Fast Food and Obesity

Introduction

The market for fast food is an enormous commodity; today is the perfect example of demand for consistently inexpensive and desirable meals. Fast-food restaurants have succeeded because they provide inexpensive fast food catered to American lifestyle despite negative health aspects.

Fast Food is easy and cheap, especially when compared to more prestigious and, as the consequence, much more expensive cuisine. Perhaps best example of inexpensiveness of fast food is McDonald's dollar menu, which is filled with unbelievably low prices, appealing to average American. (Nutrition Action Healthletter, 18).

Discussion and Analysis

Many components influence our nourishment choices. We are inspired by economics, physiological impulses, genetics, psychological notions, our natural natural environment and culture. Each of these affect way we balance value we place on taste, nutrition, cost, convenience and weight control when selecting food (Journal of American Dietetic Association, Oct 1998). Eating behavior that seems irrational on surface is much better explained when all aspects are considered.

Economic explanations are based on idea that food choices, eating patterns, and activity levels are choices consumers make each day. These decisions are influenced by prices, time, and income, as well conscious and unconscious balancing of tradeoffs between current satisfaction and future health. From this perspective, people eat unhealthy diets because current taste and experience is higher priority than future health (Nutrition Today, 10).

The "ideal body form" is supposed to assurance achievement, happiness, attractiveness and financial stability. This universal stereotype has girls and boys all over world asking and then making perceptions about their own natural body weight. "At 15 years of age, those who ate very quick foods displayed 10 lbs. higher weight gain than those who are infrequently ( 2 times the week or less) at fast food restaurants". In females, need to be skinnier leads them to jump to almost life altering decisions. Both of these are disorders which encompass more than 7 million of girls and women in United States today and about 1 million boys and men. The psychological and emotional aspect of what fast food can do to the child is unparalleled.

Fast-food chains spend more than $3 billion the year on advertising, much of it aimed toward children. To directly target children, fast food industry uses more than traditional commercials. Restaurants offer inducements such as playgrounds, skirmishes, clubs, sport, free playthings and other merchandise related to videos, TV displays and even sports leagues (Gingras np). Marion Nestle, head of nutrition and food studies at NYU has observed that growth of business in financial terms has risen with rates of obesity, and with number of dollars spent towards marketing. Research has shown that children between ages of two and five cannot differentiate between regular TV programming and commercials. Young children are especially vulnerable to misleading advertising, and this is age that they learn eating habits that stay with them for the lifetime. Children who have one overweight parent are 40 % more likely to be overweight, and with children who have both parents that are overweight, there is an 80% possibility ...