Fast Food and Obesity

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In today's society, fast food has become a large part of many American's lives. With the rising numbers of obese people, it is hard not to draw a correlation between the increase in fast food and obesity. Most obese people don’t want to be obese and wish they could lose weight, yet they continue to struggle with their fast food intake and obesity. This is due to the advertising done on the consumers, the highly addictive food itself, and most importantly, how advertising and addiction combine with children to form habits that are kept once they become adults. These factors are the reasons that fast food restaurants are to blame for the rising obesity and health risks across America. The government needs to step in and place regulations on these fast food restaurants so they will stop taking advantage of people's weaknesses. Before it can be gone into detail about how fast food companies are to blame for people over eating their food, it first must be proven that fast food is indeed the main problem causing today's obesity in America. It is known to many people how the number of fast food restaurants in America has increased tremendously over the past several decades, but it is difficult to calculate by how much due to the lack of historic statistics. Also, it is difficult whether or not to categorize certain restaurants as fast food. Although, a good way to get a feel on the growth of the fast food industry is to take a look at McDonald's, which has been America's most popular fast food chain for decades. In 1968 McDonald's open its 1,000th American restaurant. This number has increased to 13,800 restaurants in 2011 (McDonald’s 1), which really shows how much more fast food people are consuming compared to the past. Consider th... ... middle of paper ... ...iance on fast food. However, in this instance, due to the legitimacy of fast food addiction, along with too much advertising, and the shoddy healthy menu alternatives offered, people have been unable to make a change, and continue to head in the wrong direction. As a result, the Government must step in as it has done in the past with tobacco, and regulate the market in order to save people from themselves. By creating a universal standard to measure the healthiness of a food, the government can then decide how much to tax certain menu items, and consequently control their price and demand. Furthermore, the government can decide which items will be declared as healthy choices, and thus which items can be advertised. Once the government takes these measures to mend the problems fast food has created, it can lead everyone to the road of becoming a healthier nation.

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