"Childhood obesity, it's our tsunami, it's our Katrina." (Sanders-Butler). Childhood obesity has become a key problem in American society. More children are obese in the United States than any other country in the world. Part of the problem is the vast amount of fats and sugars in American diets. A larger portion of the health problem is the amount of sugar ingested daily in various foods. Schools all over the country are stocking their vending machines with junk food full of white refined sugar. For these, and many other reasons, high fructose and white refined sugar must be removed of school lunches and or vending machines.
In the United States, approximately twenty thousand vending machines are in use in schools. It is estimated that more than half of those machines are currently selling snacks and beverages that are overflowing with white refined sugar. White refined sugar is raw sugar that is processed with different acids to give it the white color that sugar is known for. White refined sugar is nearly a drug. It is addictive and in large amounts is awful for the human body. There is variety of health problems that are to be concerned with when people consume vast amounts of sugar. One of the most important health problems in American society is obesity, but even more important is childhood obesity. The number of children obese in the United States has more than tripled in the last 20 years. Children consume up to 4 lbs of sugar a week. This number has more than doubled since the late 1800’s and into the 1900’s when the average person only ate about 5 lbs a year. Part of the reason this number is so high is because the junk food does not stop at home. It continues at school when children buy school lu...
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Furthermore, schools have become a paradise for fast-food franchises . Vending machines stocked with candy and soft drinks are unacceptable: nearly 19 out of 20 high schools in the U.S. have vending machines that sell pop, while almost 60 percent of elementary schools do. More than 70 percent of high schools sell can...
Everyday Americans die from the diseases they carry from obesity. Many Americans over eat because their social problems or because they are hereditary. Many plans have been discussed but finding the solution is the problem. Junk foods and unhealthy beverages have corrupted children’s minds all over the nation and putting a stop on it could lead to other benefits. Unhealthy foods and drinks should be taxed and healthy foods should be advertised more to help prevent American obesity.
In order to understand the dangers of sugary drinks and foods, an explanation of their contents is necessary. These drinks and foods are composed of high carbohydrate-content, which is responsible for energy pr...
In addition, the fast food industry’s main goal is to produce profit, and advertisements for unhealthy nutrition options flood schools, television, billboards, and multitudes of other outputs, all places where young children can view endorsements for fast food. Drawing a parallel between fast food and tobacco, Fed Up claims that soda resembles the cigarettes of the 21st century and that both of these toxins present many future health implications. While continuing to discuss long term effects of unhealthy food and eating habits, various scientific researchers and individuals share that up to “40% of non-obese people have metabolic diseases” (Fed Up). While not everyone may appear overweight or obese, they may have diabetes, heart related problems, high blood pressure, and/or numerous other health concerns. Overall, Stephanie Soechtig’s Fed Up discusses the issues of obesity and how private provide and special interests place themselves above public
Americans eat entirely too much. And the foods we are consuming are not at all healthy, they contain excessive amounts of salt, sugar, saturated fat, carbohydrates, etc. This over eating is not only a severe problem in the adult population but also in America’s children as well. Results from a study performed by the Journal of the American Dietetic Association showed that 1 to 2 year olds get 30 percent more of the 950 calories they require a day. It has also been found that another contributing factor to most children’s bad eating habits is the fact that they either rarely or never consume vegetables and fruit. Besides the lack of fresh fruits and vegetables children are consuming large amounts of sugar. Wether it be in candy or desserts, soda or sugary fruit juices children are beginning to consume these at very early ages. Results from another study performed by the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that infants are drinking soda out of baby bottles as early as 7 months of age. In response to these disturbing facts Parents magazine published the preceding article. It outlines 10 steps that can be taken to
In order to impede the epidemic of childhood obesity, the actual causes of the problem need to be evaluated and dissected. Obesity in children is becoming a huge problem in American society. In the past three decades, the rate of overweight children has increased by 300%. This is an alarming rate that is only climbing higher. Every member in society should take steps to becoming healthier. This would help the present generations as well as future generations to come. The lifestyle of Americans keeps us too busy to be a healthy society.
In this paper, it will focus on how junk food marketing impacts childhood obesity. Childhood obesity continues to be on the rise from junk food marketing because of the schools food policies and vending machines, increased junk food available at supermarkets and advertisements in social media.
Unhealthy foods are what make the money for schools and that is why they serve them for students. (Schlafy) Schools feel like they need the extra money in the budget, even though it is at the student’s expense. Data shows that nearly 60% of all middle schools in the US serve soda from vending machines. (Schlafy) Soda is very high in sugar and is not at all good for children, but it is still sold in school vending machines. The ways food in schools is now are way too high in fats and sugars. This is not good for the children and very bad in the long run. Elementary schoolchildren have an estimated $15 billion of their own money that they can use to buy whatever they want in schools, and parents have almost another $160 billion to give students for food money. (Schlafy) Big businesses see this as a big source of profit and therefore encourage children to buy their products, and want them to be offered in school because of th4e likelihood of children buying the business’s product. All in all, obesity in the US is greatly influenced by the foods offered in schools
How many obese children have you seen today? Obesity is one of the largest health problems Americans are currently facing. It can lead to many baleful complications, including heart disease, diabetes, sleep apnea, cancer, mobility issues, high blood pressure, bullying, and lack of self-esteem. According to the CDC, about 17% of children and adolescents aged 2-19 are obese, and 30% are overweight. In adults, around 70% are overweight and 30% are obese. Nevertheless, our nation’s public schools are continuously promoting virulent foods through its lunch programs and on-campus advertisements. Although I understand that unhealthy food is cheaper and tastier, we must remember that those foods are causing our nation’s children to become obese. Factors such as cheap unhealthy foods in school lunches, junk food ads in schools, and teachers eating pernicious foods in class are causing more and more children to make the easy choice, the unhealthy choice. Obesity is a growing epidemic in the U.S, one that we need to promptly eradicate.
Food is one of life’s main fundamentals to sustain viability. It is the continuing growth, maintenance and repair of the body that depends deeply on the energy and nutrients supplied to the body through the food. The nutrients that food provides to the human body is an incredibly, forceful process that keeps people alive and healthy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that over twenty-five million people in America have diabetes; 215,000 of those are children and over sixty-nine percent of all Americans are overweight and obese. This includes childhood obesity, which has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past thirty years. These shocking statistics that reveals that Americans, especially children, are not getting the proper nutrients their body needs. Processed or manufactured food is slowing destroying America’s people and also our economy.
Childhood obesity epidemic, one of the most detrimental disorders, has maximized social and economical challenges faced by Americans in the 21st century. The United States of America has been always placed in the top-10 most obese countries, a list not be so proud about. Poor dietary habits at school due to consumption of competitive, unhealthy foods have resulted in escalating obesity thereby influencing a student’s performance in and outside school. As a major problem’s solution lies within finding its root, schools with the aid of governmental organizations, non-profit organizations, and institutions, have started to provide valid solutions in an attempt to reverse this epidemic. For instance one major attempt, by the Center of Disease Control (CDC) and the State Board of Education, to alleviate this problem in schools was the introduction of ‘sin-tax’. Schools’ taxed students on purchasing sugar-sweetened beverages but that was not quite successful, as it did not stop the affluent students to purchase high calorific beverages and only targeted students with a low socio-economic background. Thus, the most influential solution implemented by these governmental organizations’ that is responsible for decreasing childhood obesity by quite a large factor is improving school meals by increasing the nutrition standard. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has taken mandatory mediation steps that involve eliminating the sales of competitive fast food and increasing the supply of high organic nutritious food that meets the USDA requirement thereby improving the nutrition standard. I believe schools, with the intervention of governmental agencies like the School Nutrition Dietary Assessment (SND...
We are all familiar with sugar. It is sweet, delicious, and addictive; yet only a few of us know that it is deadly. When it comes to sugar, it seems like most people are in the mind frame knowing that it could be bad for our health, but only a few are really taking the moderate amounts. In fact, as a whole population, each and everyone of us are still eating about 500 extra calories per day from sugar. Yes, that seems like an exaggerated number judging from the tiny sweet crystals we sprinkle on our coffee, but it is not. Sugar is not only present in the form of sweets and flavourings, it is hidden in all the processed foods we eat. We have heard about the dangers of eating too much fat or salt, but we know very little about the harmful effects of consuming too much sugar. There still isn’t any warnings about sugar on our food labels, nor has there been any broadcasts on the serious damages it could do to our health. It has come to my concern during my research that few
To begin with, vending machines and school stores attract students more than other school fundraisers. Students tend to be more likely to spend five dollars buying food than to buy tickets to the dance. Every school day, at least twenty students buy something from vending machines and school stores. At Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy, there is a store called Feldmart. This store sells various types of inexpensive junk food. This store gets at least two hundred dollars per day. Other fundraisers for schools are things like buying a ticket to the dance, buying something for a drawing, or donating money so a class can get the most money and win something. None of these things beat the self-satisfaction of getting an inexpensive treat. These other fundraisers aren’t as easy and as inexpensive to run as a vending machine or a school store is. Vending machines and schools stores are the most successful fundraisers for schools, and shouldn’t be banned.
...ost serious public health challenges of the 21st century. Overweight children are likely to become obese adults and they are more likely to develop diabetes and cardiovascular diseases at a younger age, which in turn are associated with a higher chance of premature death and disability. A major cause of obesity is an increased intake of highly fattening foods, without physical activity to burn the fat, which of course leads to an unhealthy increase in weight. Adult and children’s choices, in regards to diet and physical activity habits are influenced by their surrounding environment. Companies know that ice cream can’t be classified as being healthy but many companies worked to put out new products that have reduced far, sugar, reduced carbohydrates and added in calcium. They do this to meet the demand of consumers that are looking to live a healthier lifestyle.
Processed food should be banned from school meals due to increasing health issues in children, increasing academic deficiency and increasing production cost to produce processed foods. There are people who would oppose to this idea due to population growth and an increasing food demand. However, this escalating demand of food is forcing the food industry and other government agencies to resolve the current hunger and lack of resources issues, by hiring processing factories and private companies to manufacture processed foods. The greater part of school age children consume processed foods on a daily basis.