Obesity By Alan Greenblatt Analysis

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Obesity is and has been an increasingly big problem in the United States. In this article, written by Alan Greenblatt, it talks about how obesity is a growing problem in the United States and how people are trying to control it. The thesis of this article is that obesity has become a huge problem that has began to threaten the well being of the people of the United States. Obesity is beginning to be comparable to tobacco as the leading cause of preventable deaths in America (Greenblatt 76). Since 1991 there has been a 74 percent increase in the obesity rate (Greenblatt 76). This increase has shown its many new effects day after day. For example, a small plane crash caused some people to say that people should be weighed before getting on …show more content…
In the article it states that, “ One widely cited estimate is that the average American child sees 10,000 ads a year for food products — and not many of those are for fruits and vegetables. As many as 80 percent of the commercials aired during children 's programming pitch calorie-dense foods” (Greenblatt 90). Shortly after this last statement, the article explains how the food companies have used cheaper sugars, like fructose, which could be a major component to weight gain. All this has led to the statement by the University of Colorado physiologist, Hill, saying that obesity, “is a normal response to the American environment” (qtd. …show more content…
The pyramid has always been looked at as a trusted way to help stop obesity. A problem with the new pyramids is that, “ the federal government 's nutrition-education budget has been so lean in recent years that much of the publicity for the government 's food pyramid has come from private advertising — bakers and raisin growers and others using the pyramid to promote their products as healthy choices” (Greenblatt 93). The USDA, who is greatly trusted by most Americans, creates and revises the pyramid whenever it is needed. This is a big advantage to this plan. The pyramid runs into problems again because foods on the pyramid do not make as much profit as the processed foods, but this has yet to be seen as a major factor in the effectiveness of the pyramid (Greenblatt

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