There are many things in the contemporary world that make people addicted. It might be cigarettes, drugs, alcohol, casino, video games and even food. The United States is more than any other country in the world is associated with the high consumption of fast food and its population is believed to be addicted to junk food from such restaurants as McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Taco Bell and others. Every town and even little village in the States has at least one fast food restaurant, and according to the recent statistics, there are approximately 12 000 of McDonalds restaurants in America.
There are several factors that make people addicted to fast food. First of all, it is a composition of most fast food. Though there is not scientific proof that it causes addiction, it has been already identified that such food, that is high in fat and sugar, releases neurotransmitters, including dopamine, that are responsible for sensory pleasure. Moreover, researches also suppose that food that contains a lot of sugar and fat increases the level of serotonin responsible for satisfaction. Therefore, the more person eats such food, the more he wants in order to reach this level of satisfaction (Smith 4)
Another factor is affordability of junk food in comparison with other more healthy products. Fast food offered in many restaurants and supermarkets in the United States is much cheaper than fresh meat, vegetables or fruit, for example. Therefore, most of the American families, especially those who do not have a high income, refer to eat fast food, which allows them to save a lot of money. Therefore, it is not a surprise that the greatest consumers of junk food and the most frequent customers of McDonalds and other restaurants of these types are representatives of minor ethnic groups – Mexican or Afro-American families.
One more factor that makes American addicted to fast food is its easiness. Since most of the time people are busy work, study and household duties they do not want to be busy with cooking, especially if there is a way to avoid it. Therefore, there are many American families, who go to fast food restaurants for lunch or for dinner just in order to save time. An additional problems is that fast food is easy to find everywhere in the United States: it is not only served in fast food restaurants and sold in supermarkets, but also offered in different public and educational institutions including colleges, universities and even schools. Approximately 8000 McDonald’s restaurants operate in children places or nearby. Moreover, advertising plays also an important role in popularization of fast food and increase of its consumption. Thus, in 2000 3 billion dollars was spent in the United States on television advertising mostly targeted at children. (Winne 114)
It is also important to note that fast food addiction is a serious problem and reason of many health problems, the main of which is obesity, especially among children and teenagers. In the past three decades the rates of obesity in America have more than doubled: as a result, 14% of children at the age 2-5 years and 19% of children between 6 and 11 years are obese. In total, almost 13 million of children and adolescents have excess weight, and, despite this, continue eating fast food because they are already addicted to it. Though obesity itself is not a disease it usually leads to different health problems including heart diseases, increased blood pressure, endocrinologic diseases and etc. (Grier et al. 221)
Summarizing all the written above, it is possible to confirm that America is really a super size addictive society that is dependant of fast food and thousands of its restaurants. As any addiction, it also needs a treatment, and the initial measures that need to be takes are reduce the number of fast food restaurants, increase junk food’s costs, make healthy food more affordable for low-income communities and remove fast food restaurants from public institutions such as school, colleges and universities.
Works Cited
Grier, Sonya, Janell Mensiger, Shirley Huang, Shiriki Kumanyika and Nicolas Stettler. “Fast-food marketing and Children’s Fast-food Consumption: Exploring Parents’ Influences in an Ethnically Diverse Sample” American Marketing Association. Autumn 2007: 221-235. Print
Smith, Andrew. Fast Food and Junk Food: an Encyclopedia of what we love to eat. Santa Barbara: Greenwood, 2012. Print.
Winne, Mark. Closing the food gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty. Boston: Beacon Press, 2008. Print.
