Obesity In Food

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.

The food industry has mastered the delicate art of trickery over many years and has been able to convince consumers to buy their products, thinking they are healthy, when in reality they are contributing immensely to the obesity epidemic in America. Food corporations have developed a marketing strategy where they target juvenile audiences with their products. The companies do this by having advertisements on children's television programs encouraging children to buy their processed, high-sugar food products. Companies get kids’ attention by including beloved children's figures with their commercials, thus piquing their interest. Children view their favorite characters on television programs and ask their parents or guardians to purchase the items for them and the parents, remaining blissfully unaware that they are relinquishing their child's health to mass food corporations, concede and buy the food, which causes their child to become unhealthy and eventually obese. Another way food companies market their products is by embedding their advertisements with words like “Cheap, easy, fast”, which appeals to low income families looking for a inexpensive meal, or families on the go that need to quickly get a bite to eat. Due to the fact that unhealthy fast food choices are often the easiest method for gaining a quick meal, more and more families are

People all around the world suffer from overweight or obesity. Whether it from food choices or inactivity it all comes down to one thing the food industry. The food industry produces mass products that are shipped to grocery stores, than go to our homes, making them liable for some of weight gain and obesity in America.

….Overweight and obesity are advancing rapidly in the developing world as well… [While] 80 percent of world’s hungry children live in countries with food surpluses. (World Watch Institute)

Some wonder whether if the fast food industries should be held accountable for people’s obese attire and health, others say that it is the independent consumers’ responsibility. About 37% of American adults are obese and approximately 17% of children are reported obese as well. Researchers say about 3/4 of Americans will be obese by the year 2020, or maybe sooner (Muntel). It certainly does not seem to be slowing down, unless somehow fast food industries can find indigents to make their food a bit healthier or that people limit the amount of times they go to the restaurant and keep track of their eating habits.

Many people are unaware that more than third or 35.7 percent of adults are considered obese in America. In recent years obesity is the health topic of choice these days because obesity in America is a growing epidemic. One out of twenty people in America have extreme obesity. According to a 2009-2010 survey conducted by the National Health and Nutrition examination this data states that about one third of children and adolescents ages six to nine are considered to be overweight or obese. Adolescent obesity has more than tripled in young adults and doubled in children since the year 1980. Unless there is a cultural and behavioral change among Americans obesity will continue to spread and health problems will keep sky rocketing, but obesity can be prevented.

The information used on food labeling or in advertisements by law, must be true, and not misinforming. Ingredient lists must exactly reflect the amount of a nutrient present in a food (General Principles for Labelling and Advertising, 2016). Unfortunately labeling and advertisement is not always represented in the correct way. According to Koç, Summer & Winson (2016) state that vague and misleading claims are not expectations in the world of food labels, and they are frequently used to attract customers to produces about which they really know nothing. The Food and Drugs Act forbids food labels or advertisements are false (General Principles for Labelling and Advertising, 2016). According to General Principles for Labelling and Advertising (2016) Canadian laws also prohibit misleading, or deceptive labeling. It requires food labels to obey with the guidelines. Instead of holding the industrial food system to account, labels are tools of the production (Ko et al., 2016). In order to achieve a healthy lifestyle, individuals purchasing the food must be provided with accurate labeling and advertisement. This paper will discuss the effects that misleading food labeling and advertising has on individuals, as well as ways to avoid these deceptions.

In his essay My Dream Food Label, Mark Bittman makes the case that current food labels, while providing the consumer with ample information, do not indicate whether or not the food contained is “really beneficial”. Bittman argues that labels should additionally involve clear graphics, such as a “traffic light” indicating the “healthiness” of the food, as well as criteria such as hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, etc. These criteria would ideally also include the production of the food, particularly the welfare of the workers and animals involved, and perhaps even the carbon footprint of the food. Bittman ultimately uses such advocacy for food label reform to support his own proposed food label design, equipped with a 15 point color coded scale ranking the food according to its nutrition, as it currently exists, “foodiness”, or how close the food is to “real food”, and “welfare”, or the overall treatment of the workers, animals, and environment. While his arguments for food labels are well intentioned, attempting to address serious issues, Bitman’s supposed solutions are highly flawed.

For the past centuries, food scarcity and hunger had been considered as a harmful situation. People who are overweight or obese were seen as wealthy and successful. As time progresses, more food were made available such cause the population of people who are of great weight to rise as well. The availability of food at first, produce a healthy population but slowly, it became a world health problem Through industrial technology, production of unhealthy processed food became faster and easier. Soon, appliances, machines, cars created a situation where in it requires less movement to accomplish chores and leads to a sedentary life style. Such were the reasons why the obesity rate continuously skyrocketed through the

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.

In the American supermarket, we have access to an array of food products. These products, in most cases, appeal to our baser needs to eat items rich in flavor. For example, McDonald’s commercials prey on our weaknesses; depicting a slender man or woman of reasonable attractiveness eating their product, a succulent hamburger composed of what they claim to be fresh ingredients. Many people assume that these items, because they are sold in the supermarket, are generally healthy but this is far from the truth. In reality, the corporations producing the food we consume have a blatant disregard for the healthiness of the product nor the consumer. The major food corporations that produce these products pose a threat to our health, attested by the

It is in the 21st century in the United States of America, as the amount of the year increase, such does the obesity at an alarming rate. But it is not always the people's fault. In fact earlier this century, before government regulation stepped in, consumers had no idea if one item was more fattening than the other. But the men and women who represent the country want to help the people by having the food on menus healthier for everyone. Now they have the best intentions for the citizens of our country and they are trying to slim down on this thick epidemic. One may agree with the government regulating our food because it will help the restaurants serve healthier food choices, it will reduce obesity, and the public will be more aware of what they consume.

Obesity is spreading all across America and it is killing nearly as many citizens as cigarettes. People blame the individuals for not having self control and believe the Fast-Food industries are innocent. While some responsibility lies in within the individual, the main cause is the Fast-Food industry.

To begin with, the negligence of obesity in the United States today is rooted on the prevalence of greed that has become a leading force in the economy and society. By putting profits above consumer health due to the fear of not attaining the benefits of more wealth, greed has become a socially accepted and justified trait. In a society where money is at the center of all decisions and activities, it is unsurprising that the government has chosen the low-hanging fruit for convenience’s purpose by neglecting this health issue and focusing on gaining profit instead. A clear example of this was in 2009 when the Obama administration first issued a stimulus bill to fight against obesity through community-level anti-obesity campaigns. Unfortunately, at first the bill was not passed as the cost was too expensive and it also came at a time where numerous households and firms were facing economic hardships. DesJarlais, a leading US physician justifies the rejection of the bill by stating “it was absurd for the federal government to spend billions demonizing certain foods and trying to affect people’s personal dietary choices…it makes absolutely no sense that federal and city agencies would aggressively advertise against American products made by American workers” (Crabtree). This justification explicitly depicts how, despite attempted

nowadays, people do not know what they are eating. The majority of most Americans would not be able to pronounce the names of the ingredients listed on the package of the last snack food they consumed. Consumers “ignore certain critical questions about the quality and the cost of what they are sold: How fresh is it? How clean or pure is it, how free of dangerous chemicals? … When the food has been manufactured or “processed” or “precooked,” how has that affected its quality or price or nutritional value?” (Berry, 24) It is of utmost importance that we understand what the food that lines the grocery store shelves is actually