Vending Machine’s Food and Obesity
The access to vending machines and their popularity in schools have been increasing over the past years; the installments of them have contributed to high caloric intake among the youths. Food and diet have been studied as a significant benefactor to the dietary decisions people make in their life every day. All the decisions regarding its benefit will ultimately impact health outcome in people’s lives. The environment, work, and school impacts the nutrition setting, which includes the external cues that influence one’s food choices and consumption. One great path for modifying eating habit is to change the nutrition background in order to create an environment that is more conducive and moderate to
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In order to be consider healthy, the food or beverage had to meet all of the following criteria: low calorie, low sugar, and low fat. Besides the poor nutritional profile of foods and beverages available in vending machines, the indirect link researchers have shown between vending machine use and the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children. Children who are obese have an increased risk of being diagnosed with so many other diseases such as: metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes.
Consumption and vending machine use on oral health of children living in London
In this article, Malik explains the study conducted the examined children’s vending machine use and found it to be positively associated with sugar consumption. He points the relationships between dental health, food choice, and weight in children. He describes how vending machine has been linked to sugary beverage consumption, which can directly affect weight gain and obesity in children. By given the poor nutritional quality of foods and beverages offered in vending machines as well as the potential link between vending machine use and overweight and obesity in children, many experts and researchers have called for a change in the nutrition environment such as vending machines.
Obesity prevention in children
One recommendation to decrease the growing numbers of children who are overweight or obese was to
Sugary drinks are not the only problem. Vending machines are packed with foods that are high in sugar, carbohydrates, and calories. When students approach the vending machine, they have limited options. These options may include chips, baked goods, and
Since 1980 the rates of child obesity have more than tripled which has caused a growing pandemic of childhood obesity in the United States. Out of all the young children and adolescents within the age group of two through nineteen about 12.7 million are obese. That is the equivalent of about 17% of America’s population that is suffering from childhood obesity. Childhood obesity is too prevalent in all American households. Childhood obesity is detrimental on a national scale, since it has been growing at a steady rate in the United States of children not reaching the daily-recommended physical activity, the absence of a balanced diet with overconsumption of eating, and more critically the increase of type 2 diabetes.
The government may not be the only responsible party for what is going on in America, Fast Food corporations have grown into a part of everyday life. Relentless advertising focused on children with the use cartoon characters and larger portions or extra sizes to entice people. Yves Engler, author of Obesity: Much of the Responsibility Lies with Corporations, points out it’s not only fast food restaurants where unhealthy products are being consumed, but also soft drink companies with high calorie soda pop who are giving money to cash-strapped schools to advertise their product on school televisions. Meanwhile targeting young children who get their parents to buy their products. Engler proposes a solution regarding the increase in childhood obesity by first stating that vending machines should be removed from schools and the
According to Time Magazine, childhood obesity rates have skyrocketed. Since the 1960’s, the percentage of children ages 6 to 11 have tripled to 13% (Time, 2015).
Childhood obesity is a source of great debate in the United States. Many studies have shown the problem has become epidemic. Adults in the United States are increasing in weight and so are children and teenagers. Many factors are contributing to this growing problem. The influence parents have on their children can affect them negatively. Children of overweight parents are more likely to be overweight themselves. Another issue adding to the childhood obesity problem is the fact that children and teens have more options when it comes to food choices. School lunches, vending machines, and cheap calorie-packed snacks all contribute to this issue. Healthy foods are also more expensive and not as readily available as
Childhood obesity is a rather new reality in the United States due to intake of sugary snacks and beverages, childhood obesity is the result of a sustained energy imbalance. Most youth never eat the required daily servings of fruits and vegetables; its noted only one in five eat the required servings (21%) (Moore, Wilke, & Desrochers, 2017). The availability of sugary snacks and beverages in schools are what one would call “junk food”. According to a study conducted by Ashlesha Datar and Nancy Nicosia (2012) students could purchase more than one single food and beverage items either
Such practices are a concern, in part, due to the out-of-control statistics regarding obesity in America’s youth. Commercial vending machines in the hallways of public schools promote the consumption of junk food in youth. Often this consumption ends in tooth decay, hyperactivity and childhood obesity. In fact, according to the Center for Disease Control,
Many schools nowadays turn off their vending machines during the school day to prevent students from eating fattening foods. In California and Hawaii, state legislators are very close to passing a law that would ban any drinks excluding milk, water or juice from being sold in elementary schools, and reduce the hours older students can use the vending machines. Michelle Obama and the Obama Administration have asked Congress to improve children's nutrition by getting rid of school vending machines that provide students with sugary snacks and drinks. The problem with this is school’s are making an extravagant amount of money off feeding their students with artificial flavoring and
Furthermore,if we would also enhance our snacks bars with healthier snack options. Practically we give kids accessible ways to obtain junk food especially in schools.When it should be the total opposite,if we continue to let this happen potentially it become an ever burdensome habit to break. For this purpose, we should encourage kids and adolescents with healthier snacks instead of chips,cookies,brownies,pop-tarts,sugary sweets and etc. Instead of offering those types of snacks we should offer fruits,vegetables,almonds,peanuts,cashews,pistachios,trail mixes,yogurt,smoothies,healthy drinks and
Childhood obesity is more than a major issue in the United States: it is an epidemic. The number of overweight and obese children in America has increased at an alarming rate over the past years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years [1]. American Heart Association stated, “Today one in three American kids and teens are overweight or obese; nearly triple the rate in 1963” [5]. Unfortunately, this affects our children physically, mentally, and long-term.
Nickelson discusses how discouraging sugar-sweetened drinks consumption can make an impact on childhood obesity. This heavily effects preschool age children and the proportion of children consuming sugar-sweetened beverages increases over time. Soda being the most studied is associated with taste preference, habit intentions, television viewing, soda availability at home and school and parental willingness to purchases sodas for children. Other influencers such as child care could reflect on the child’s intake of the sugary drinks. This article also held a study where they figured out that preschool aged children intake more sugary beverages than between the ages of 1 and 2. It’s thought that school settings would be best to intervene to prevent
The rate of childhood obesity has grown an enormous amount over the years with more than 40 million children being overweight! That number is astonishingly high and it is very obvious that something needs to be done about this. Studies had shown in 2008 that more than 40 million children were said to be overweight and the sad truth is that they are still increasing rapidly to this day; also every 1 in 4 teenagers is said to not reach the fitness guidelines (Tanner) according to an article by Lindsey Tanner. For this problem to be resolved not only do the parents of children need to make sure their kids are staying active but also, the schools they attend need to make sure they are getting a well-balanced meal and have some type of physical activity during their school day. Each state in America is given a percentage rate on the number of obese people in that particular state. The highest ranking state is Mississippi with a percentage of 34.9 and the state ranking the least is Connecticut with 24.5 percent. Different researches have shown that each day 850 lives are taken due to obesity and each year there are more than 300,000 people that die from obesity related illnesses. These are deaths that most likely could have been avoided if these individuals would have had the proper exercise and diet in their lives.
In 1970, Americans spent $6 billion dollars on fast food. Today, Americans are spending $142 billion dollars per year (“The History of Obesity in Children”). In addition to consuming more fast food, children are also consuming less healthy food items. Milk consumption has decreased significantly over the past few decades, while soft drink consumption has dramatically increased (Okie 84). Parents and children need to know the risks there are when choosing a soft drink over milk.
In order to impede the epidemic of childhood obesity, the actual causes of the problem need to be evaluated and dissected. Obesity in children is becoming a huge problem in American society. In the past three decades, the rate of overweight children has increased by 300%. This is an alarming rate that is only climbing higher. Every member in society should take steps to becoming healthier. This would help the present generations as well as future generations to come. The lifestyle of Americans keeps us too busy to be a healthy society.
One fundamental cause of obesity is diet. Adolescence is perfect example of this. Students might have breakfast and lunch at schools. The vast majority of students’ lunches often consist of crisps, chocolate bars and soft drinks, which are high energy foods and due to unbalance energy. (Oliver, 2010). According to research, 25% teenagers are already obese. (ibid). To save money or reduce expenses, schools provide unhealthy foods or junk foods. When soft drinks which were coca cola came into the global economy, drinking soft drinks became popular in schools. The data gives a detailed situation. If a student only has one tin of coca he might has 8 tablespoons of sugar and the rest can be done in the same manner one, a month is 240 tablespoons sugar from drinks. (ibid). Frequent, red meat, large meals high in refined grains, sugary drinks, unhealthy fats are typical Western diet. (Harvard School of Public Health, 2014).