How Unhealthy Fast Food Is - Research Paper Example

Prof. Topic: Fast food: How Unhealthy It Is? Introduction As the market evolved in rapid changes, consumerism also hit people’s lifestyle. McDonalds, Jollibee, Wendys., Mexican chains, Restaurants, and many other fast food chains mushroom in strategic areas of most countries, mostly in urban zones, which shift the eating paradigm of the public (Sault, Toivanen & Waterson, 2002). This essay will examine the phenomenon of fast food industry and discuss how healthy are the foods served in these stores. Fast-food defined Fast-food chains offer food that can be easily cooked. These are chicken-joy menu (or fried chicken), french fries, burgers, ice creams or icy creams, chicken sandwiches, nuggets, soda, pizzas, or meals with processed viands, sometimes coming from canned goods. Urban workers, students and children easily persuaded to join the bandwagon of many fast-food advocates, especially that these companies utilized innovative multi-media advertisements in marketing its products. It also attracted travelers with companies innovative drive-through-marketing style. Food, is therefore, not only associated with farm production but also of expediency in service by-the-counters. In many other developing countries, fast-foods also include restaurants in malls food section where cooked food are sold for shoppers’ immediate access (Powell, 2009). Fast food industry proved successful in its strategies as in US alone, they were able to spend $126.7 billion in 2003 with a growth rate of 6.4% yearly (Richards, Patterson, & Hamilton, 2007). The rise of this over-the-counter food companies also gave rise to obesity of consumers although direct association of these two factors requires thorough study (Hall, 2002). Indeed, fast food companies profit a lot albeit strong competition in pricing and their illustration of their distinction in taste, company infrastructure design, merchandise promotion, via addictive quality and rigorous advertisements (Richard et.al., 2007, p. 426). Researchers further contend that this addictive quality of these fast-food companies are actually driven by market powers and the convenience they enjoyed from these food centers (Richard et.al., 2007, pp. 426-427). Unhealthy Foods However nutritionists are of the purview that foods from fast-food companies are not made distinct by nutritional content of food served. Richard et.al. (2007) argued that some of them are using the hedonic model in fast food nutrient where foods are served in accordance to brand loyalty which meant that these are base on texture, aroma and blend (Richard et.al., 2007, p. 429). White (2011) explicated that food served in fast foods bear 1000+ calories per meal, rich in fat and sugar content and regular consummation of these produce means intoxicating the human body. Thus, it’s giving imbalance diet that may affect humans biological functions, especially of the brain and heart. White (2011) pointed that continuous consumption of these kinds of foods can cause obesity too, as unhealthy food with high calorie content help gain weights fast which could affect including children (You & Nayga, 2005; Fortin & Yazbeck, 2011). The Center for Young Womens Health (2011) asserted that human body needs nutrients, minerals, and vitamins (CYWH, 2011, p. 1) which can be sourced from fibrous vegetables, fish and fruits. They forewarned consumers that they ought to regulate the intake of foods with high calories. Medical specialists of University of Maryland Medical Center (Plotnick, 2007) experts, who have conducted a study on calories intake, pointed that high-fat meal can cause cardio-vascular dysfunction. Physicians pointed that this can result to coronary diseases, or too much calories level may cause cardiac arrest (Plotnick, 2007). This was proven in their research which use Brachial Artery Reactivity Test (BART) and of echocardiography which measure and monitor the reaction of the vessel under pressure (Plotnick, 2007). Experts argued that fruits and vegetables are good alternate that will hasten the facilitation of reduction of fats sourced from fast-foods (Plotnick, 2007). Experts further associated the growing number of obese persons who prefer fast-food. For them, it is paramount that they should maintain ideal body weight and those with excessive fats must decrease calories-intake. Proper diet should be done with preference to eat fruits and vegetables. Right nutrition for good health Proper nutrition is not only an option as remedy to poor diet but this is also a mandatory policy for all nations who subscribed to the Declaration of United Nations on Nutrition. The latter is developed not only of food-intake but also associated by health and care (Andreyeva & Kelly, Rashad & Harris, 2011; Urban, 1993;). The 1959 Declaration of Right of Child and the 1969 Declaration on Social Progress and Development called for all nations for the elimination of hunger and to guarantee the right to proper nutrition (Urban, 1993, p. 1) although it is not clearly mentioned that as a human right. But such is inclusive in regulations which extol freedom from hunger, right to health and decent living. Thus, right to proper nutrition is believed embedded or inherent in the right to food and in the “right to standard of living and well-being for his family as well as in the right to life. (Urban, 1993, p. 3).” The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) explained that the right to nutrition is also advocated in the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which specifically aimed at resolving hunger and malnutrition among children in developing countries. This advocacy is implemented by the World Food Program based on goals stipulated under the establishment of United Nations World Food Council since 1974 (Urban, 1993, p. 2). The exercise of such right for better nutrition does not only call for right choice of food. It demands that people must be educated about the ill-effects of consumerism and in opting for fast-food centers instead of choosing right diet at home. Education will empower consumers to determine what is sustainable living and about the positive impact of vegetarianism or healthy-food in-take. Good nutrition can be defended on scientific and ethical grounds. Experts pointed that bad eating habit can cause deficiencies of needed vitamins and minerals (Urban, 1993, p. 9). Economist in this decade shared the purview that major economic and political factors are causes of malnutrition, often rooted in modernization of lifestyles which departed from the traditional practices of homemaking. Advocating for better health requires the confluence of theory and practice. Experts recognized that upholding and ensuring that the human capital is in good health requires the intervention, not only of nutritionists, but also of economists, political scientist, anthropologists, ecologists and other social scientists (Urban, 1993, p. 9). People should, as a matter of policy, practice and moral obligation for a better life, should opt to eat right food to sustain life, growth and normal functions of organs and tissues (Urban, 1993, p 10). Experts professed that “nutritional security” is ensured of a person is adopting the appropriate nutritional status. This must be done to avoid dearth of protein, iodine, iron, and Vitamin A (Urban, 1993, p. 10). Inadequacy of these vitamins and minerals are considered as underlying causes of complex health issues (Urban, 1993, p. 10). Thus, families should have adequate access to food to attain nutritional security; adequate information on right nutrition and better access to health services and environment (Urban, 1993, p. 10). To achieve all these, it is imperative for a family to have economic resources, knowledge and education; and preference to healthy living or lifestyle. As health is measured by better political measures which can be done by regulating the kind of foods served in fast food centers and by promoting vegetarianism as a lifestyle. This advocacy maybe however constrained by the fact that educated people nonetheless opted consumerist fast-food preference. It can also be hindered by the fact nutrition is not a specific area of concern in government, institutions, and other agencies (Urban, 1993, p. 14) but rather just part of the concerns raised to health, education, social welfare and to agriculture. It is in fact considered by the market as personal problem of a person which can be resolved by the family only (Urban, 1993, p. 13). As you can note, there is no outright condemnation from the Department of Health to seriously reconsider the nutritional contents of food served in the fast foods; not issuance of policies which regulate the rapid mushrooming of fast-food companies which ironically became a barometer of developments in emerging markets. Seriously, government, especially health departments of nations, should make some investigations how fast-food is destroying the health of nations’ human capital. The world needs to correct these practices. It must be realized that the human resources is the most important capital as engine for national progress. Malnourished, ailing and sick nation is disastrous to the nation. Albeit, insurance and health care, there is no better condition than to rise from being a health-liability to the country. Thus, agencies and institutions should target nutritional security as major issue to be analyzed for a nutrition-specific social agenda for both developing and emerging countries. Conclusion Life is not only about the air we breathe but it’s also about the kind of food people eat. If fast-foods are not often frequented by people, people’s health and lifestyles are valued. To help discourage the increasing malnourishment or undernourishment of people, the government and its related agencies such as health, education and agriculture should adopt regular measures and evaluate fast food companies to measure dietary capabilities it offered to the public, including its sanitation. This will not only allow evaluation of the companies’ performance but also provide them ample recommendations to better the kind of food served and the services they rendered with their consumers. It also permit health and sanitation evaluation. This is in the policy and institutional levels. The government must likewise support the integrated health and nutrition education in elementary, secondary and tertiary educations. Through this, nutrition-specific consciousness will be molded and hopefully, becomes a culture. It might help deepen the perception and understanding of people in the making of their choices. Empowered people know what to make a choice and are nutrition-oriented in deciding for the kind of food to eat. Bibliography Hall, Charles R., 2002. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side Of The All-American Meal; A Book Review Discussion, WCC-72 Annual Meeting, Western Education\Extension and Research Activities Committee on Agribusiness. Las Vegas, Nevada. Author is a multi-awarded professor of Department of Horticultural Sciences of Texas, A&M University. He attained the degree of Agricultural Economics from Mississippi State University; Ornamental Horticulture & Landscape design from University of Tennessee and Agricultural Economics & Rural Sociology at UT. He is a distinguished researcher of his professional services in varied in American associations and in a fraternal order of which he is a member. He also taught strategic management, technological change sin agribusiness, business management, and has provided expert services in agribusiness related cases as amicus curae. He is a beneficiary of several outstanding research, teaching and extension grants or contracts. He is integrating his expertise with knowledge management as he ventured the creation of Horticultural Business Information Network, Making Cents of Green Industry Economics and many others. His review on Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, published by HarperCollins in January 8, 2002. It also contained a professional review. The book contained details about how foods are cooked in the restos including the additives used as taste enhancer. It also discussed the implications of the food to health; the historical development of food chains and how the market attracted it consumers through times which captivated the market of its strategic leverage in the commercial world. You, Wen & Nayga, Rodolfo M., Jr, 2005. Household Fast Food Expenditures and Childrens Television Viewing: Can They Really Significantly Influence Childrens Dietary Quality?, Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, Vol. 30(02). Research explores the interrelationship between food-away-from-home expenditures and television viewing, and childrens diet. This study reviews the impact of household fast food expenditures and the influence of television on programs relating to childrens dietary quality. Research further bare that effects of these two factors varies between children of different ages. Policy implications are also cited. Authors conducted the study with data from National health and Nutrition Examination survey (NHANES) and for continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals. Wen You is a doctorate on Agricultural Economics of Texas A& M University who wrote the dissertation in 2006 about the Parental Time and Children’s Obesity Measures: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation. His other studies centered on Economics of Food, Nutrition and Health in Behavior Economics; Applied Econometrics, Applied Microeconomics; Consumer Demand Analysis, Incentive Theory; and Agricultural Bio-Energy Assessment and Math Programming. You is an assistant professor of Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Nayga, Rodolfo, Jr., is a professor at Tyson Endowed Chair in Food Policy Economic in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness at University of Arkansas. He earned his doctorate degree from Texas A&M University and has been a professor of the same for 11years. He was a researcher at Norwegian Agricultural Economics and Research Institute. He has special interest and expertise on consumerism, food and nutrient consumption and related policies. He has previously worked at Rutgers University and Massey University of New Zealand. He is a visiting professor and Fulbright Senior Scholar. He claimed to have published documents at American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Health Economics, Economics Letters, Contemporary Economic Policy, Econometric Reviews, Advances in Econometrics, Journal of Economic Psychology, Kyklos, Social Science and Medicine, European Journal of Health Economics, Empirical Economics, Bulletin of Economic Research, Atlantic Economic Journal, European Review of Agricultural Economics, European Journal of Marketing, Academy of Marketing Science Review, Advances in Consumer Research, Asian Economic Journal, Agricultural Economics, Food Policy, Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Applied Economics, Education Economics, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Int’l Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, Journal of Retailing  Consumer Services, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Journal of Happiness Studies, Journal of Health and Social Policy, Health Marketing Quarterly, Food Quality and Preference, Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Journal of Food Science, and Journal of the American Dietetic Association.  Bernard Fortin & Myra Yazbeck, 2011. Peer Effects, Fast Food Consumption and Adolescent Weight Gain, Cahiers de Recherche, CIRPEE. Bernard Fortin is connected with Department of Economics of University of Laval based in Quebec, Canada and with Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis on Organizations at Montreal, Canada. He is also affiliated with Interuniversity Center on Risk, Economic Policy and Employment and in the Institute for the Study of Labor. He has co-authored several researches relating to labor, economics, microeconomics, policy reviews on health services-markets and about accounting. To cite a few, he has co-authored Physician Payment Mechanisms, Hospital Length of Stay and Risk of Readmission: A Natural experiment; Evaluation of the Underground Economy in Quebec: A Microeconomic Approach; Labor Supply, Work Effort and Contract Choice; Theory and Evidence on Physicians; Are Children Decision-Makers Within the Household?; Physician’s Multitasking and Incentives: Empirical Evidence from a Natural Experiment; and The Impact of the Parental Contribution on the Rate of Participation in Social Assistance: A natural Experiment Approach. Fortin has written one book, 34 articles, 45 working papers, and has about 26 research works announced in NEP. Myra Yazbeck, on the other hand, earned her doctorate degree on economics at the Universite Laval. Her expertises are focused on labor economics and econometrics but also study family’s health education and welfare as well as applied econometrics. She has publicized and co-authored academic researches, such as Equivalence Scales and Housing Deprivation Orderings: An Example Using Lebanese Data; Assessing the Redistributive Impact of Higher Education Tuition Fees Reforms: The Case of Quebec; and, The Role of Food Assistance in Helping Food Insecure Households Escape Hunger. She also studied about The Impact of Household Structure on Children Health Outcomes: Evidence from South Africa; Are there Peer Effects in Physical Activity?; Equivalence Scales and Poverty Reducing Indirect Tax Reforms: An Example Using Lebanese Data; and Socio economic and Demographic Decompositions of Population Health in North America. Yazbeck is a post doctoral fellow of McGill University and a research assistant of American University of Beirut. Fortin and Yazbeck research explore the effects of obesity among youths using Add Health data on secondary schools in the U.S., Research delve into the eating habits of adolescents assumed to have interacted through social network online and personally. Researchers proposed a social interaction model on fast food consumption using a generalized spatial autoregressive approach. Results pointed intransitive links within a network (i.e., a friend of one of my friends is not my friend) which help identify peer effects. The model is estimated using maximum likelihood and generalized 2SLS strategies. They also used a panel dynamic weight gain production function in the estimation of adolescent’s Body Mass Index (BMI) to respondent’s fast food consumption and his lagged BMI level. Results show that there are positive significant peer effects in fast food consumption among adolescents belonging to a same friendship school network. The estimated social multiplier is 1.59. It further bared that an extra day of weekly fast food restaurant visits increases BMI by 2.4%, when peer effects are taken into account. This study on Peer Effects, Fast Food Consumption and Adolescent Weight Gain is also mentioned in six NEP reports. Andreyeva, Tatiana & Kelly, Inas Rashad & Harris, Jennifer L., 2011. Exposure to food advertising on television: Associations with childrens fast food and soft drink consumption and obesity. Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, Vol. 9(3), pp 221-233. Tatiana Andreyeva is a director of Economic Initiatives at Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. Her expertise is focused on proper nutrition for poor communities and food marketing for children. She is a co-author of studies on Food Retailer Practices, attitudes and beliefs about the supply of healthy foods; Estimating the potential of taxes on sugar sweetened beverages to reduce consumption and generate revenue; Exposure to food advertising on television: associations with children’s fast food and soft drink consumption and obesity; Trying to lose weight: Diet Strategies Among Americans with Overweight or obesity in 1996 and 2003; The Impact of Food Prices on Consumption: A systematic review of research on price elasticity of demand for food; Availability and Prices of Foods across stores and neighborhood: The case of New Haven Connecticut; Perception of Weight Discrimination: Prevalence and Comparison to Race and Gender Discrimination in America; Changes in Perceived Weight Discrimination Among Americans; and Obesity and Health in Europeans aged 50 years and older. Both authors intend to bridge the gap about the effects of food advertising on childrens diet and diet-related health, particularly in non-experimental settings. We employ a nationally-representative sample from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) and the Nielsen Company data on spot television advertising of cereals, fast food restaurants and soft drinks to children across the top 55 designated-market areas to estimate the relation between exposure to food advertising on television and childrens food consumption and body weight. Outcome of the study pointed that mass media influence on television advertising to the increased consumption of soft drinks and fast food among elementary school children (Grade 5). Powell, Lisa M., 2009. Fast food costs and adolescent body mass index: Evidence from panel data. Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, Vol. 28(5), pp. 963-970. Lisa Powell is a research professor on economics and senior research scientist at the Institute for Health Research and Policy at the University of Illonois at Chicago. She is a fellow at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. She has special interest on studies relating to health and its economics; alcoholism impacts to youth’s educational and violent outcomes. She has undertaken and co-authored more than 30 studies which include Economics of Food Energy Density and Adolescent Body Weight; Food Prices are Associated with Dietary Quality Fast Food Consumption and Body Mass Index Among Children and Adolescents; and, The Association of Fast Food, Fruit and Vegetable Prices With Dietary Intakes Among US Adults: Is there Modification by Family Income?. This research draws its foundation from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and external data to examine the relationship between adolescent body mass index (BMI) and fast food prices and fast food restaurant availability using panel data estimation methods to account for individual-level unobserved heterogeneity. Researcher analyses are based on control for contextual factors such as general food prices and the availability of commercial areas and facilities. Result confirms cross-sectional findings that the price of fast food but not the availability of fast food restaurants has a statistically significant effect on teen BMI with an estimated price elasticity of -0.08. The results suggest that the cross-sectional model over-estimates the price of fast food BMI effect by about 25%. There is evidence that the weight of teens in low- to middle-socioeconomic status families is most sensitive to fast food prices. Richards, Timothy J. & Patterson, Paul M. & Hamilton, Stephen F., 2007. Fast Food, Addiction, and Market Power, Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 32(03), Researchers noted special concern on obesity from early 1980s due to over consumption of fast food. A dynamic model of a different-product industry equilibrium shows that a firm with market power will price below marginal cost in steady-state equilibrium. A spatial hedonic pricing model is used to test whether fast food firms set prices in order to exploit their inherent addictiveness. The results show that firms’ price products dense in addictive nutrients below marginal cost, but price products high in non-addictive nutrients higher than would be the case in perfect competition. Timothy Richards earned his degree from the Morrison School of Agribusiness & Resource Management of Arizona State University East. He has co-authored in 44 working papers and 61 articles. He co-authored the book Retail Consolidation and Produce Buying Practices: A Summary of the Evidence and Potential Industry and Policy Responses. Among the many studies he has written are Retail and Wholesale Market Power in Organic Foods, Measures of Brand Loyalty, Valuation of New Products in the Face of Consumer Income Disparity; and, Hysterisis in Food Safety Investments. Paul M. Patterson earned his degree at Arizona State University (ASU)- Morrison School of Agribusiness and Resource Management at United States. He co-authored Produce Marketing and Retail Buying Practices. He is also an expert on quantitative studies on marketing and economics. Stephen F. Hamilton is a professor of economics at Cal Poly State University in California. He earned his master and doctorate degree on Agricultural and Resource economics at the University of California at Berkeley. He graduated magna cum laude with distinction on Environmental Science. He is a professor at California Polytechnic State University. Hamilton’s expertise in research is focused on natural resource economics, environmental economics, microeconomic theory, industrial organization and mathematical economics. He is an associate editor of American Journal of Agricultural Economics and has authored the Environmental Regulations, Illicit Behavior and Equilibrium Fraud. Sault, Joanne & Toivanen, Otto & Waterson, Michael, 2002,. Fast Food - the early years: Geography and the growth of a chain-store in the UK, The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 655, Department of Economics, University of Warwick. Researchers delve into the development of UK outlets of a major fast food chain, from inauguration in 1974 until 1990, after which industry structure changed somewhat. The chain effectively introduced the counter-service burger concept. Location spread across local authority district markets is explained by the characteristics of the areas where the outlets are sited. They delve to investigate the effects of scale economies, measured by outlet numbers in neighboring districts. Both first and second entries are examined. We find that the hazard of first entry is positively influenced by market size and population density and negatively by distance from company headquarter. Joanne Sault is a sessional lecturer at Aston Business School and a research associate at University of Warwick. She is a resident of Birmingham, United Kingdom. She also co-authored the study on Market Structure and Entry in Fast Food and the research on The Choice Between Franchising and Managing Outlets—A competing Risk Model at the University of Warwick. Otto Toivanen is a Finnish who earned his doctorate degree in economics at University of Warwick and his degree at Turku School of Economics. He was a director of Helsinki Center of Economic Research of the University of Helsinki. He wa a visiting scholar at the Department of economics at the University of Berkeley, California and was a research fellow from the Research Institute of Finnish Economy. He was teaching Ph.D courses on Empirical Industrial Organization, Applied Microeconometrics; Economics of Technological Innovation and Microeconomics of Banking for those taking Master courses; and he also teaches Economics of Strategy for Management of Technology. He is an author of a book Innovation and Research Policies: An International Comparative Analysis. He also co-authored about 14 journal articles; contributed at least 2 chapters in two books and 14 other articles published. He is currently focusing on entrepreneurial, financiership, pricing, innovation, cartels, business expansion and selection. Michael Waterson is a professor of the Department of Economics at the University of Warwick. He is a co-author of 22 several working papers, 55 articles, and 10 of which were anounced at the NEP. Some of the research he made, to mention a few, are: A Rough Examination of the value of gas storage; Estimation of Search Frictions in the British Electricity Market; Your call: eBay and demand for the iPhone 4 and Beer - the ties that bind. White, Scott, 2011, Why is Fast Food so Bad? Personal Training. Arizona, Phoenix. http://www.personalpowertraining.net/Articles/Why_is_Fast_Food_so_Bad.htm . August 22, 2011. This is an essay reflecting causes and impacts of the ill-effects of food sourced from fast foods. Medical experts shared purview that too much fat-contents or cholesterol can have an ill-effect to human beings physiology. He is an expert in fitness and exercise and the best nutrition befitting those who wanted to lose or gain weight. White is a one of the top personal trainer, fitness instructor, exercise coach, and life mentor in Arizona. Plotnick, Gary, 2007, Before you eat that burger stop and think…, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, University of Maryland Medical Center, http://www.umm.edu/features/high_fat_meals.htm Accessed: August 22, 2011. This is a research study made by a cardiologist which discussed the effects of consuming fast foods to cardiovascular part of human body. Physician recommended for the preference of vegetables and fruits as diets. Plotnick is a cardiologist of Maryland Medical Center of United States. He is an expert on the impact of poor nutritional dietary content which has become a leading cause of death among Americans. Plotnick undertake the study on nutritional substance contained in burgers and of those foods served in fast foods. Urban, Jonsson, 1993. Nutrition and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Innocenti Occasional Papers, Child Rights Series, UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre. UN. This research discussed in the policy level the value of nutrition as stipulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. For them, good nutrition should be regarded as a fundamental human right. This study reviews the progress that governments have made in implementing this aspect of the Convention, providing ‘status reports’ on the inclusion of nutrition goals in individual ‘National Programmes of Action’. The paper includes a background overview of the development of human nutrition as a science, together with a survey of current trends in thinking on the subject. Urban Jonsson is a senior partner at Xeeda of Sweden. He is management consultant and interim manager within; process development and improvements, change management, vendor and sourcing management, outsourcing, IT-effectiveness and project management. He holds an MBA in International Business Management and BSc in Business and Economics. Center for Young Womens Health, 2011, Supporting Young Women with Eating Disorders: A Guide for Family membrs and Close Friends. http://www.youngwomenshealth.org/supportteens.html Accessed: August 23, 2011. This is an essay which discusses about some measures that can be adapted from eating disorder and to motivate self to recover from bad eating habits. Author also recommended shifting behavioral responses relating to food, and hopefully to encourage healthy lifestyles. The center is organized by expert women, health and gender rights advocates. The Center, established in 1998 by Dr. S. Jean Emans, Chief of Adolescent Medicine, Dr. Marc R. Laufer, Chief of Gynecology, and Phaedra Thomas, RN, BSN. They saw teh relevance of education, clinical care, research, and health care advocacy for teen girls and young women. Drs. Emans and Laufer, the CYWH’s Co-Directors, are distinguished of its national and international expertise, commitment, and accomplishments in the area of young womens health. Phaedra Thomas, the CYWH’s Coordinator, is a nurse with extensive experience in young womens health and program development. Read More