Fast Food and Obesity Essay - 2643 Words

In todays society, fast food has become a large part of many Americans lives. With the rising numbers of obese people, it is hard not to draw a correlation between the increase in fast food and obesity. Most obese people don’t want to be obese and wish they could lose weight, yet they continue to struggle with their fast food intake and obesity. This is due to the advertising done on the consumers, the highly addictive food itself, and most importantly, how advertising and addiction combine with children to form habits that are kept once they become adults. These factors are the reasons that fast food restaurants are to blame for the rising obesity and health risks across America. The government needs to step in and place regulations on†¦show more content†¦From 1960-62 to 2005-06 the number of obese Americans almost tripled from 13.4% to 35.1% (Weight-control Information Network 2). These two extreme upward trends might make a convincing case that the extra fast food intake has caused the hike in obesity rates, and it may very well be a good indication, but it is far from proof. Too many things have changed over the years, from the way the average American exercises, to the types of other food that people are consuming. The best way to tell for sure if fast food was the direct cause for obesity would be to do statistical research on two groups of people where everything was equal such as wealth, age, time period, and location. The only difference would have to be the amount of fast food the two groups eat. This would be very difficult to perform, especially for any reasonably large groups of people. However, a group of people at the National Bureau of Economic Research were able to do the next best thing. They did a study on the obesity rates of 3 million students and their proximity to fast food restaurants over an 8 year time period. They compared 9th graders that went to school within a tenth of mile of a fast food restaurant and 9th graders who didnt. They went through great measures to make sure that everything else besides their proximity to fast food restaurants was equal. The results of the data are quite astonishing as econometric statisticalShow MoreRelatedObesity And Fast Food1444 Words   |  6 PagesStates? In the United States, obesity is one of the public health issues that causes thousand of deaths. When a person’s body mass index shows an extremely high number, he or she is considered having obesity. It is important because it is a serious health problem due to mortality and morbidity. In addition, eating many unhealthy food and lacking exercises lead to dangerous chronic illnesses which then leads to premature death. 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