Persuasive Speech On Childhood Obesity

THERE is good news in the fight against obesity: Rates are finally falling in young children. The bad news? They’re continuing to rise to new heights in adults.

The decline in childhood obesity rates is one achievement within a larger failure. By focusing so much attention on the young, in the hopes that avoiding unhealthy weight gain in childhood would prevent adult obesity, we made the same mistake health advocates made in the battle against smoking 25 years ago. Ultimately, we learned an important lesson in the power of marketing that we should apply today.

The stakes are high. The 38 percent of American adults who are obese are at risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer and depression. According to a recent study published

Health advocates are succeeding at what they set out to do. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has spent $500 million since 2007, and pledged another $500 million, to prevent childhood obesity — the largest investment of its kind I know of. Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign also focused on children. Many health organizations have followed their lead. They drew the nation’s attention to schools and day care centers, which, as a result of federal law and other rule changes, now offer more fruits and vegetables in cafeterias and fewer sugary drinks in vending

When a nation is constantly adding layers of fat, the problem isn’t victimized children or uneducated adults. The problem is normal people overwhelmed by food marketing. Food companies use all the tools at their disposal to sell processed junk full of the salt, sugar and fat that we crave. Leading chain restaurants, packaged-food companies and beverage companies together spend more than $14 billion a year placing ads. Food marketing works because it bypasses our rational minds. Of course children can’t resist all this marketing, but neither can