Obesity is a disease that affects more than 30% of adults in America, and the biggest cause of obesity are the life choices we make everyday. But this is not the only major cause for obesity, there are many more causes as you will see in the rest of my essay. Let’s first discuss what it even means to be obese. The term obesity refers to body weight that is greater than what is considered healthy for a certain height. In other words, obese means to be grossly fat, or overweight. Today, America is the worlds 2nd fattest country, with 31.8% of American adults being considered obese. America is only surpassed by Mexico, with 32.8% of their adults being considered obese. So, as you can see America is not that far away from being the fattest country
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High fructose corn syrup was first introduced in the United States, in the 1960s. Due to cheap corn prices in the 1970s, high fructose corn syrup was inexpensively made, and its use became widespread in the US food supply. By 1985, 35% of the food supply was being sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, mainly because it was cheaper to produce than glucose based sweeteners that were used previously. When high fructose corn syrup was being used in the food supply, rates of obesity started to rise. Today, high fructose corn syrup can be found in breakfast cereals, salads, dairy products, and the list goes on and on. But one of the major uses for high fructose corn syrup is in beverages, such as sodas, teas, fruit juices, and other sweetened drinks. With high fructose corn syrup being the major sweetener in most of these drinks, we have also seen an increase in childhood obesity. Between the 1970s and 1990s, there was a major increase in the consumption of soft drinks, and at the same time the obesity rate for children also rose. With all these correlations between high fructose corn syrup and obesity, the concern is that the consumption of these beverages containing high fructose corn syrup, will increase the risk of childhood obesity, because after all, it is mostly kids who consume sugary drinks. With the increase of childhood obesity, that could lead to higher risk of diabetes and other chronic health illnesses. Now, this cause only explains what in the food that makes us obese, but why do even continue to eat food that we know is bad for us? Could it be that we hard wired to junk
High fructose corn syrup was first introduced in the United States, in the 1960s. Due to cheap corn prices in the 1970s, high fructose corn syrup was inexpensively made, and its use became widespread in the US food supply. By 1985, 35% of the food supply was being sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, mainly because it was cheaper to produce than glucose based sweeteners that were used previously. When high fructose corn syrup was being used in the food supply, rates of obesity started to rise. Today, high fructose corn syrup can be found in breakfast cereals, salads, dairy products, and the list goes on and on. But one of the major uses for high fructose corn syrup is in beverages, such as sodas, teas, fruit juices, and other sweetened drinks. With high fructose corn syrup being the major sweetener in most of these drinks, we have also seen an increase in childhood obesity. Between the 1970s and 1990s, there was a major increase in the consumption of soft drinks, and at the same time the obesity rate for children also rose. With all these correlations between high fructose corn syrup and obesity, the concern is that the consumption of these beverages containing high fructose corn syrup, will increase the risk of childhood obesity, because after all, it is mostly kids who consume sugary drinks. With the increase of childhood obesity, that could lead to higher risk of diabetes and other chronic health illnesses. Now, this cause only explains what in the food that makes us obese, but why do even continue to eat food that we know is bad for us? Could it be that we hard wired to junk