Introduction
Many people have started comparing popular fast food companies directly with the cigarette industry these days. One thing which cannot be denied is both these Industries sell products which endanger health of consumer. Eating 3 Big Macs each day and smoking single cigarette pack yields same degree of heath issues. This paper will discuss the blame game where many people have started blaming the fast food companies which sell their high-calorie and non-nutritious products to customers, who are unwilling to understand their own mistakes in gaining poor heath and increasing waistlines. Many people tend to bloat as they fail to work on solutions to overcome their obesity like physical workouts among others. There are other reasons too which contribute highly to the obese bodies of many people in society.
Blaming Fast Food Companies for Obesity: Taking it too Far
A lot of blame is being placed on fast food industry ad there are many movements to punish their acts. Many people sue major fast food corporations with claims and accusation of the environment created which encourage people to eat fast food and turn to the path of obesity.
We need to understand one thing, why do fast food corporations sell these products? There is only one answer: “Customers is the king”. McDonalds or Burger King did not decide spontaneously to sell affordable and unhealthy products. These fast food companies are just responding to market demand and customers love affordable fast food with larger portions. Nutrition has become secondary as customers get tasty food in their budget delivered to their doorstep, what have fast food companies done wrong to respond to the need or demand in market (“gimme-five”).
No one can point out only one factor which is fattening this generation. The main culprit is toxic mix of change in work life, less exercise, bigger options, and regular meal eaten from restaurants, inconsistent sleep patterns and cheaper corn syrup among many other reasons. By 1960, 18.6% women with children less than 6 years of age work outside home and this parentage increased to 59.6% by 1993.
In 1960, 18.6 percent of women with children under six years old were working outside the home; by 1993, the percentage had risen to 59.6. According to Tracey assistant history professor at Deutsch University "More women working outside the home doesn't cause obesity, but it exacerbates the problem, they have less time to cook and plan meals, but they still need to feed their families. Processed and fast food is often the easiest and most affordable option and because of the consolidation of grocery stores, in many poor neighborhoods it's easier to buy fast food than to get fresh food” Deutsch added. "Another reason we're seeing this rise in obesity is that this is the first generation of adults that has had access to processed food since childhood. The tastes they developed as children continue to inform their eating choices" (“whatscookingamerica”). If we check the latest trends, today’s generation eat at least half of their meals at restaurants and fast food joints. In last few years, fast food has been loaded with extra fats compared to few years ago.
Individual Responsibility and Obesity
United States surgeon general said obesity costs $117 billion in heath costs and is killing 300,000 Americans every year (“abcnews”). People gain weight due to their irresponsible eating habit and blaming fast food joints is quite irrelevant and irrational statement made by obese people to cover their own mistakes. No fast food company has ever dragged ay customer to their store and made them order their favorite meal. Neither have they ever forced any customer to start overeating.
One of the arguments which are discussed is that fast food companies mislead their customers by advertising that their products as nutritious and healthy even if they are not. This is a misconception; as most fast food restaurants share the nutritional knowledge of the product they sell in their pamphlets. Customers can also check information of the products you consume by visiting sites like Nutritiondata.com (“gimme-five”)..
Another argument discussed is the possibility of addiction, similar to Cigarette smoking. Just like people can get addicted to cigarette smoking they can also get addicted to fast food of their choice. Addiction can be positive and healthy like jogging every day, eating healthy foods and many others or it can be negative like munching on fast food and cigarette smoking. It is possible for any person to get addicted to any product or activity. I like to play tennis and the days I don’t get time to play my mood swings start and I get moody and irritable (“gimme-five”).
Final argument which is often discussed against fast food is the preconditioning in humans where they tend to eat food which tastes better and this contain higher calories than usual. All of us understand situations and know how to make rational decisions which are different from original urges. The essential feature of human ability is to go to limits and learn rationality if needed to make proper decisions in choosing healthier foods to eat (“gimme-five”).
Role of Fast Food companies in Obesity
In last ten years, Obesity has become a prominent discussion than it ever used to be in past. Fast food is a possible cause after this epidemic. Fast food has foods which have high sugar, starch and fat content. All these have zero nutritional contribution to body. Eric Schlosser of Food Inc said “The way we eat has changed more in the last fifty years than in the previous ten thousand” (“ lcamp10”). Almost all fast food sold is high in Monosodium Glutamate (MSG), a concentrated salt which is added to enhance flavor of food. This increases unplanned body fat.
Many nutritionists and health advocates that fast food companies have advertising budget of billions of dollars to get their sugary drinks and junk food in front of possible customers, thus fast food companies should take some blame for developing obesity in today’s society. Many lawyers are working to develop strategies to ensure food industry are held responsible in some way for obesity, just like many attorneys successfully sued companies which sold tobacco for illnesses which are related to smoking. John Banzhaf a professor at George Washington University Law School, who has worked on tobacco litigation and will serve as an adviser to Barber "This lawsuit has the potential to put the fast food companies on the run" (“abcnews”). In past, three lawsuits have been successful in proving misleading and negligent practices conducted by food industry.
McDonald’s settled a lawsuit for $12 million and apologized for calling French Fries vegetarian. Pizza Hut was sued for their use of beef fat in Veggie Lovers’ Pizza. Another lawsuit where claims were made from makers of “Pirates’ Booty” a corn and rice puff snack food where they under-represented the fat content by greater than 340% (“abcnews”).
Another Side of Coin
Fast food companies have been blamed most for Obesity the growing epidemic of society. In a study by Dr. Adam Drewnowski and Dr. Colin Rehm of University of Washington recommended fast food joints and restaurants are not only to blame. The study disclosed 63-70% of calories consumed by Americans are contributed by store bought food (“nutrition”). Study also displayed adults and teenagers consumed quarter of their energy from eating at fast food joints and restaurants. Vending machines who are another scapegoat for obese bodies among teenagers, had next to negligible contribution to energy consumption of teen (<1% of total calories consumed).
The top three contributing foods for energy from stores by age (“nutrition”):
• Children aged between 6-11 years: grain based desserts (4.8%), yeast breads (4.4%) & pasta dishes (3.6%)
• Teens aged between 12-19 years: soda, energy and sports drinks (5.3%), yeast breads (4.6%) & grain based desserts (4.4%)
• Adults aged between 20-50 years: soda, energy and sports drinks (4.5%), yeast breads (4.2%) & grain based desserts (3.9%)
This gives us insights into the role grocery stores in fighting against obesity. This is another source and reason why people tend to get obese with their regular visits to grocery stores.
Conclusion
Fast food companies are not the only ones at fault at the increasing waistlines of people around world. Placing the blame solely on them will make them a scapegoat and it is not right to target Fast food as the only reason as the main culprit is toxic mix of change in work life, less exercise, bigger options, and regular meal eaten from restaurants, inconsistent sleep patterns and cheaper corn syrup among many other reasons. There are other sources which we ignore in our daily lives when considering the reasons for obesity, that reason is grocery store visit where customer goes to purchase one product but they end up buying more than what they planned.
Works Cited
Whisner, C. "Fast Food Catches a Break as Scapegoat for Obesity". http://www.nutrition.org/asn-blog/2013/08/fast-food-catches-a-break-as-scapegoat-for-obesity/. nutrition.org. 13 Aug. 2013. Web. 2 Dec 2013
Shaniqua. N. “We Can’t Blame Obesity on Fast Food”. http://www.gimme-five.com/we-cant-blame-obesity-on-fast-food/. gimme-five.com. 7 Nov 2006. Web. 2 Dec 2013
Sealey, G. “Obese Man Sues Fast-Food Chains”. http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=91427&page=1. abcnews.go.com. 26 Jul. Web. 2 Dec.
Coventry, M. “Super-sizing America: Obesity Becomes An Epidemic”. http://whatscookingamerica.net/HealthBeauty/SuperSizingAmerica.htm. whatscookingamerica.net. 2004. Web. 2013
"Effects Fast Food has on The Body". http://lcamp10.wordpress.com/. lcamp10.wordpress.com. 7 Dec. 2012. Web. 2 Dec 2013
