Junk food and Children Obesity - Essay Example

Junk Food and Children Obesity In the letter, Rahul K. Parikh has chosen to discuss a very grave situation that is prevalent in the society. He has discussed how big corporations are minting money on the expense of people at large. The problem of obesity is becoming so widespread that the author has highlighted that the probability of the future generation to live a long and healthy life is bleak. The writer has talked about his experience as a pediatrician where there was not one day when an overweight or an obese child did not come to his clinic.

This situation has disturbed him a lot and hence motivated him to write this letter to his favorite director and producer. One of the major points discussed by the author is the increasing problem of obesity in youth. The reason is that the lifestyle of today’s younger generation has changed tremendously. The children of yesteryears did not have the facilities or the leisure as do the children of today have. A child of the 80`s and early 90`s had the privilege of watching cartoons only in the early morning or for a specific set of timing.

These days there are dedicated TV channels which show cartoons for 24 hours. Watching cartoons all day long used to be my definition of nirvana in my childhood and now thanks to the major broadcasting channels this has come true. This definition of paradise is only good to the extent of imagination. The problem these children face today is that they prefer sitting at home all day long watching TV rather than go outside and get engaged in sports. The introduction of social networking websites like Facebook and twitter has made it even worse.

These webpages are addictive and children tend to spend hours in front of the computers. Furthermore, both the children and adults have become addicted to fast food. A recent research published in Nature Neuroscience has compared the affects of fast food to those of heroin. An experiment was done on rats which showed that the pleasure-center in rat’s brain was overstimulated from the high-fat food similar to the intake of cocaine by an addict. After sometime the rat`s pleasure-center became so overloaded that they needed more and more fast food to feel normal.

This is a grave threat to the society which has the potential of becoming more menacing than cigarettes. The recent finding by the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index showed that 63.1 % of adults in America were either overweight or obese. The second important point discussed in the letter is the support of this junk food by the major movie production companies. Movie characters like Shrek or Yoda have always been an inspiration for children across the globe. Even a famous comic book character is used for the creation of movies to attract more viewers and thus no one can deny the worldwide charm of the silver screen.

The fast food industry has taken the utmost benefit of this charm by collaborating with the movie studios. This kind of a deal is a win-win situation for both the production company and the junk food company as they reap a hefty amount of revenue. The loss is all barred by the consumers who spend their hard earned money on these things which then lead them to problems like obesity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has put forward that approximately 17% of children and youth in America are affected by obesity.

The statistics shows the magnitude of this epidemic and introducing an Indy Whopper does not help the people especially young ones to combat this problem. The lives of thousands of children are in jeopardy because of this junk food and when some of the most anticipated movies further promote these foods, it brings the issue of moral responsibility of these corporations. Every corporation is morally responsible for the action they take and these kinds of marketing stunts are inappropriate. It would not be wrong to say that junk food has become equivalent to cigarettes.

The viewpoint of junk food today is the same as it was for cigarettes in the first half of the last century. The solution for this problem is the same as that of cigarettes. A health warning should be printed with every pack of Big Mac and Whopper. The issue of obesity needs to be tackled so that this epidemic can be resolved and the youth and the children can be saved from the negative effects of obesity.