Obesity Fast Food Nation Essay

Obesity is defined as a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduce life expectancy and/or increased health problems. “The problem of obesity is increasing in the United States. Understanding the impact of social inequalities on health has become a public health priority in the new millennium. Social, political, and economic factors now are acknowledged to be "fundamental" causes of disease that affect behavior, beliefs, and biology.” (Goodman, 2003)  In the United States today, obesity has become an enormous problem. In the last 3 decades, the number of people overweight has increased dramatically. Obesity has not always been seen as a medical

In the United States today, obesity has become an enormous problem. In the last 3 decades, the number of people overweight has increased dramatically. A study done by the Centers of Disease Control showed that since 1980, one third of our adult population has become overweight. America is the richest but also the fattest nation in the world and our obese backsides are the butt of jokes in every other country (Klein 28). The 1980s were a time when Americans suddenly started going crazy over dieting, jumping onto the treadmills, and buying prepackaged non-fat foods. However, while all of that was going on, the number of obese Americans began to increase. According to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 58 million

Marks, Jennifer B. “Obesity in America: It's Getting Worse.” Clinical Diabetes, American Diabetes Association, 1 Jan. 2004, clinical.diabetesjournals.org/content/22/1/1.

Today, 78.1 million American adults and 12.5 million children are obese. Obesity in America is a unstoppable epidemic. Since the 1960s, the number of obese adults have doubled and the number of obese children have tripled. Because of America’s obesity problems, Surgeon General David Satcher issued a report saying; "The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight," said that obesity "have reached epidemic proportions" in America. Obesity in America has no doubt reached epidemic proportions. Since 2001, America has been the most obese country in the world. This essay discusses what obesity is and how it is affecting today’s America by answers the following questions:

In America, obesity is found in relatively every community. Several factors contribute to this problem, three of them are dietary options, genetics, and inactive lifestyles. According to the National Center for Health Statistic, since the 1970’s the rate of obesity has doubled in children and adults. Unfortunately this public health problem, in America, is ongoing.

The United States has seen a rapid increase in the number of obese adults. More precisely, the late 1970’s marks a point in which the percentage of obese adults started to jump. Within a twenty year period, the percentage of obese adults had risen almost twenty percent. Today, we sit at sixty-eight percent of the population obese or overweight and the numbers only continue to rise. With a boom in the popularity of fast food restaurants in the mid 1900’s, society had easy access to food, fast. Still today, we rely on fast food to feed us, fast and cheap. However, most fast food is not only easy to access, contributing to over eating, but is also very unhealthy. I see this as a major contributor to the issue of obesity.

Childhood obesity is a significant problem in our society, and has become one of the most prevalent health conditions affecting the welfare of children (Siegel & Parker, 2008). Research indicates that since the 1980’s the incidence of a BMI at the 95th percentile or higher has tripled among school age children and adolescents and remains at approximately 17% (Ogden et al, 2010). In addition, obese children today are heavier, in general, than obese children in the past. (Estabrooks, Fisher, & Hayman, 2008). According to Sharkey, Yetter, Felix & Furlong (2006), childhood obesity may have multiple, potentially negative effects on children, and has been linked to a number of physical, social, emotional and psychological ailments.

Spruijt-Metz, Donna. "Etiology, Treatment and Prevention of Obesity in Childhood and Adolescence: A Decade in Review." Journal of Research on Adolescence: The Official Journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence. U.S. National Library of Medicine, Mar. 2011. Web. 03 Feb. 2016

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.

This essay will discuss obesity in America and the statistical data found surrounding the subject. This is an interesting and personal topic and something very interesting to learn about. The essay will cover different vantage points of obesity including obesity’s relationship to poverty in the U.S., parents’ fight for more physical activity in schools to combat childhood obesity, statistical data about America’s obese population and even a spurious correlation between obesity and sleep duration in children.

High calorie diet-induced obesity in children is a serious public health concern while considering short term and long term health risks of morbidity and mortality associated. A fast food diet is mostly energy dense in which one consumes higher amount of calorie and fat in one meal. It is clear that fast food chains are increasing across United States and in many other countries in the world because it is convenient, inexpensive, and it is appealing to young children and adolescents who do not know better about health. . “The United States now has approximately 250,000 fast food restaurants, and total fast food consumption has risen from 2% to 10% of total energy intake per person over a 20-year period (Hurt,

One out of every three Americans is obese while the majority of these obese people in the have eaten regularly at fast food restaurants. As the obesity rate increases, the number of fast food restaurants goes up as well. Although it is not certain, many believe that obesity in the United States is correlated to eating fast food. Since the United States has the highest obesity rate out of any country, it is important for Americans to monitor the fast food industry that may be causing obesity. With the pressure to get things done in a timely manner, fast food became a big necessity. However, when creating fast food restaurants, the industries were not thinking about the negative effects like obesity. Other than obesity, other harmful effects

Alarming enough obesity is on the rise and is reaching epidemic proportions across the U.S. Approximately 70 million Americans are obese-more than 1 in 3 of all adults and 1 in 5 children. Sadly, enough obesity is a problem that affects everybody, not just adults. You may not notice it, but, weeks turn into months and months turn into years and the next thing you know your clothes don 't fit you anymore the way they used. Countless of Americans nowadays want to make their fast-paced lives as stress-free as possible; Many Americans are single parents or perhaps many parents work two jobs, and depend on fast food to feed their children. Sadly, enough many parents depend on this type of unhealthy food because it is cheap, quick, and convenient. This food choice may be a bad choice, but fast food may be only food alternative for most parents on the go.

They would tie living or even working close to a fast food place with higher obesity rates, and similarly how fast food restaurants being close to schools impacts a child to be overweight. “We find that among 9th grade children, a fast food restaurant within a tenth of a mile of a school is associated with at least a 5.2 percent increase in obesity rates” (Currie 2009). Within this study, the authors elaborate on the vicinity of these fast food restaurants with the people they were observing, such as schools, as well as specificallythe residence of the child’s mother. They explicitly tie these facts with certain individuals being obese under the given circumstances.“Specifically, we match the schools and mother’s residence to the closest fast food restaurants” (Currie 2009). Not only does this expose the children to fast food and its weight-gaining food, it also tries to include the mothers, which in that case, they buy some food too. “An estimate of a 1.7 percentage point increase in the obesity rate due to the immediate proximity of a fast-food restaurant corresponds to about 30 additional calories per day according to the first calculation, and 100 calories per day according to the second calculation” (Currie 2009). As we all know, an average person should eat about 2,000 calories per day, but when we eat something do we actually take the time to see the amount calories it has, or even the content of that food that we are consuming? An average fast food meal could have anywhere from 500-2,000 calories. With that said, many people who eat fast food don’t even realize that they are consuming a daily amount of calories within only one meal. “At least one in four adults reported eating fast food” (Bowman 2004). Not only does this show that most adults have at least tried