Rarely am I flabbergasted, disappointed and speechless all at the same time. The above graphic summarizes my thoughts about a Krispy Kreme promotion, that you may have seen on the news recently: To give anybody receiving the COVID vaccine, a free donut every day for the rest of the year. As an internal medicine doctor with a passion for lifestyle medicine, I should also add mind-boggling and outrageous to that list of words. I will admit, I have a sweet tooth, and enjoy the occasional sweet treat as much as the next person. Nothing wrong with that. I could have stomached (no pun intended) the idea of a single donut as a “reward” for being vaccinated. But one every single day?
The soaring overweight and obesity rates in America are a unique reason why we’ve suffered much worse from COVID than many other nations. Almost 2 in 3 people in this country now have elevated unhealthy BMIs. Along with being more sedentary than we were 50 years ago, eating way too much junk food is the prime reason how we got here. For any younger person (anybody under the age of 60), obesity is likely THE biggest risk factor for ending up hospitalized with COVID. Carrying excess body fat is a scientifically proven immune-suppressant and places an unnatural stress on the lungs. Frontline physicians like myself, have been seeing this now for over a year (not to mention the other enormous health consequences of being overweight or obese that we’ve been witnessing for years).
It is totally inappropriate that Krispy Kreme should come out with this promotion, and a slap in the face to physicians like myself who are trying to push a public wellness message to help our society become healthier. What on earth were you thinking, corporate board?
Feel free to comment down below your thoughts, and I’m all for open debate if anyone disagrees. Is Krispy Kreme totally insane for doing this, or am I missing something here?
Suneel Dhand is a physician, writer, and YouTuber. He is Founder at MedStoic Lifestyle Medicine and DocsDox . Follow him on YouTube and Facebook.
I haven’t seen this promotion, but I agree…insane. I think the message that being overweight increases your risk of severe COVID has gotten out, but the necessary changes in diet away from high sugar, high fat, take-out/fast food have not been drilled on, let alone hardly being mentioned. There should be something every day in the news promoting healthy lifestyles!
Krispy Kreme is in the donut business not the wellness space.
Not to mention the fact that refined sugar weakens the immune system by altering the gut microbiome.