Obesity. What is the role of private business in constructing obesity as a global health problem - Essay Example

?What is the role of private business in constructing obesity as a Global health problem? Introduction Obesity defined Obesity is not just an ordinary disease but it is considered as the leading metabolic sickness in the world at the start of the 21st century (Formiguera and Canton, 2004, p.1125). Obesity occurs both in affluent societies and developing countries leading to around 300 million people considered obese around the globe. According to expert this figure may double in the year 2025 if there is nothing to be done about it (Formiguera and Canton, 2004, p.1125). This essay will focus on the role of private businesses in constructing obesity as a global health problem and show how relevant they are in rising the issue of fat and food related habits. Obesity brings complexities which primarily include diseases in metabolic and cardiovascular areas (Formiguera and Canton, 2004, p.1125). For this reason, obesity has triggered special attention among health experts and practitioners, and including ordinary individuals who are health conscious or may actually have been suffering the disease. The complications have received special attentions and consensus ideas have come to the point that the major solution of preventing them is to actually stop obesity (Formiguera and Canton, 2004, p.1125). It is important then to understand what obesity is and how it is acquired. The World Health Organization (WHO) believes that this is a very important step prior to undergoing the right prevention program for obesity (World Health Organization, 2000, p.6). Obesity as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) is a particular disease that involves excess body fat in the body with corresponding associated-health problems (World Health Organization, 2000, p.6). As pointed out by WHO, the corresponding health problems are the results of the excess body fat in the body that may differ in their distribution and associated health consequences among obese individuals. Measuring obesity: WHO standard The WHO provides more meaningful and practical measurement of obesity. The said health sector suggests dimension of body mass index which primarily includes knowing the right proportion between height and weight. The range proportion implies obesity with corresponding level of risks in the future. However, it is difficult to use this measure among children knowing that their height and weight normally have to change overtime as they continuously grow. The second practical way to measure obesity is through measuring waist circumference as provided by WHO. Finally, another way of asserting obesity is through checking body composition, anatomical distribution of body fat, measuring energy intake and energy expenditure. Nowadays, obesity can be easily diagnosed using advanced equipment to collect the former mentioned data (World Health Organization, 2000, p. 8). Based on the basic standard provided by WHO, a body mass index greater than 25.00 corresponding to dimension of body mass index is considered to be normally diagnosed for obesity and less than of it qualifies as underweight. On the other hand, increase in abdominal waist measurement is another subjective and physical indicator of obesity at certain point (World Health Organization, 2000, p. 8). Obesity is regarded as a lifestyle disease because of its strong association with food and exercise patterns among individuals (Stern and Kazaks, 2009, p.2). People around the globe changed their ways of living and it has contributed to the habits of how daily activities are managed accordingly. For instance, due to fast-pace actions, time has become so important among individuals. In order to save time, people have managed to use instant foods. Furthermore, due to lack of time, people may have overlooked the importance of daily and regular exercise. These are just some of the common reasons why obesity has increased over the years (Stern and Kazaks, 2009, p.2-3). There are further causes in detail that are strongly associated with obesity (Jebb, 2004, p.38). For instance, fast food has become an integral part of most of the people’s eating pattern around the world (Brindal et al., 2008, p.111). However, it was pointed out that the whole thing should be based on the food choices of consumers. Consumers who demand for foods with high calorie values are normally susceptible to obesity considering that it is normally linked to food intake (Jebb, 2004, p.38). After all, many health professionals strongly relate fast foods to be bad for the health (Brindal et al., 2008, p. 111). Description and analysis of food companies Food companies such as fast food restaurants have successfully operated worldwide. Their wide span of coverage significantly created tons of millions of people patronizing their product and service offerings. This is a clear case among renowned international fast food restaurants such as McDonald, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Burger King. McDonald It is reported that in 1994 McDonald alone had served an estimated 22 million people worldwide (Lyon et al., 1994, p.95). This is one of the reasons why franchising a McDonald restaurant would make sense and it is a fact that its popularity to the customers has triggered business related issues on the process. This contributed to the global success of McDonald in its introduction of food products that are new to other cultures. Kentucky Fried Chicken On the other hand, the success of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), another United States-based company, was in line with the idea that transnational corporations have the capacity to integrate and unite human experience all through out the world. KFC was able to understand the market behavior that was tantamount to finding specific market segments for its product offerings. In its case in China for instance, KFC was able to successfully promote its products in 1990s by creating a strong market segment for children (Lozada, 2005, p.37). Lozada reported that children in China usually are the decision makers when it comes to what food they wanted to eat. KFC tried to seize this opportunity and was able to combine social and cultural issues in their marketing strategies. Due to consideration of these socio-cultural issues and other related concerns, the result of KFC’s marketing strategy particularly in Beijing led to many children patronising their products. The more consumers had patronized KFC’s offerings, the more individuals were strongly convinced to accept their offered products (Lozada, 2005, p.37). Until now KFC is known to put together in its marketing move the exact strategy it applied in China for its international branches. For this reason, it is no longer a question why it was able to successfully incorporate its product offerings to other culture. KFC is a transnational company that eventually aims to promote a great contribution and market share to the latest trend in the international food industry (Lozada, 2005, p.37). Burger King In addition, a stiff competition in the food industry inspired Burger King to go for never-say die strategy as it tries to compete with McDonald and other related international fast food restaurants. Challenged by the existing competition in the food industry, Burger King formulated effort to place substantial understanding on consumer behavior. Outside the bound of what the experts are saying about fast foods concerning on health issues, Burger King still came up with the idea to remain focus on studying the real preferences of consumers (McLamore, 1998, p.286). Influence of fast foods on obesity issue The detrimental impacts of fast foods on health International food companies are actually good at creating demand or need for their product offerings. Today, it is the nature of most companies to create a demand for their products through aggressive marketing efforts (Kotler et al., 1999, p.9; Boone and Kurtz, 2006, p.7). The triumph of their marketing and best trends and practices resulted in their successful market penetration. For instance, the continuing existence of fast food chains and restaurants is clear indication that consumers have eventually responded to their marketing efforts, which further led to tremendous acceptance of their products. However, as stated earlier foods offered by these companies are usually considered by experts as substantially detrimental to human health because of their higher level of calories and fats at some point (Brindal, 2008, p.111). Thus, the current trend is putting too much pressure on fast food restaurants to provide healthy foods. This is a clear indication that international fast food restaurants are viewed to be producing foods that are unhealthy as considered by food experts. Impacts of fast foods on consumers The negative impact of fast foods on obesity in the world especially in the United States has long been a known issue. Some clinical studies try to point out the evidence behind this. In fact, it is reported that a certain part of child and adolescent obesity can be related to food intake (Hartocollis, 2011, par. 1-2). As a result, it is clear that McDonalds and other international fast food restaurants are trying to produce foods with better health value as part of their corporate social responsibility. Some fast food restaurants have provided list of calories on their offerings, although consumers show limited interest about it as found out in the study (Hartocollis, 2011, par. 1-2). From this study, adults, teenagers and mothers were found to have the same calorie purchases before and after posting of list of calories in fast food restaurants. The study significantly considered that people especially teenagers ignore or underestimate the impact of fat and calorie intake in their diet. The study implies that consumers are indeed after of what could satisfy them rather than what the health experts are saying about their diet. In this information, Burger King has been proven right with its strategic moves not to follow the footsteps of McDonalds and other fast food restaurants. In fast-food era, Burger King for instance was able to promote consistency and it tries to find a basic formula and found that the entire competition is a matter of consumers’ real preferences. For Burger King, the trend to go for healthy foods may not be sufficient to convince every consumer to go for what the experts are saying. In fact, the continuing existence of Burger King is an indication that there are still many people willing to sacrifice health considerations just to be able to meet their real food preferences that could satisfy them (Hartocollis, 2011, par. 1-2). Food companies particularly international fast food chains or restaurants are after of studying consumer needs. However, it was found that consumers have the tendency to underestimate the impact of calories in their food intake (Hartocollis, 2011, par. 1-2). In fact, Burger King was able to know this and has become the basis of its strategic advantage in the market. People become sophisticated and learn to follow what they really want, which has become the major idea of Burger King why it was not putting too much pressure on its product offerings to match up with the prevailing health issues (Hartocollis, 2011, par. 1-2; Kurtz et al., 2009, p. 156). The move for change and its impact on consumers However, food companies are continuously encouraged to broaden their product offerings. KFC needs to focus on production of food offerings in line with health trends, and consumers’ need for variety and convenience (Dixon, 2002, p.140). In line with this, McDonald was pressured to produce more healthy foods with significantly few amounts of fats and calories (Kurtz et al., 2009, p.156). However, the regular fast-food eaters consist around eighteen percent of the population and 49 percent of them chose Burger King due to the fact that they want more meat and salt which can actually meet their taste and expectation (Kurtz et al., 2009, p. 156). In line with this, Burger King was not putting too much pressure on its marketing strategy to go with the current trend of producing healthy foods. It still remains in its strategy to produce foods that consumers originally loved about fast food chains and restaurants (McLamore, 1998, p.286). In line with finding the greater influence fast foods have on its consumers, study shows that increasing fast food prices do not have substantial positive influence on the weight of teens coming from low to middle socioeconomic status families (Powell, 2009; p.963). The research particularly employed adolescent respondents and found that the price of fast foods affect their body mass index by 25%. However, this was argued by another study claiming that young female adults’ body mass index was found to be not statistically significant with fast food prices, but male young adults’ body mass index decreased by about 13.2% as the price was increased by 10% (Han and Powell, 2011, p.129). The general result of the above studies still claims that increasing of the price of fast foods may not have any statistically relevant results especially among the body mass index of young adults. There are on-going studies about these two relevant findings. However, what seems clear about these results is the fact that there are still many people who are willing to purchase fast foods in the event that their prices are raised. This implies another level of influence fast foods have substantially inculcated into the minds of consumers. Due to the fact that each customer has different taste when it comes to food choice, fast foods restaurants have significantly created potential market share for their offerings. In Australia alone, fast foods have become an integral part of eating pattern and the reason for nutritional evaluation in the country was due to the fact that they have been associated with obesity epidemic (Brindal, 2008, p.111). As mentioned earlier, fast foods are viewed to have significant amount of fats and calories. Fast foods are highly linked to obesity problem and they are normally checked based on calorie and fat contents (Little, 2011, par.3). It is therefore important to understand that fats and calories are clearly among of the most important indicators in the classification of healthy foods. It is noted that fats and low-calorie are necessary to be eliminated from the diet of individuals with obesity-related problems. For instance, low fat and low-calorie diets are recommended for individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus problem (Miyashita et al., 2004, p.235). High caloric density of high-fat diets is said to play significant role in weight management program (Warwick and Schiffman, 1992, p.585). Thus, it is highly recommended to minimise food intake with high fats and more than the required calorie. In this case, fast food restaurants normally become the central concern of this issue. It is therefore shown how fast foods are linked to the rising number of obesity cases in the world. In fact, the ability to ignore the number of calories listed in the product’s offerings is a proof that health concern has never been an important issue for people at some point due to the issue of consumer preference (Hartocollis, 2011, par. 1-2; McLamore, 1998, p.286). Some consumers may actually have minimised their patronage of fast foods, but the continuing existence of international fast food restaurants for instance is a significant indicator that the business for fast foods continues to be healthy at some point. This is directly regarded as part of customer acceptance of fast foods at certain level. Based on the idea presented above, it can be clearly described that fast foods have influenced the lives of consumers enormously. Such influence leads to the belief that foods offered by fast food restaurants have no difference at all with other foods taken by consumers due to consumer’s preference (Kurtz et al., 2009, p. 156). In this reason, there is no or little difference at all on what the people consumed because what fast food chains offered are actually regarded as generally accepted foods based on consumer’s choice (Hartocollis, 2011, par. 1-2; Kurtz et al., 2009, p. 156; McLamore, 1998, p.286). On the other hand, amidst health-related precautionary measures everywhere about fast foods, there are still many consumers who are patronising them even in the event of price increase (Powell, 2009; p.963). This is a clear picture of how fast foods have substantially influenced the market. From an economic point of view, the price elasticity of fast foods may not have important impact on its demand. This implies that there are still consumers who are willing to eat fast foods and based on the elaborated issue above; obesity will always prevail as far as it is associated with fat and calorie intake from foods. Diet and drug companies Diet companies and international food chain industry Diet companies have considerable market share in the midst of rising issues about fat and calorie intake of the people. These companies have important lessons to share and because of their researches and other strategic moves, people are substantially convinced to check their lifestyle and diet intake. Due to its corporate social responsibility and fear that consumers may listen to what diet and drug companies are saying, McDonalds introduced offerings that are in line with issues concerning people’s health. However, long before this move, diet companies with their substantial research and studies were disseminating information to the public about the health concern issues and status of fast foods in the society. The bottom line of these researches proved that fast foods have reinforced the global convergence of diets which primarily include fats and oils (Pingali, 2007, p.281). Obesity issue as a lucrative business Obesity business has become lucrative due to the booming diet pill industry (Hunt, 1968, p.28). Many small, medium and giant enterprises were making millions out of obesity business. Today, diet and pharmaceutical companies continue to influence the obesity business through scientific process and paying ads for obesity journals to keep publishing (Matz and Frankel, 2004, p.274; Campos, 2004, p.43). Diet and drug industries continuously look for diet researchers who normally received funding from them (Fraser, 1997, p.212). It is therefore clear that the diet and drug industries have important role played in the obesity business. These industries are trying to stimulate needs and demand for their service and product offerings by exposing health-related issues integrated with the food industry. It is noted that most of the studies when it comes to diet issues and concerns have been focused on fast food restaurants, and fat and calorie intake (Fraser, 1997, p.212). These issues are highly incorporated with each other and the diet and drug industries have created opportunity out of them. Conclusion Obesity can be related to food intake and people are strongly advised to watch carefully on their diet. Regarding this, fast food restaurants without question are viewed to be one of the most important reasons of the increasing number of obesity cases in the world. It is therefore not surprising to know that people are momentarily educated about the food they eat. It is because of this that fast food restaurants have become the centre point of scrutiny among health experts, consumers and most especially the diet and drug companies. The whole thing about obesity has become closely focused on food intake. Thus, people are strongly convinced to check their diet. In line with this, fast food restaurants and other related private companies have strongly addressed the ongoing diet trend. However, it is clear that the bottom line of these all is the emerging healthy business in the food, diet and drug industries. In the midst of this, consumers always have the final say and the whole point boils down to the issue of their preference. References Boone, L. E., and Kurtz, D. L. (2006) Contemporary Marketing. 12th ed. Ohio: South-Western. Brindal, E., Mohr, P., Wilson, C., and Wittert, G. (2008) ‘Obesity and the effects of choice at a fast food restaurant.’ Obesity Research & Clinical Practice, Vol. 2 (2): 111-117. Campos, P. F. 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