Similarities Between Fast Food And Obesity

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Fast Food and Obesity Living in a busy fast paced world many of us demand everything now and not later and find ourselves with limited time for an affordable proper meal. In a busy stressful world the last thing many of us pay attention to is our diet and fast food becomes appealing since it’s relatively cheap and quick. The fast food industry heavily markets itself all over the media in an effort to make them look like a good choice. The reality of it is fast food is usually high in fat, energy-dense, low in nutrients and fiber. In fact leading research indicates a connection between the rising obesity rate and fast food “The National Institutes of Health strategic plan for obesity research observed one reason for rising obesity rates may lie in abundant choices of relatively calorically-dense food that are convenient and taste good” (Drewnowski and Darmon 900). Convenient it may but will come with a host of health issues. According to Cummins and Macintyre fast food consumption continues to be a big part of people’s diet especially in the U.S. In turn this affects the health of the overall public. It has been well documented that fast food when not consumed in moderation can lead to being overweight or obese, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, and many other health problems (Mello, Rimm and Studdert 208). Along with the health problems come the doctor visits, treatments and medications. It then causes an economic ripple effect that causes the price of health care to continually increase and health insurance companies pass the costs on to their policy holders. With the already high health insurance rates this will just push health care further out of reach of many more Americans. As far as government funded health insurance plans they will also have to cover the rising costs and will need more funding. Those funds that will be obtained will either come in the form of tax increases, new taxes, or budget cuts. This domino effect on the public is bigger than one would think and main culprit behind it is fast food. Throughout the 2000’s public awareness of the health risks associated with fast food was increasing. Quickly the finger began to point around to hold someone accountable for these health problems many believed it was the consumer who was to blame by making their choices. However certain groups blamed the fast food industry for epidemic. Just like how lawsuits have been brought up in the past against tobacco industries for the harm they cause so have lawsuits against the fast food industry. One of the most famous cases was Pelman vs McDonald’s which was brought on by a group of children …show more content…
If you are like many consumers we are not very informed on what is considered healthy and the nutritional value of what we eat. In 2010 along with the Patient Protection and Affordable Act laws passed to have restaurants list calorie information on their menus. These laws would require for all restaurants with twenty or more locations to list the information. As stated by Papadopoulos “As the United States has the highest per capita caloric consumption of any other country in the world, empowering consumers with information about their food choices is a step in the right direction toward improving our nation’s health.”. However four years later only the few major cities of New York, Philadelphia, Seattle and the state of California have begun to implement these changes. We need to continue to push our government to begin to implement these changes nationwide. Once these changes are made it came make a bigger impact on the rest of the nation to make more educated choices. There are many people that are well informed of the health risks associated with fast food, but still choose to consume it stating simply that healthy food expensive. Fast food has always been cheaper than healthy fresh food due to its lower quality ingredients. However there are a number government programs in place to help with the cost of fresh healthy food. In many states there are food assistance program such as in California EBT. These programs were made for lower income individuals to be able to purchase fresh groceries that would otherwise be out of the question due to financial

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