, an internationally known toxicologist and author, and Dr. Russell Blaylock, a neurosurgeon and associate professor of neurosurgery (who recently authored a well-researched book on the subject).

Not that Jacobson is oblivious to such controversies - in fact, his recent book, What Are We Feeding Our Kids? ranks MSG and aspartame as among "the 10 riskiest food additives." But the risks alleged by other experts really aren't reflected in his assessments, which are actually quite tame by comparison - seeming to indicate that the worst effects of MSG, for instance, are limited to the relatively mild symptoms of "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" experienced by "some susceptible people." (He also lists it as a source of sodium - another of his concerns.)

Jacobson's book does contain a brief reference to Olney's discovery that MSG could destroy brain cells in infant mice and monkeys (leading to its removal from baby food). Among the "10 best children's foods" it recommends, however, are Green Giant Harvest Burgers, with two ingredients that reportedly always contain "hidden" MSG and three others that often do.

Or take what CSPI has to say about one of its latest targets, the deli- style tuna-salad sandwich. The trouble, according to the group's nutritionist, Jayne Hurley, lies in the fat content of the mayonnaise, the tuna itself being "fat free."

What CSPI doesn't tell you is that the tuna may well contain ingredients such as hydrolyzed vegetable protein and sodium caseinate, both known sources of MSG.

Jacobson is equally soft on aspartame (which some scientists believe actually promotes obesity), although his book acknowledges that "several safety questions surround this additive." But he does ramble on about the evils of sugar - a tactic that could well cause many of his followers to switch to aspartame-laden products.

Maybe it's the fact that fatty food, like smoking (which some people engage in for weight-control purposes), is something that can now be safely assailed without fear of retribution - which can't necessarily be said of the aforementioned food additives.

Or maybe it's just that CSPI and its director have a disconcerting tendency to lecture us far too much, while actually telling us far too little of what we need to know.