Looking around, candy, soda water and junk food are in the hands of fellow classmates. Simply walking down the street countless unhealthy food advertisement are seen and influence our choices as they are intended to do. In America, one in three children, about 22 million children, are obese or overweight, and that number is only rising. The government must aid in the fight against childhood obesity and reform the influence of unhealthy food in children’s lives, increase the availability of beneficial foods, mandate physical education, and inform our children of healthy habits. In a world now seemingly revolved around technology, companies can reach their audience with an ad almost in any daily task. Whether it be during a Candy Crush game, …show more content…
A regulation passed by the Québec government called the Québec Consumer Protection Act in 1978, coming into effect two years later, restricted the advertisements aired during a child audience based program. The results, as Milena Mikailova used to prove the importance of government action showed “French-speaking households with children were “significantly less likely” to purchase food if they lived in Québec than if they lived in Ontario, which does not have a similar advertising ban” (Mikailova 343). Another regulation along similar guidelines passed in 2004 in the United Kingdom provided this conclusion: “Ofcom [a government approved authority] concluded that television advertising had a direct effect on children’s food choices” (Mikailova 341). Though many argue that obesity is personal choice, the effects of obesity harm not only the child but the economy. “With hospitalizations of children for obesity-related …show more content…
The most recent, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (Child Nutrition Reauthorization Bill) provides necessary guidelines for our government 's involvement in school lunches. The Kids Act improves the choice of foods the State distribution agencies purchase for their school districts and allows for stricter food choices; however, this act leaves the decision to the state government. Though the Kids Act has not ensured healthier food it is, as Rebecca Edwalds said, “ By becoming the first piece of legislation to impose a federal nutritional education requirement, the Kids Act is a big step in the right direction” (Edwalds 1061). Edwalds then proposes an amendment to the Kids Act, including substantial guidelines rather than broad, open-ended recommendations. “The proposed amendment seeks to strike a balance between the need for more concrete guidelines and the nuances of different school districts” (Edwalds
Everyday Americans die from the diseases they carry from obesity. Many Americans overeat because of 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 to it could lead to other benefits. Unhealthy foods and drinks should be taxed and healthy foods should be advertised to help prevent American obesity.
Obesity in the United States, which the media has labeled a national crisis, has also been connected to poverty rates. Big fast food industry’s target poor communities, and spend millions of dollars each year to create advertising that appeals to these specific areas. These industry’s also target naïve children when advertising because they know that eating habits developed in childhood are usually carried into adulthood. Children who are exposed to television advertisements for unhealthy food and who are not educated well enough on good nutrition will grow up and feed their families the same unhealthy foods they ate as kids. A big way fast food giants are able to make certain young people have access to unhealthy food is by strategically placing franchises in close proximity to schools. They will often place three times as many outlets within walking distance of schools than in areas where there are no schools nearby. The way fast food advertising is targeted towards children is very alarming considering how important good nutrition is for young people and how a child’s eating habits can affect their growth and
It is apparent that living an unhealthy lifestyle, as well as eating poorly, negatively affects one’s health. From a young age it is quickly learned which foods are considered healthful as opposed to junk food. It is a parents responsibility to supervise the intake of their child's food, however there is a higher risk than ever before of childhood obesity.
Obesity has become an epidemic in adults and children in the United States. Moreover, children are at risk of obesity because they do not eat enough fruits and vegetables and do not obtain enough physical activity. Also, children have a higher chance of developing health diseases related to obesity such as hypertension, high cholesterol, stroke, heart disease, diabetes and pulmonary disease. In addition, obesity in children from ages one to seventeen is an issue in Texas, since children are not aware of the serious consequences of being obese. Therefore, Texas should find ways to prevent obesity by authorizing healthier school lunches and allowing a school program to help obese children lose weight. Also, television advertisements are influencing obese children to make unhealthy choices.
Kelly Brownell and Marion Nestle write that advertisements contribute to the increase of obesity in kids, since “each year kids see more than 10,000 foods ads on TV alone, almost all for items like soft drinks, fast foods and sugared cereals.” Brownell and Nestle fail to see that kids are under the authority of their parents and they decide what their kids eat, so in reality the advertisements target the parents. Kids are the reflection of their parents. Children walk down the same path as their parents, as the image in the article demonstrates. If parents walk towards the path of obesity, then their children will follow their example. Brownell and Nestle also explain, “Humans are hardwired… to like foods high in sugar, fat, and calories.” What Brownell and Nestle are saying is that it is a waste of time to try to eat healthy because it is against our nature. However, if that is the case, then no one would be healthy; everyone would be obese. There is no one to blame but ourselves for our
According to the Centers for Disease Control, “Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years,” meaning that America’s children need to start eating healthier, including healthier school lunches. The National School Lunch Act is a fairly recent addition to American society. For, as the world waged war a second time, the United States began to worry about the strength and health of the country’s soldiers. However, in the beginning, selling excess agricultural goods was more important than building a healthy, well-balanced meal for students. Unfortunately, many children coming from poorer families could not afford well-balanced school lunches, so in order to compensate, the School Lunch Program changed its focus to help these students. This program, however, decreased schools’ lunch budgets, and schools had a hard time keeping up with the amount of free meals they had to provide, so they came up with some extra ways to increase revenue. However, in a small town in Massachusetts, one chef makes a difference in the health of the school lunch students eat each day, and proves that hiring a trained chef to cook real, healthy meals can increase profit. Unfortunately, that is not the case in most schools across the nation. The quality of health of the food being served in school lunches is extremely poor and was allowed to decline even more with a new set of rule changes. However, there are some improvements currently being made to increase the quality of health of the food being served to students, including teaching them all about food and its nutritional information, both good and bad. In order for students to eat healthier lunches at school, the USDA needs to implement healthier ...
The new standards given to school districts to follow and oblige to have swiftly changed after the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act was passed making it healthier for students to eat both breakfast and lunch. This article mentioned certain limitations that many schools had to officially make on what they had to serve their students as well as the costs of these changes. Certain limitations included certain amount of fruits and vegetables, fat-free milk, replacement of whole grains, and they had to set limits on the amount of calories and sodium in their foods.
On January 18, 2012 the Obama administration announced a new set of changes to pile on top of the older rules that had already been set in action. Older constraints on the lunches had been put in earlier, but the new ones cut down the so deemed ‘unhealthy’ food even more and was replace with more ‘wholesome’ choices. The last set of rules supplemented more fruits and vegetables to the school meals and decreased the amount of fat and salt (Nixon, 1). As mentioned earlier, the new rules were a considerable amount of Mrs. Obama’s fight to lower the number of overweight children in America through better nutrition and exercise (Nixon, 5). The goal was to force the students to be healthier by providing only...
Childhood obesity is an increasing problem here in the United States. According to Schuab and Marian (2011) “Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions” (P.553). The prevalence of child obesity and overweight has increased over the last 30 years all over the United States, becoming one of the biggest public health challenges (Moreno, Johnson-Shelton, & Boles, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to give a background of the obesity epidemic, a review of current policy, and make a policy recommendation.
According to “Burger Battles” from the Weekly Reader, obesity is defined as a person whose weight is 20 percent higher than recommended for their height (Burger Battles 1). When this condition begins to affect children lives, it is then known as childhood obesity. Within the United States of America, around 15 percent of children are considered to be obese (Holguin 3). Increasing tremendously, this outbreak has actually tripled in the amount of obese teen and doubled in children up to the age of thirteen (Burger Battles 2). One of the factors that is usually overlooked in the cause for obesity is the role of television. Not only does it reduce the amount of physical activity, the advertisements and commercials are targeting innocent viewers. In a survey completed by Gary Ruskin of Commercial Alert, the average child watches nearly 19 hours and 40 minutes of television a week (Ruskin 2). With that amount of time spent watching television, advertisements for fast food will be entering the children’s minds.
It is said that fast food advertising is linked to rising childhood and teen obesity. The childhood obesity epidemic is a serious public health problem that increases morbidity, morality, and has substantial long-term economic and social costs (opposing viewpoints). Approximately 20% of our youth are now overweight with obesity rates in preschool age children increasing at alarming speed (opposing viewpoints). U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona said, “obesity is the fastest-growing cause of illness and death in the United States.” When I read this I was shocked. This is something that can change, but its up to ourselves to make that commitment. No one else has the power to do so but us. Did you know that treating obesity-related problems cost Americans $117 billion annually, that’s $420 per person (CQ Researcher).
Speech Just before I get started I would like to say during my short time speaking at least 1 Australians will die from obesity or health related diseases. Good morning Mrs Arnold, Mrs Shiels and fellow class mates today I am going to give you an insight into the world of obesity… There is one particular area that obesity plays a major role in effecting. That is health, health is vital for success in life but obesity isn't just the diseases it self it often can cause heart disease, stokes, high blood pressure, type II diabetes, Colin cancer and many more from where that came from.
Beales III, J. Howard, and Robert Kulick. Does Advertising On Television Cause Childhood Obesity? A Longitudinal Analysis. Journal Of Public Policy & Marketing 32.2 (2013): 185-194. Business Source Complete. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
Obesity and diabetes are being diagnosed in individuals across the globe in record numbers. Today, many individuals, usually lower income individuals, cannot afford the health care required to treat these avoidable medical conditions. A tax on these sugary foods and drinks could be used to help offset the costs of those who are diagnosed with these conditions, and, ideally, prevent some of these people from developing them. Many countries have already begun including a ‘sin tax’ on sugary food and beverages in an effort to combat the epidemic. Our government should put a tax increase on these sugar filled beverages and foods as well to help reduce obesity, and raise a source of income to combat the medical issues.
Face it, we have all heard the phrase,"You are what you eat" countless times in your life, but what does that truly mean. Every few months or years, millions go into trying new diets and diet pills but fail to understand why they cannot continue to eat healthy after their first few days on their new diet. Well, 1) the word "DIE" is in diet 2) no matter where you look you 're going to find delicious food ads and junk food and 3) you don 't have support.