Who Is To Blame For The Rise Of Obesity Essay

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.

    Most people desire to consume only what satisfies their taste buds, which is mainly foods and beverages that contain high levels of unhealthy ingredients, but they do not realize the harm it causes to their health. General Mills conducted an experiment in order to see how consumers would react when they had the option to buy healthy products or foods that tasted good: “General Mills, he said, acted responsibly to both the public and shareholders by offering products to satisfy dieters and other concerned shoppers, from low sugar to added whole grains. But most often, he said, people bought what they liked, and they liked what tasted good” (Moss 476). Companies of course need to keep their businesses running and in order to do that, they must manufacture

This essay compares Michael Moss’ “Junk Food” to Virginia Heffernan’s “What If You Just Hate Making Dinner”. Both of these authors write about food, and they specifically discuss the topic of junk food. The key difference between these articles is that Heffernan looks at the topic from the point of view of a consumer, a busy mother seeking a convenience; and Moss focuses more on the food and beverage industry and its impact on the consumers. Many industry professionals, doctors and scientists alike are concerned about spreading obesity epidemic. The similarities between “Junk Food” and “What If You Just Hate Making Dinner” are pronounced, and they deserve thorough investigation.

In “Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food” by Michael Moss is about the rising numbers of obesity in both adults and children throughout the United States. On the Evening of April 8, 1999, some of the biggest food industries CEO’s ad company presidents come together for a rare, private meeting. Discussing the emerging obesity epidemic and how they should deal with it. Big time companies food is lacking the nutrients that a person needs and is more concentrated on how to make it more desired. Keeping the customers coming for more. While the industries are gaining a profit, the customers are gaining a big belly.

In the article of How Junk Food Can End Obesity, David Freedman, the contributor editor at the Atlantic and Inc. Magazines, lays out a “they say” that then frames his argument. He states that making processed food healthier can contribute to the battle of the obese in our society. Freedman also says that the food these companies are cooking are making people sick and how it is destructive to an individual’s health. For instance, in the reading, Freedman states a quote from Michael Pollan, a journalism professor at the University of California at Berkeley, “It is one of the reasons that we have the obesity and diabetes epidemics that we do… If you’re going to let industries decide how much salt, sugar and fat is in your food, they’re going to put in as much as they possibly can… They will push those buttons until we scream or die.” In other words, Pollan believes that we constantly let people put all of these things in our foods but no one is stopping it.

Obesity is one of the main topics in America including one of the main reasons of death.-(begin with a subject) Detecting obesity is easy, but treating it can be very hard to do. Never have there have been so many teens and children not only overweight but obese. In some ways, it could be called the plague of the twenty- first century due to adolescents and teenagers indulging themselves in a plethora of food for every meal they have, therefore becoming overweight and morbidly obese. In the eighteen hundreds there was not a fast food place to go to unlike these days, so children were not obese like they are

Over 60% of the people in the U.S are obese, obesity ranks second among preventable causes of death. What you eat is what you are. More and more people are becoming obese which is not healthy. People who suffer from obesity are going to face severe chronic illness or stress. A person who is obese is not necessarily overweight but has too much body fat. Many experts use BMI index for an accurate measurement for a body fat. BMI is calculated by a formula that includes a person’s height and weight. One important cause of insulin is obesity. Insulin is supposed to transport blood sugar into the cells of the muscle and fat. Since the year 1980 the obesity rate in the U.S. has changed. In 2000 the obesity rate was 30% percent but in 2013 it

Mega-marketing is used throughout the world to lure the consumer society into believing big corporations’ ideas behind their products. Corporations would define mega-marketing as activities to manage elements of the firm’s external environment and the trying efforts to control those factors. Some of these factors may include media, social groups, and pressure groups as well. In Michael Moss’s “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food”, Moss examines the science behind food industry corporations and how scientist study which design and taste addict their consumers, correlating the effects towards the obesity epidemic. Moss proves that

“They (Food Production Corporations) may have salt, sugar, and fat on their side, but we, ultimately, have the power to make choices. After all, we decide what to buy. We decide how much to eat.” (Moss 346). In today’s society, junk food needs no introduction as everyone enjoys the taste of junk food because it is fast, tasty, and affordable but not everyone knows what all goes into their food. Over the years the food industries have drastically changed how food is produced and manufactured. Moss reflects upon the motivations and practices by the food industries which have transformed the American food supply by the use of the three key ingredients, salt, sugar, and fat. Through Michael Moss’s use of rhetorical appeals in his book Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, he discusses the extraordinary science behind what is considered tasty food, how multinational food companies use the key ingredients, salt sugar, and fat to increase sales and how other literary elements can help create trust between the author and audience thus increasing the effect of his arguments.

Obesity does not discriminate against social status, sex, or race; it can take a person’s life and turn it upside down in the blink of an eye if they are not careful. Some people think of obesity as a worldwide killer because there is no outrunning it if it overtakes a person’s body. Every 1 in 3 adults are obese right here in America, that should give each and every individual some type of hint that there is a major problem occurring. The obesity epidemic is not something that has just caught the attention of people recently; it has been going on since the 1950’s! This epidemic is a major problem; over 2.8 million people die each year as a result of being obese or extremely overweight and over 40 million children were said to be obese in

Obesity rates are soaring throughout North America (What Is Obesity?, 2013). With obesity reaching almost epidemic proportions in the United States, and the threat of a global epidemic, we must watch this alarming increase carefully ( Health Risks of Obesity, 2013). Obesity is defined as: "…an excess of adipose tissue…" (A Report of the Surgeon General, 2014). The two most common measures of obesity are Body Mass Index (BMI is a ratio of weight to height) and relative weight index, such as percent desirable weight (Body Mass Index , 2013). BMI is the most frequently used measure of obesity as it has a strong correlation with more direct measures of adiposity, such as underwater weighing (A Report of the Surgeon General, 2013). Some

Obesity has rapidly emerged as a serious health issue in America. The cause of obesity results from America’s social injustices. Today, food advertisements are in all places promoting an unhealthy lifestyle. Considering the great expense of healthy foods, low income families can barely afford fruits and vegetables. These two factors contribute to the increasing obesity rate in the United States. Unfortunately, it has taken an excessive amount of Americans to become obese for America to become aware of the issue and take action. Although obesity is still an increasing problem, America is fighting to reduce the number of obese citizens. As a result of low income and the media advertising unhealthy lifestyles, America is in the midst of an obesity epidemic.

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.

Obesity is huge problem in the twenty-first century, but the people that have control over this do not care. In a materialistic society, money is everything. In food corporations, it appears that profit is also everything. Of course, this applies to their marketing strategies. Corporations have to be more for the consumer, or else they would have no business. However, consumers are still being tricked by these corporations. Granted that many corporations may offer low prices, decent tasting products, and great inventory of product, consumers fall for this as opposed to other products that are much healthier. It should not be this way. The activities of food and marketing corporations must change in order for the issue of obesity to change for the better.

We are conditioned at a young age to believe the only way to be normal is to be