Teen Obesity: Who's To Blame?

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.

Children spend nearly $30 billion of their own money on junk food. Marion Nestle stated on https://www.nejm.org that, “The food companies make misleading claims and they spend massive amounts sponsoring scientist and major health organizations to influence their research and guidelines.” Yet, marketing’s recent tactics have gone way further to persuade children. Along with television advertisements, they have shifted to product placements in toys, games, educational materials, songs, movies, and much more. The IOM noted that “…by two years of age most children can recognize products in supermarkets and ask for them by name.” More children are becoming obese and diabetic before they’re old enough to make decisions about these

One in five children in America are obese. How is this possible? In Stephanie Soechtig’s documentary, “Fed Up” (2014), she brings awareness to a few of the causes of obesity and elaborates on the lack of effort people are putting in to end it. Food manufacturing corporations care only about strategic plans to put money in their pocket, not to help make America healthy. Obesity can be traced back to one main cause; sugar. The three things have been addressed through personal stories and physicians that support and increase sugar addictions of adolescents is the amount of added sugar in processed foods, junk food advertisements, and the lack of regulations relating to sugar. Sugar addiction is a real problem and is scientifically proven to be as addicting as cocaine.

America has been faced with the growing obesity epidemic. This is becoming very wide spread among all races and class levels due in part to the abundance of inexpensive food available and how easily people are becoming persuaded to but things they do not need. David Zinczenko published article “Don’t Blame the Eater”, Zinczenko argues that fast-food industries are not doing their job to provide clear enough nutritional information for hazardous food.

David Zinczenko's article "Don't Blame the Eater" discuses with regard to a series of health-related topics involving food that most people and, particularly, young individuals eat today. The article is meant to raise public awareness concerning the risks associated with consuming particular foods. These respective risks are generally ignored because companies selling the products refrain from emphasizing the exact effects that consuming their food can have on someone's health. The reality is that cheap foods are an appealing alternative for young people who are more concerned about the quantity than the quality of the foods they eat.

The United States is mindful of this deadly disease and the lives it has taken, yet little has been done to spread awareness and decrease the amount of sugar, carbohydrates, and fat in foods sold. In fact, America encourages unhealthy eating by displaying advertisements which convince the audience that the food will not have a negative effect on their health. A majority of these advertisements are directed towards children due to the fact that they are easy to convince. And this is a huge reason behind the increasing obesity rate in the United States because the decisions made as a child reflect those made in adulthood. If a child is constantly eating unhealthy food, rarely exercises, and is unaware of the consequences that come from the lack of living a healthy life, he or she will grow up continuing this lifestyle. O’Connor explains that, according to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, seventeen percent of American children and teenagers between the ages twelve and nineteen years old are overweight (39). Unless the child is taught about the harsh reality of eating so unhealthy, it may be too late before he or she becomes obese. Similar to tobacco and alcohol, food has addictive qualities which are hard to change. Another factor to consider involving the obesity epidemic in the United States is the expense of healthy foods. This high price hinders U.S. citizen’s ability to pay for a healthy diet. One of the many low income mothers in the United States, Maria Gonzalez, comments, “When you only have a dollar to spend and you have two kids to feed, either you go to the market and try to find something that’s cheap or just go straight through a drive thru and get two hamburgers for them and say, ‘Okay, here. Eat this.’ This is what’s going to fill her up, not that one single item at the market”

The United States is facing an obesity epidemic. Obesity rates have more than doubled in adults and children since the 1970’s (National Center for Health Statistics, 2009). While recent estimates suggest that the overall rates of obesity have plateaued or even declined among some groups, obesity is widespread and continues to be a leading public health problem in the U.S. (Ogden et al., 2014; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2012; Wen et al., 2012). More than two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, and about a quarter of 2-5 year olds and one-third of school-age children (including adolescents) are overweight or obese in the U.S. (Ogden et al., 2014). Health critics and those alike are placing a lot of blame and pressure on food companies as enablers to this matter. There are several factors that influence this complex condition to include, genetic, behavioral, social, cultural, and environmental influences (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2001). Critics say that factors that

One major question that is asked today is whether or not the eating habits of kids and teens be regulated by the state? This is a big problem today with young ones. No young teenager or child has ever grabbed an apple over a snickers bar for a snack. Although a snickers bar once in a while is not a bad thing, every day consumption of products like this creates a long-term problem. In the article Junk Food Nation: How Parents are Ruining Kids’ Health, there are a couple different standpoints from select individuals on why or how to solve this problem. The main issue is whether or not parents are doing a good enough job teaching their children to make health food choices.

We all need food and water to live, don’t we? There are so many options: from a hamburger and soda, to pasta and a glass of water. The choices we make in our diet can boost your metabolism. People make poor choices for their diet every day. Continuing this lifestyle may cause them to become obese. The Fed Up documentary concludes many valid facts on how the rate of obesity is increasing, especially in terms of adolescents. Food industries are giving inadequate suggestions to assist in solving this problem.

Schools have started to ban all sorts of fast food products such as sodas, chips and processed food, but in addition they should teach students the danger in consuming certain food. They should warn students of the effects those foods will have on their bodies in the long run. In “Don’t Blame the Eater” fitness expert David Zinczenko mentions that “fast food companies are marketing to children a product with proven health hazards and no warning labels” (464). This false advertisement is often full of color, with images of happiness and delicious looking burgers to convince children to want their products. Fast food industries are smart to target children, because most of the time they know nothing about responsibility or what is good or bad for them. Zinczenko argues in his essay that without warnings or information“we’ll see more sick, obese children and more angry, litigious parents” (464). In contrast, if kids were warned and informed about the dangers in consuming unhealthy food, the number of obese children, diseases and angry parents would

After reading and analyzing Gary Ruskin and Juliet Schor’s article, “Who’s to Blame for Childhood Obesity?”, I established that I was in agreement with a great deal of their findings. I was alarmed by content in the article revealing that publicly the junk food industry “sympathizes” with America’s obesity crisis yet behind the scenes they hold an entirely different agenda: profit. I was deeply saddened to learn that lobbyists hired by these influential companies wield so much power in governmental decisions and legislation. These lobbyists diligently seek to protect the interest of the junk food industry, yet, in the meantime, who is diligently seeking to protect the best interest and health of the American public, explicitly our

Fed Up presents a possible solution to help the obesity epidemic - Placing parameters on how big food companies market to children. Cartoon characters, bright colors, and toys are all ways to get children to buy a company's products. Kids consume these unhealthy products and are addicted at too young of an age to even know the foods are bad for them. Small groups of doctors and activists try to change this by regulating big food companies, but the results are always the

Meet Jenna, a sixteen-year-old in her junior year of high school. Jenna is an honor student with a grade point average of 3.0. She is a talented writer and is also has a very fun and sweet personality. Jenna also struggles with obesity and constantly wonders why. The causes of her obesity are obvious and many teenagers also share these, yet they all are overlooked. Inactivity, junk food, and lack of portion control are the three main causes for teenagers being overweight.

Has it become cool to be overweight or is it still something that is frowned upon? Today, more and more children are considered to be obese. A child becomes obese when he weights nearly 20% in excess of what he should weight at a specific age. Childhood obesity has become rampant in the United States of America since it has affected nearly one out of a group of six children. Some would argue that the fast food industry and school lunches are to blame for childhood obesity because each of these offers unhealthy food choices, and children do not have a fair chance of eating healthy. Although the fast food industry and school lunches do contribute to childhood obesity, parents are to be blamed even more because they are not being honest about the disease, they encourage unhealthy habits, and they don’t teach their children about food and nutrition.

David Zinckenko argues in his article “don’t blame the eater”, that it is a matter of personal responsibility but can sympathize with the obese individuals as there is a lack of alternatives and information regarding fast food consumption. Society in the United States has raised concern about healthy diets, providing alternatives sources of food but unfortunately at a cost. The increased cost for a healthy diet dissuades teenagers from eating healthier food thus without a change of environment it can result in a lifetime of obesity.