Are Fast Food Restuarants to Blame for Obesity? Essays

Did you know that “every day 1 in 4 Americans visit a fast food restaurant? If that’s not alarming to you, then consider this, left unabated, obesity will surpass smoking as the leading cause of preventable death in America.” (Clark, Charles) Fast food has become a part of American culture. With the way the world is today who wouldn’t want to eat somewhere that can have you in and out in five minutes for fewer than five dollars? It has been made very clear that Americans love to eat as we rank number one most years as the world’s most obese nation, but it’s not just America. In his documentary, Morgan Spurlock notes that, “Popular fast food chains like McDonalds, now operate in more than 126 countries in six continents having more than 31,000 restaurants globally.” (Spurlock 2004) The most alarming part about all of these statistics is the groups they most affect. The catchy advertisements and addictive qualities of the food is what has everyone coming back for more. Fast food companies advertisements targeting the young and lower classes are the cause for the obesity epidemic in America.

Fast food, in today’s society, has become a major part of individuals’ lives. For it’s easy, quick and cheap food. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically it is referred to as low quality, prepackaged foods that have little preparation time. Through further research of fast food restaurants and their role in the obesity epidemic in America, it lead to further conclusions on the need for changes that must be done in order to combat obesity. There are, however, multiple individuals who feel that the fast food industry is simply taking a toll on Americans and their health. For instance, the article “Don’t blame the Eater” explains the battle of fast food chains in America, and the major causes of this epidemic. Obesity in America, costs the United States about 147 billion dollars annually. In a recent article, Author Eric Finkelstein, a researcher for Triangle Park conducted a study in which explains the multiple causes and affects of fast food chains and its role in creating an unhealthy society. Considerably, “The Effect of Fast food Restaurants on Obesity”, an in depth article written by authors Janet Currie, Stefano DellaVigna, Enrico Moretti and Vikram Pathania, share their studies and findings on how fast food chains are indeed a major player in obesity across the country, as well as a leading player in the up rise in health related illnesses. There is a connection between neighborhood scarcity and fast food industries.

Ultimately, obesity is sweeping the nation because of how easy it is to eat cheap and on the run from fast food restaurants. If Americans do not change their habits of eating with no physical activity the obesity rates will never decrease but only continue to steadily increase. Not only is fast food easily accessible but over the years serving sizes have increased two to five times (Miller,

Obesity has been a big issue in the United States for as long as one can remember. In the United States there has been an increase in obesity in adults and children due to fast food restaurants. It was between the 1950s and 1960s when fast food restaurants first opened their business. Obesity is the condition of being fat or overweight. Childhood obesity has doubled in children and quadrupled in the last thirty years (Adolescent and School Health). Eating fast food is bad and unhealthy; therefore some restaurants should be banned for good.

As the fast food world spread across the nation, obesity was shortly following in its footsteps. According to, “The History of the Fast Food Industry,” Since 1970 the amount of fast food restaurants have doubled, which equates to roughly 300,000 establishments in the United States. Ironically, 33.8% of the U.S. population is affected by obesity and 19% of children and young adults are also affected.

Obesity has become an epidemic in today’s society. Today around 50% of America is now considered to be over weight. Fast-food consumption has been a major contributor to the debate of the twenty-first century. Chapter thirteen, titled “Is Fast-Food the New Tobacco,” in the They Say I Say book, consists of authors discussing the debate of fast-food’s link to obesity. Authors debate the government’s effects on the fast-food industry, along with whether or not the fast-food industry is to blame for the rise in obesity throughout America. While some people blame the fast food industry for the rise in obesity, others believe it is a matter of personal responsibility to watch what someone eats and make sure they get the proper exercise.

Obesity is rising at a rapid rate here in the United States, especially childhood obesity. The obesity epidemic is one of the country’s most serious health problems. Adult obesity rates have doubled since 1980 from 15 to 30 percent, while childhood obesity rates have more than tripled. Is there a link in obesity and fast food eating? Are fast food restaurants to blame for our nation’s obesity issues? Or are we ourselves and our lack of knowledge or desire to be healthier, to blame?

There has been a large increase in eating fast food, eating out, and supersizing meals. Fast food is cheap and accessible. Due to families’ busy lifestyles, more Americans are eating fast food. Nearly 40 percent of children’s meals are fast food. Eating fast food is unhealthy and causes people to create bad habits of improper eating, which lead to obesity. Portion sizes have also significantly increased in restaurants in the last thirty years. The portions in restaurants are

If a whole bunch of fit people have body fat measurements under 15% containing 20-30 of pure extra muscle are still considered obese, how accurate is the given advice for today’s overweight people? Both healthy and unhealthy people could care less about how their food made it to their plates. The amount of people who are considered fit that indulge in fast food are the same people who end up not being fit while continuing to indulge. Our overall health will forever be sabotaged by the love of fast food.

Obesity is a popular term in today’s society, especially in America. While the word itself is quite common, it has a negative connotation that is dragged along with it. Obesity has become taboo in society, because no one wants to discuss the unpleasant details that relate to it. But, when it is discussed, some of the biggest questions are “What causes obesity?” and, “who is to blame?” These questions have led to many years in research, and even a few lawsuit cases. Fast food intake plays a crucial role in the likelihood of obesity because it is cheap, easy to access, and has a diversity of flavors and variety available. The increased consumption of fast food products leads to a higher risk of health issues caused by obesity.

Fast food restaurants are known for their juicy, greasy and fattening foods. These restaurants offer a place to eat that prepares food quickly and for a cheap price. Over one-third of students in the U.S eat fast food, which adds about 5 extra pounds per student per year. For 6–11 year old children. The popularity of obesity increased from 4.0 percent in 1971–74 to 18.0 percent in 2009 (Overweight in Children).

One in five children are overweight and one in three adults are obese.(9,6) A reason so many people are obese is fast food. Because this is fast food we can make a change to be healthier. Fast food causes obesity because it is very unhealthy, it is too convenient, and that obesity has increased to much because of the food we eat.Fast food is very unhealthy. When fast food is replaced by nutritious food it could lead to weight gain.(6) The food at fast food restaurants are often high in calories and have little to no nutritional value. (6)¨According to the American heart Association, most Americans take in twice as much sugar as is recommended for optimal health.¨(6) In a normal healthy meal we eat 400-600 calories.(8) But in a fast food meal

Although fast food consumption has been linked to adverse health outcomes, the relative health contribution of fast food restaurants remains unclear. The prevalence of obesity among US children increased significantly during the past 3 decades. Concurrent with these trends, children's fast food intake has increased markedly. Many scholars focus on fast food as a key contributor to the rising commonness of obesity because of fast food's poor nutritional quality and the fact that few items on fast food children's menus align with national nutrition standards or dietary guidelines. Compared with non consumers, children who consume fast food have higher total energy, total fat, saturated fat intakes, and have lower fiber intakes. They also consume

Alaska was substituted with the District of Columbia since it is an outlier amongst the collected data. Maddock (2005) found that although a lot of research was carried out to decrease weight by personal weight-loss interventions, a very little outcome was achieved (p. 137). Instead, an environmental factor that promotes obesity was discovered. Obesogenic environments, a term used to distinguish environments with the availability of inexpensive, calorie-dense foods and the engineering of physical activity out of daily life (Maddock, 2005). He hypothesized that “the prevalence and unequal distribution of fast-food restaurants throughout the United States could influence the differences in state obesity rates” (Maddock, 2005, p. 137). Consumption of food away from home and the rate of consumption of fast food correlate to body mass. He also stated that the consumption of fast food increased by over 200% within 1977 to 1995 (Maddock, 2005). The 2000 U.S. census and fast food-outlet lists from the 2002 U.S. yellow pages were included in the collected data. The CDC’s BRFSS, behavioral risk factor surveillance system, was used to indicate obesity as having a BMI of equal to or more than 30. The number of square miles per fast food restaurants and residents per fast food restaurants were calculated by dividing the total state land area by the amount of restaurants and

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research “Over the past thirty years, the prevalence of obesity and obesity-related diseases in the U.S. has risen sharply. Since the early 1970s, the share of children age 6 to 19 classified as overweight has more than tripled, from 5 percent to 17 percent, while the share of adults classified as overweight or obese rose from half to two-thirds of the population. Over this same period, the number of fast food restaurants more than doubled.” Is this a coincidence? Due to the abrupt increase of fast food; franchises such as McDonalds, Pizza Hut, and Burger