Is the Problem of Obesity in America Caused by Fast Food Consumption - Literature review Example

Sebastian Fast Food Fast food is food that is prepared and served quickly. In today’s age of convenience and instant gratification, fast food needs no introduction. Almost everyone, from a young toddler to an old grandparent, seems to be enjoying fast food. And why not? It is delicious, it is affordable, it is easily and readily available. Fast food includes hamburgers, fried chicken, french fries, hot dogs and pizza. Today, more and more Americans are forsaking healthy, home-cooked meals and gorging on fast food that is not only nutrient-deficient but also calorie-rich. In today’s fast-paced life, when you are living live in the fast lane and when you are up and about in the midst of a hectic day of errands, you have hardly enough time to gulp down a drink before you are off preparing for your next appointment. Sitting down to have a decent meal, then, becomes a challenge - a challenge to which fast food restaurants have risen. Fast food has now, become so ingrained in our culture that it is difficult to imagine a world without burgers and french fries. Today, fast food is not only served in restaurants and drive- throughs but also at schools, colleges, malls, gas stations, air ports and even in hospitals. Although fast food is convenient, affordable and readily available, it has brought about increased health problems, resulted in the degradation of the environment, created a food industry controlled by giant corporations and has led to the loss of the family tradition of eating together. In his book, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, Eric Schlosser observes that “fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American society” and that “In 1970, Americans spent about $6billion on fast food; in 2000, they spent more than $110 billion. Americans now spend more money on fast food than on higher education, personal computers, Sebastian 2 computer software or new cars. They spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos and recorded music – combined” (Schlosser, 4). In the past, Americans used to eat freshly-prepared and healthy meals at home. Meals were then prepared by people who cared about the health and well-being of their families. Today, however, Americans gravitate towards fast food such as hamburgers and pizza which are prepared by strangers who do not give a thought about our health or about food safety. Why and how did fast food become so popular among Americans? What had caused this more than 500% increase in fast food spending? Eric Schlosser explains part of this reason when he says that “The extraordinary growth of the fast food industry has been driven by fundamental changes in American society ……… when women entered the workforce in record numbers ….. .” He further asserts that “In 1975, about one-third of American mothers with young children worked outside the home; today almost two-thirds of such mothers are employed” (Schlosser, 5). In the article entitled Changes in childhood food consumption patterns: a cause for concern in the light of increasing body weights, Marie-Pierre St-Onge says that today “there are more families in which both parents work, and time limitations have become an important factor in determining the types of foods consumed” and “the food industry responded to these new family issues by increasing the numbers of convenience foods and prepared meals available. In addition, portion sizes have increased over the past 2 decades…” . Another reason for the popularity of fast food is the comparatively low price. As fast food is cheap, the majority of people can afford it. Many fast food chains offer value meals at cheap prices. For example, in the US, the Big Mac Value Meal costs $4.80, a Quarter Pounder Cheese Meal $5.25, a 10 piece Chicken McNuggets Meal costs $5.90 and a Cheeseburger Happy Meal Sebastian 3 costs $2.99. Fast food is usually cheap because of the cheaper ingredients used such as high fat meat, added sugars and fats instead of nutritious foods such as lean meats, fruits and vegetables. Our pace of life is fast due to the demands of work, family commitments, social commitments and a dizzying array of entertainment options. As a result, we live in a convenience culture where we look for ease of accessibility and speed of delivery for every service or food that we consume. Food prepared at home is cheaper than buying from restaurants but in view of the time allotted to shopping for the ingredients and cooking, people prefer the low-cost, high calorie meals available at increasingly convenient locations. Fast food is found in every corner. As more household time is spent on work, less time and energy are available for activities such as food preparation. This, in turn, has stimulated demand for meals that are inexpensive and easily available. Since many fast food chains have drive-throughs, it is very convenient for consumers. People do not even have to get off their vehicles to pick up their meals. Fast food is preferred by many people not only because it is filling and cheap but because it is tasty as well. The reason why fast food tastes so good is because it is loaded with high fat and sugar content. These contents can result in fast food cravings and eventual fast food addiction. An addiction to fast food can lead to unhealthy eating habits and health problems. Fast food is the product of the mass production of food using cheap, processed ingredients. In truth, fast food is just bland. To give back the flavor which is lost in processing the food, fast food manufacturers use large quantities of fats, sugars and salts, all of which tantalizes our taste buds and leave us craving for more. In the article, Fast-Food Marketing and Children’s Fast-Food Sebastian 4 Consumption, the author says, “Because they fulfill consumers’ desires for tasty, convenient and inexpensive food, fast-food outlets have a home away from home for breakfast, lunch and dinner”. And because fast food outlets allow us to eat what we want and when we want, the ritual of shopping for food items, cooking and eating together is fading. Various marketing strategies employed by fast food chains also help to make fast food popular. By marketing to children with the enticement of toys, etc , children are motivated to eat fast food from a very young age. There is a likelihood that these children will end up being lifelong customers. In addition, fast food chains design marketing promotions around regular sports and media events in order to attract more customers. It has also led to a wide range of marketing alliances, for example, McDonald’s has joint promotions with the National Basketball Association and Burger King has linked with the children’s network, Nickelodeon. By using children’s favorite and by linking products with positive feelings like happiness and fun, these advertisements can help to promote the products. As an occasional treat, fast food is not harmful. However, when fast food is consumed in excess, it can have damaging effects on health. Fast food may be cheap and convenient but Americans are paying a high price for their convenience. While it is cheap and tasty, it is loaded with fat, sugar, salt and calories. Many people blame the fast food industry for the rising obesity the nation is currently facing. According to the article Childhood Obesity, the United States Department of Health and Human Services admits that the number of adolescents who are overweight has increased three-fold in the past three decades while the prevalence among younger children has more than doubled. The Department further states that while “it is difficult to correlate nutritional choices and childhood obesity using observational research ………. Sebastian 5 Trend data suggest some changes in eating patterns and consumption that may be correlated with increases in obesity. In general, children and adolescents are eating more food away from home, drinking more sugar-sweetened drinks and snacking more frequently” (United States Department of Health and Human Services). Thus, rates of obesity in America have increased over the last 30 years, a time period that has witnessed a tremendous increase in fast food restaurants. The recommended daily intake of calories for an individual is 2200. Increasing calorie intakes can lead to increase in weights. Fast foods are extremely high in calories and individual fast food and beverage items can exceed 1000 calories each. When combined with a beverage, the amount of calories can exceed 1500 calories. Nowadays, most fast food chains offer “supersize” meals that could very well meet a person’s calorie intake for the whole day. To make matters worse, more and more American are now living sedentary lives; most of us drive our cars everywhere and spent many hours at computers or watching television. Instead of decreasing our calorie intake, we still insist on our regular meals as well as snacks and the consequence is we are becoming a nation of fat people. Being overweight increases the risk of developing hypertension, depression, high cholesterol, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Shannon Brownlee in the article It’s Portion Distortion That Makes America Fat says that the reason why we are fat is because we are so easily influenced by the kinds of advertisement we see. It is not the fast food itself but the amount of fast food we eat that makes us fat. According to Brownlee, obesity is also an effect of the tactics of smart business people in our society. Worldwide advertisement and fast food competition has been rising in the past two decades making us want to eat more of the same food we have been eating all along while causing our economy and our waistlines to grow tremendously. Sebastian 6 Fast foods contain large amounts of sodium to enhance flavor and to make these food last longer. Increased intake of sodium can increase blood pressure. A person with high blood pressure will have narrow arteries which may impede blood flow. Therefore, the heart has to work harder to pump blood. Over time, high blood pressure can damage blood vessels and lead to the hardening of the arteries. The end result is often heart failure, heart attack or stroke. Because fast foods contain high amounts of cholesterol and saturated fats, they may increase an individual’s risk for cardiovascular diseases. The fat used can increase the LDL cholesterol or bad cholesterol that can clog up arteries and eventually lead to heart attacks and stroke. Livestock production is carried out on a large scale to cater to the large demand by fast food chains. When animals are raised for the domestic market, they are raised in small-scale farms and are bound to be healthy as they are allowed to graze freely in well-maintained pastures, get more exercise and their diets are more varied. Conversely, in large-scale livestock production, animals are kept in tightly confined conditions. Thus, the potential for disease outbreaks is higher as contamination can occur at any point in the supply chain. The E.Coli outbreaks in the United States have been caused by meat packed at meat packing plants that provide meat for fast food chains. Besides the contamination of food, the fast food industry also contaminates the environment. Fast food outlets are a primary source of urban litter. The containers and wrapping provided by these outlets are significant hurdles to the country’s waste diversion goals. It is easy for us to join the bandwagon and blame the problem of obesity on the increasing consumption of fast food and the larger portion sizes served in fast food restaurants. According Sebastian 7 to Daniel Weintraub in the article The battle against fast food begins in the home, the numerous studies and lawsuits against the fast food industry “send a message to parents and kids alike that obesity is somebody else’s fault.” While vehemently denying that it is not somebody else’s fault, Weintraub insists that “It is parents – not the government, not the fast-food companies, not the video-game manufacturers – who are responsible for teaching kids healthy eating and exercise habits” and that “parents, not state government, are in the best position to fight the epidemic of overweight children in our schools” (Weintraub). It is parents who can be effective role models in teaching children healthy lifestyle habits. Parents who cook healthy and delicious home-cooked meals and include fruits, vegetables and whole-grains will succeed in raising healthy children. On the other hand, in his article, Don’t Blame the Eater, David Zinczenko explains that the present craze for fast-food is due to the lack of alternatives. Moreover, he adds that “Complicating the lack of alternatives is the lack of information about what, exactly, we’re consuming. There is no calorie information on fast-food packaging, the way there are on grocery items. Advertisements don’t carry warning labels the way tobacco ads do” (Zinczenko). He concludes his article saying “Fast-food companies are marketing to children a product with proven health hazards and no warning labels. …….. Without such warnings, we’ll see more sick, obese children and more angry, litigious parents” (Zinczenko). To address this problem, fast-food restaurants should offer low-fat and healthier options on their menus. Although fast-foods have detrimental effects on children, they continue to be sold in and around schools. One method of improving the diets of school children would be to provide nutrition education. Besides, nutrition education will go a long way in helping consumers to make healthier decisions. It will help consumers to better navigate the away-from-home food Sebastian 8 market and empower them with knowledge on how to make healthier choices. The authorities, too, should intervene to navigate a change in the eating habits of the people. As Eric Schlosser says, “Congress should immediately ban all advertisements aimed at children that promote foods high in fat and sugar. …… A ban on advertising unhealthy foods to children would discourage eating habits that are not only hard to break, but potentially life-threatening. Moreover, such a move would encourage the fast-food chains to alter their recipes for children’s meals” (Schlosser, 262). The government should also consider introducing ‘fat tax’ on high fat and high energy food served by fast-food outlets as these contribute to excessive weight gain. Manipulating the prices of foods through taxes on unhealthy food items will certainly help the population achieve healthy dietary goals. It is not likely that Americans will give up their love affair with fast food in the near future. The ever-increasing pace of our lifestyle has made fast food a permanent feature of our lifestyles. It has become very convenient for Americans to order fast food as it is cooked in just a matter of minutes. Fast foods are also cheap and tasty. It may be convenient to head for the drive-throughs for a take home meal. Yet despite these advantages, fast food is actually devoid of nutrition and can lead to diseases. By paying attention on how fast food affects our health, we can make changes in our eating habits. As society searches for solutions, fast food outlets should provide healthier options and provide nutritional information on each item that is sold. Americans, too, must realize that fast food restaurants are not making them fat. Americans are making themselves fat. The sooner they realize this, the better it is. Until then, shorter life spans, bigger waistlines and lifestyle diseases will be a part and parcel of our lives. Sebastian 9 Works Cited Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Harper Collins Publications. New York. 2002. St-Onge, Marie-Pierre. Changes in childhood food consumption patterns: a cause for concern in light of increasing body weights. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. www.ajcn.org/content/78/6/1068.full. Web. 14 April 2012. Grier, Sonya A., Janell Mensinger, Shirley H. Huang, Shiriki K. Kumanyika and Nicholas Stettler. Fast-Food Marketing and Childrens Fast-Food Consumption .. www.aacorn.org/uploads/files/GrierJPublPolicyMarket07.pdf. Web. 14 April 2012. United States Department of Health and Human Services. Childhood Obesity. aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/child_​obesity. Web. 14 April 2012. Brownlee, Shannon. It’s Portion Distortion That Makes America Fat www.dsusd.k12.ca.us/users/christopherg/​portiondistortion... Web. 14 April 2012. Weintraub, Daniel. The battle against fast food begins in the home www.dsusd.k12.ca.us/.../​battleagainstfastfood.html Web. 14 April 2012. Zinczenko, David. Don’t Blame the Eater – The New York Times www.nytimes.com/2002/11/23/opinion/don-​t-blame-the-eater... Web. 14 April 2012. Outline Introduction Definition of fast food. Background to traditional American diet Recent changes Thesis Statement I Causes of increased fast food consumption a) fundamental changes in American society – women entered the work force - working mothers / parents b) Fast food is cheap c) Convenience d) It is tasty. e) Marketing strategies – the power of advertising - increased portion sizes II Effects of fast food consumption Increased health problems a) Obesity b) Hypertension c) Heart disease d) Diabetes Potential for disease outbreaks Damage to the environment a) Packaging b) Waste – primary source of litter IV How to reduce fast food consumption a) Nutrition education b) Ban fast food advertisements c) Introduce ‘fat tax’ d) Fast food restaurants should provide healthier food options Conclusion Read More