Fast Food And The Obesity Epidemic

As the obesity rate in America increases, people are pointing fingers at the fast-food industry. Teenagers, with the help of their parents, have filed lawsuits blaming fast-food restaurants like McDonald’s for their own health problems. However, parents, not the fast-food companies, are to blame for the amount of overweight children that are present today. They are the ones who teach their children eating and exercising habits, they are the ones who let their young consume unhealthy foods, they are the ones who allow their children to watch television and play on the computer for hours on end, it is obviously the parents fault for obesity in youth.

Fast food has a harmful effect on society because it can cause obesity. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry believes obesity “Overweight children are much more likely to become overweight adults unless they adopt and maintain healthier patterns of eating and exercise.” (parag. 1).The causing and treating of obesity is complex but it is the most recognizable disease. Consistently eating fast food and a poor can lead to obesity in anyone. The risks of obesity include an increased risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease. According to the American Heart Association, fast food “Studies have shown that over the past four decades, consumption of food eaten away from home has also risen alarmingly” (parag. 8). This means that fast food is high in fat, sugar, salt, carbs, calories, saturated and trans fats. This type of eating leads to a higher body mass index or gained weight. Children and adolescents are at a

In David Zinczenko’s article “Don’t Blame the Eater” he focuses on the fast food industry and their role in the increasing health and obesity issues of our nation’s children, as well as these issues potentially becoming a serious problem that we will all have to deal with if we collectively don’t do something about it now. When it comes to the topic of fast food, most of us can agree that it is not the best source of nutrition. It is unhealthy and can be the cause of many serious health issues with our children such as obesity related Type 2 diabetes, stomach ulcers and even heart disease, high cholesterol, sleep apnea or even cancer. We can even agree that fast-food diets are a major contributing factor to

Obesity has become increasingly more prominent in American society. It is also a major health issue affecting many adults and children in the US every year. In his article "Don't Blame the Eater," David Zinczenko sympathizes with children who are suing McDonald’s making them fat. In his own experience as a “latchkey kid”, he knows how easily fast food makes teenagers put on weight with a steady diet of fast food meals. Zinczenko argues that both lack of fast food alternative companies and lack of providing nutrition information contribute to childhood obesity.

Modern food culture is a major factor that drives childhood obesity. Childhood Obesity occurs when children have excess body fat in relation to their body index as a result of unhealthy eating habits at an early age, which makes children clinically unhealthy. The national childhood obesity rate currently in the U.S is 18.5%. There are several factors that go into this present issue in our country. The problem begins with adults not being attentive enough to notice bad food habits, sometimes parents add to the bad habits. When a child is at home with maybe one or even both parents and the child has full access to roam through the fridge or pantry, this may be a problem. Children will often pick their favorite foods, which more than usual is the junk food. These ‘junk’ foods are foods that have been processed with most of the nutrients taken out of the food leaving calories that will add to excess calories. Junk foods can consist of chips, tasty cakes, cookies, ice cream, and many more. These types of foods contain high amounts of sugar and calories with low amounts of nutrients. Fast food is one of the primary factors that contribute to the ongoing problem of childhood obesity in the U.S. “Every day, nearly one-third of U.S. children aged 4 to 19 eat fastfood, which likely packs on about six extra pounds per child per year and increases the risk of obesity, a study of 6,212 youngsters found” . Fast food restaurants are advertised all over the place including billboards,

Obesity within adults is a prevalent problem in the United States, with over 51% of all adults suffering from obesity by the year 2030 (Joyner et al. 217). Obesity, or the state of being excessively overweight, is sometimes a result from what is known as food addiction. Much like an addiction to a substance, to be addicted to food is to constantly crave a certain food item (Joyner et al. 217). Obesity and food addiction tend to coincide with each other. That coexistence is shown primarily in the documentary Super Size Me, in which director Morgan Spurlock focuses on the way fast food and food addiction affect the human body.

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.

Childhood and teenage obesity has been an issue in America for more than twenty years now. The percentage of obese children has nearly doubled in this time, according to the article “Is Your Kid Failing Lunch?”. Today’s generation of kids is recorded as the fattest generation in history. One of the main causes of this is believed to be fast food kids are exposed to every day in school lunches. Schools are now starting to serve fast food in their lunches as more kids demand it, causing an increase in the schools profit. Outside of that, Americans are currently spending more than $100 billion a year on fast food. Each day one in four Americans will eat at a fast food chain (Beaver). This is easy to believe as the global fast food industry spent

In today's society, fast food has become a large part of many American's lives. With the rising numbers of obese people, it is hard not to draw a correlation between the increase in fast food and obesity. Most obese people don’t want to be obese and wish they could lose weight, yet they continue to struggle with their fast food intake and obesity. This is due to the advertising done on the consumers, the highly addictive food itself, and most importantly, how advertising and addiction combine with children to form habits that are kept once they become adults. These factors are the reasons that fast food restaurants are to blame for the rising obesity and health risks across America. The government needs to step in and place regulations on

America is the number one country with the highest obesity rate, as well as many others struggle with this. Obesity can be stopped and controlled by the consumers, but why blame it on them when the food industry is really the ones to accuse. This food is being handed to the consumers, healthy or unhealthy it is still given. Many different food industries are at fault for obesity, by the food proportions increasing to low cost food being unhealthy.

As a child I grew up all around food, my family always had problems with eating healthy. My diet would mainly consist of fast food, twice a week we would eat Mcdonalds and growing up this was my favorite place to eat. They have everything a little kid wants; from the Ronald Mcdonald clown, to the Big ball pit outside, it was a child’s heaven. As I began to eat more and more i began to gain weight extremely fast, so much that my parents had to stop eating fast food and start cooking healthy. This was happening all around the United States more and more people are eating fast food, and thus obesity is on an uprise. Mcdonald’s has become famous off of it’s slogan ‘“I'm lovin it” but people actually aren’t “lovin it”, Mcdonald's is constantly being

Several studies have shown that the increase in fast food restaurants over the past few decades has resulted in a negative impact on the already outrageous obesity rate.According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the number of fast food restaurants over the past thirty years has tripled, which equates to about three hundred thousand establishments in the United States alone. During this time the number of children, ages six to nineteen classified as obese, has risen from five percent to seventeen percent. The percentage of adults classified as obese has risen from half to two-thirds the population. Although fast food restaurants may be a contributing factor to the increasing obesity rate in the United States, people are

The fast food industry promotes childhood obesity by manipulating the young mind, putting them at risk for health complications such as hypertension and diabetes. The super-sizing of America is been a frequently talked about subject lately. Especially since it is seem to have negative effects on the health of children and adults alike through massive consumption of fast food. Health providers and other authority figures are now concerned about children’s obesity rates shown during the past 3-4 decades. They have now drawn a close connection between fast food and obesity and identified a childhood obesity epidemic with increased negative health factors. According to the American journal of public health, 2005 September issue, fast food

There are many reasons why obesity becomes a part of Americans’ lives. The fast food industry promotes their unhealthy food to the public by advertising and using friendly faces to attract kids. The consumer is the one making the choice to buy and eat the food, but some people do not know what they are consuming. They see the advertisements and see a good deal, so they are tempted to buy the item. The consumer is not at fault because the food industry has always made the food tempting and cheap.

STOP… Put that burger down! The 1970s impacted the lives of many people while changing the American lifestyle all around the nation. Eating habits have evolved over the course of many years because of the millennials. Although, people need to learn the difference between good and poor calories in diets. Obesity can change, if nutritional habits are being enforced for a healthier life. If individuals took charge of the daily activities, one could potentially replace a harmful life for a healthy life. Take a stand and change this epidemic of Americans being overweight to a healthy weight. Obesity and obesity-related diseases will no longer be an immense issue if people of all ages take personal responsibility to avoid unhealthy lifestyles.