Obesity

Not only are they mainly targeting children but also they target low income families and helping cause obesity in their income groups, with their low prices and dollar menus these families are vulnerable to their advertisements. They also falsely advertise their food healthy products to try and convince their target market that their food is healthy and inexpensive. Fast food advertising has caused obesity in the U.S. Fast food advertising has caused childhood obesity by targeting children. Richard Feloni argues that "American children see over a thousand fast food commercials on television every year" (parag.1). He further explains how fast food restaurants like McDonalds targets mainly children by having hundreds of advertisements mainly targeting children every year.

Older people typically know what got them into this situation and how to deal with it, but children don't know what they should do with obesity. Society is ill-informed as to the severity of the consequences of the obesity epidemic in children. While it may be true that society does not realize the weight gain of children, it can be seen in America that there are many causes of obesity in America children from the environment. It is undeniable that obesity in children is on the rise in America. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), around 18% of children aged 6 – 11 years are obese and nearly 21% of children aged 12 – 19 years.

As many people may have already noticed, child and teen obesity has become a greater problem in the United States. Could child and teen obesity be a reflection of a parent’s negligence? Many families don’t have time to cook nutritional meals, which causes many families to eat out nearly more than once a week. School cooked lunches aren’t exactly healthy either and many choices children make, parents don’t know about. Also, the media has a big impact on how child and teens eat.

Solution have been offered, like having schools change they food the serve, being active, and eating healthy foods. These proposals have failed because they did not address one of the major causes of the growing number of obese children, which is fast-food. There should regulation for fast-food restaurants to make changes to their menu choices an example of this would be adding more vegetables, fruit, as well as having smaller proportions and foods with fewer calories. The solution I am proposing will work where others have failed because it will attack one of the unhealthiest places many American eat and that is at fast food restaurants. One of the reasons that obesity is so out of control in the country begins with the fact that parents live busy lifestyles.

"Should Government Protect Obese Kids from Parents?" McClatchy-Tribune Information Services, 19 July 2011. Web. 06 May 2012. Hellmich, Nanci, “Report maps out solutions to child obesity.” USA Today n.d.: MAS ULTRA-School Edition.

Although the fast food industry is a largely linked to the growth of child obesity, they can not solely take the blame. A child is ten times more likely to become obese if his or her parent is obese. This is due to a combination of genetic factors and social environment the child has been accustomed to. Parents have the responsibility to teach their children that it’s not ok to eat fast food regularly. After all, the parents are the ones who buy the fast food for their children and drive the family to the restaurants.

Whereas some are convinced that the government and the food industry are to blame, others maintain that parents are primarily bearing this burden. The people who believe the government and the food industry are to blame are consistently at odds over the issue of who is to blame for the long-term affects from childhood obesity with the people who tend to believe parents are to blame. Medical conditions are becoming more and more frequent, childhood obesity is becoming a growing problem and until recently, the government has not aided in the fight against obesity. However, there is more at stake here than what these two groups ultimately believe to be true. The percentage of obese children in the United States has risen from 5% in 1980 to almost 20% in 2012.

Obesity in children and teenagers has become a major problem in the world’s society. “Obesity was considered to be caused simply by eating too much, as a result of psychological problems with food: using food to deal with depression, anxiety problems, even happiness” (Currie-McGhee 220). Kids become obese because they spend too much time in front of their computers and TV’s instead of going out and moving around and exercising in the fresh air. These kids have to start fighting against being overweight with the help of their parents, an exercise group, or with special support. If these obese children live this unhealthy lifestyle they can get high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and many other diseases with risks of death.

“Many researchers have theorized that media use by children, excessive snacking during media use, food-marketing practices in food advertisements, cross promotions, food away from home, supersizing and increased portion sizes can all contribute to childhood obesity” (Kavas). Due to the epidemic rise in obesity, and for the safety of children’s health now and in the future, the NEH needs to fund education regarding the link between portion sizes and obesity. Obesity is a disease where there is an excessive or abnormal build up of body fat. It is a terrible illness and difficult to overcome. Obesity was once only a problem in high-income countries, but percentages have also risen dramatically in low to middle income countries.

Having a fast food restaurant so close to their school has played a big part of their weight gain. Yes I have to agree that people do live a very busy life but I do too. A lot of parents believe that cooking a home cook meal will take hours, but in fact it could take the same amount of time as if they would go to a fast food restaurant. Living with diabetes is very hard for an adult so we could only imagine how hard it has to be for child. As a child you crave sugars something that as a diabetic cannot have.