Linking Childhood Obesity to Fast Food Essay

Fast food and other junk foods such as pizza, hotdogs, candy, and much more have become a topic of discussion all over the world. Everyone gets those cravings for a big juicy cheeseburger and while everything is fine in moderation, fast food is and has become detrimental to the growth of children and teenagers. Many people see fast food as a convenient and cheap way to eat but, in reality, it is creating and teaching bad eating habits, can lead to many different health related issues, and can even limit children’s ability to learn.

Childhood obesity is a huge problem facing America today. It’s like an epidemic, spreading across America at alarming rates. Just in the past 30 years, childhood obesity rates have more than doubled among children and quadrupled among adolescents. Today, it has been estimated that one in every six children or adolescents is obese ("Childhood Obesity Facts”). And if things don’t change soon, those numbers will just keep rising. This isn’t a problem that we can leave up to children to deal with themselves. Parents and adults need to take responsibilities for children’s health and futures. Children or adolescents who have a body mass index of over 30 are considered to be obese. Too much body fat can lead to many negative

Childhood obesity in America has been a big topic in the last decade. Within the United States and the high drive society we have, more people every year are eating improperly. The improper diet we are feeding our children is slowly killing them. Chicken, broccoli, and carrots are getting substituted for McDonalds and Burger King. The numbers do not lie every year more and more children are becoming obese, big question is why? How can we combat this epidemic? And how can we reverse these trends? Obesity leads to many problems including diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, coronary vascular disease, heart attack, stroke, and even some cancers. This is why through statistical analysis, proper diet, and proper exercise we can combat this slippery slope that is slowly killing our children, obesity.

There are more children overweight now than ever before. The reasons for this are that parents are do not care what their children eat, their portions are too big, or children are just too lazy. There are statistics to back this up. Statistics show that 30.7 % of Caucasian children, 30% of African American Children, and 37.9 % of Mexican American children are overweight “(Overweight)”. Those statistics are just for children in America if we included stats from other parts of the world it would be worse. The source of these statistics is an article called “Overweight in Children,” which was found on Americanheart.org.

There has been in increase an childhood obesity in America. The reasons are fast food is cheaper than healthy food, most kids do not go outside because of technology, and if parents do not eat healthy, usually their kids do not eat healthy.

Eagle, T. F., Sheetz, A., Gurm, R., Woodward, A. C., Kline-Rogers, E., Leibowitz, R., Durussel-Weston, J., ... Eagle, K. A. (January 01, 2012). Understanding childhood obesity in America: linkages between household income, community resources, and children's behaviors. American Heart Journal, 163, 5, 836-43.

The PCORI projects that I would like to focus on would be CHILDHOOD OBESITY. According to the World Health Organization, childhood obesity is one of the greatest challenges faced by the public healthcare system in the 21st century. Besides, when children are obese, they are more likely to be obese as adults, developing a wide range of health problems. Unfortunately, the statistics do not look good, and the numbers of children who are overweight or obese continue to increase. According to the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention, Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition that has immediate and long-term effects on the health of children and adolescents.

Child obesity have been increased in recent years in Montgomery county of Maryland. According to Montgomery County Health Alliance “23.5% of children (ages 6–17 years of age) are at-risk for obesity (BMI-for-age percentile of 85 or higher)” (Maryland Nutrition and

Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century. The problem is global and is steadily affecting many low- and middle-income families particularly in the United States. The socioeconomic status of these families contributes to the childhood obesity epidemic.

Kids love fast food. And the fast-food industry loves kids: it couldn't survive without them. They are, after all, the industry's biggest consumers. In the national bestseller Chew on This, available in paperback April 2007, the award-winning journalists Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson share with young readers the fascinating and sometimes frightening truth about what lurks behind those sesame seed buns. Addressing the same issues as Schlosser's groundbreaking Fast Food Nation, the authors focus on the aspects that will interest preteens the most — the nonconformist entrepreneurs who founded the industry; the mistreatment of animals in slaughterhouses and of employees in restaurants; the shocking effects that too much fast food can have on

Class 3 obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) equal to or greater

Throughout the years, many changes have occurred in our society and one of the most surprising and growing trends are children’s sizes and weights. More and more children are coming into doctor’s offices with multiple health issues that all relate back to their weight. For some children weight is not an issue and everyday lives continues on, but for the children that struggle with their weight on a daily basis are at risk for multiple health issues now and in the future.

In recent years there has been a growing epidemic of obesity, especially in America. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey posted on the Center for Disease Control website there are 12.5 million children from ages 2 through 19 that are obese. Many people are starting to complain that the commercials and ads for these restaurants are the result of such an incline in obesity. Although there have been current ad campaigns aiming at children to live a healthy life style there are still hundreds of advertisements that are putting restaurants in a sort of ultimatum position. Either restaurants change their advertisements or they improve their menus. In 1979 McDonalds debuted their world famous Happy Meals to the

Parents are the people that influence the choices their kids make in every aspect of their life, one of these being the food that they eat. It seems that since fast food restaurants are so ubiquitous, it is the easy choice when on the way home after a long day. This is a good idea in the moment, but how many times is this situation happening in the week. If the kids are eating fast food everyday after school because the parents are too tired to cook a meal after working a 12 hour day, do the parents really consider the health of their children. Daniel Weintraub, a contributor to The Sacramento Bee explains “...when both parents are working, or only one parent in the home...Fast food is fast. It can also seem cheap…(13)” Weintraub writes about this topic because just one week before the publication of his article,a public health group came before Gov. Davis and proposed to declare child obesity a state emergency, but Weintraub has a better solution, show the parents that they need to change the way their kids eat by making better choices in the home. This is a feasible solution. The parents educate their kids starting from an early age how to make healthier choices, and then as they grow up to be teenagers, teach them how to eat fast food in moderation along with an exercise program. Most teens, including myself, are okay with going to the gym because they can gain muscle while simultaneously starting a healthier lifestyle. Going to the gym is a way to get

It has been noticed that obesity has become more of an epidemic in the American country. One has to see a fast food restaurant everywhere they look. Advertisements on fast foods can be heard everywhere, be it on the televisions, on radio, on billboards, as well as in magazines. Anyone can very easily identify with and relate to McDonald’s, including children who are of age. As a result of selecting foods from such restaurants, Americans have become overweight. They have been totally consumed by advertisements from such restaurants. In America, obesity has taken the second place in in the causes of preventable deaths. As a result, over the last few decades, obesity has been a topic that has been researched on and discussed even more. Are those Americans that take home cooked meals healthier than those that eat fast foods? Can there be found other contributors to fast foods eating which entice those that choose to eat fast foods? Throughout this paper, we shall aim to conclude that indeed obesity is as a result of fast foods consumption.