Running Head: OBESITYS MAIN CAUSES 1

The Leading Causes to Obesity In America Amber Felix, Jessie Serna, Caitlin Zornes The University of Texas at El Paso

Running Head: OBESITYS MAIN CAUSES 2 Obesitys Main Causes There is a serious epidemic going on in America today, causing health problems, some of which that lead to death, and other issues such as financials. This epidemic is dealing with Americas high growing rate in obesity amongst young children leading into adulthood. One of the main contributors to this epidemic are the fast food industries which are continuing to promote their unhealthy meals, and persuading people to buy their food buy making it very reasonable price during bad economical times. They are spending millions of dollars to continue advertising and showing people what they sell, and these industries depend on the consumers money to keep the business alive. Health care facilities and states governments are being questioned whether they are acting on this situation, because if the problem is not resolved, this will continue to lead into future generations, and will lead to very serious problems in the future health wise, and economically. Being extremely overweight or also known as being obese comes with multiple consequences that can severely affect the body both internally, and externally. A numerous amount of people are aware of the common issues, but are unaware of the multiple diseases and health conditions that are high of risk of receiving due to being obese. Obesity has been around long before McDonalds, Burger King and coke, throughout these years we have created inventions such as, cars, and easy access appliances such as lawn mowers you sit on to reduce labor rather than pushing it. Americans have become very reliable on these new inventions and are becoming more dependable on them each day. Back before doctors had the resources to understand what diseases come from where, and are caused by what, it was typically only proven that obesity causes diabetes and heart disease. Today is a completely different story, there are dozens of medical issues that can be linked to

Running Head: OBESITYS MAIN CAUSES 3 obesity such as: different types of cancers, gallbladder disease, diseases of bones, joints, muscles, and skin etc. According to George A Bray (2004) sudden death is more common in those who are naturally fat than in the lean which emphasizes that obesity can be extremely dangerous to the audiences health. While reading Medical Consequences of Obesity Brays journal gives various explanations of the medical consequences of obesity. It gives insight on the unhealthy damage inside and outside of the human body, while also explaining the higher chances of diseases they can get along with being obese. Bray promotes wellness and exposes all of the unhealthy effects of being obese. This source is important for the community to grasp because these effects can very easily be life threatening. Typically the problem with becoming obese is that people are unaware of how they are putting their own life at risk and may fall too deep into living an unhealthy lifestyle that they will not be able to fix before it becomes too late. Not many Americans realize the total damage obesity can cause to their lives. Jennifer Augestas article in the Washington Times newspaper titled Effects of Obesity Weigh on Americans which implies that most Americans are blind to the many other ways obesity can damage your health. (Agiesta, Jennifer 2013.) The article it states People are often shocked to hear how far-reaching the effects of obesity are said Jennifer Dimitriou, a bariatric dietitian. The main point and problem is that not much of the community realizes that obesity comes with a lot more baggage then heart disease and diabetes. The author is trying to persuade Americans to educate themselves on the unpopular diseases and unhealthy factors that come along with being obese. Another journal by Ronald Krauss. (1998) Impact on Cardiovascular Disease The American Heart Association has created a scholarly journal by different doctors with various degrees to explain the impact that obesity has on the heart. The journal also explains the different

Running Head: OBESITYS MAIN CAUSES 4 ways they can become obese. Krauss uses the information he knows in this journal to raise awareness of the dangerous impact that obesity can have on the heart, which is a very serious point the American Heart Association is trying to point out. He is trying to make notice that obesity can be passed down by genetics that can greatly affect the community, which can also greatly affect our future and future generations. You dont die from obesity, you can die from the diseases that come from it. Anyone and everyone is at risk of becoming obese, not many realize the decisions that make today will definitely impact you in the future. If we continue to make unhealthy lifestyle decisions in the future we can affect so much more than just our bodies negatively, health insurance will go up immensely and can affect the economy. One main investment the fast food industries have made is television advertisements. They have spent millions of dollars on commercials to air on television. What they show in these commercials are promotions of new food items, new toys with the meals, and their low prices compared to other restaurants. The main audiences they are trying to reach are young children, by showing them new toys that come in the meals, and play areas that they provide in the restaurant. For example, one McDonalds commercial that was aired in 2007 shows a child dancing along to a well-known song The Cha Cha Slide, and shows the child enjoying himself while he is eating his Happy Meal. What the industries are doing, is showing children how much fun they could have if they were eating a Happy Meal. As stated from a CBS News interview from Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, a typical preschooler now sees at least three fast food advertisements on television every day. (Schlosser, Eric. 2012) Advertisements on television can be thousand of dollars, depending how many times the advertisement is shown. A study in 2009 was conducted, and more than 4.2 billion dollars was spent on television advertisements, and other forms of media, such as billboards, magazines,

Running Head: OBESITYS MAIN CAUSES 5 flyers, etc. So an average person may see one advertisement from a fast food restaurant at least once a day. The fast food industries rely on the advertisements for consumers to see, and to continue buying their product. Although fast food industries do well economically, at times companies do undergo some problems during a recession. The industries depend on the customers to keep their company alive by continuing to buy their product. An article written by Frances Burks entitled, Types of Economic Factors That Can Affect the Fast Food Industry, states that consumers living on a tight budget in a bad economy often turn to fast food chains for inexpensive meals, according to The Economist magazine. However, the magazine notes that a long-term recession makes even fast food restaurants vulnerable to profit losses if consumers eat at home more often to save money. (Burks, Frances. 2011) Thus meaning that the industries depend on the consumers money to keep their company going. So what the fast food industries do is they continue to lower their prices on their food items in order for their consumer rage to expand. Another epidemic is the rising on taxes on products. With more and more Americans becoming jobless, it is becoming more difficult to dine out, and buy fast food products. The rising on taxes is not only affecting fast food industries, but major grocery stores as well, such as Wal-Mart. As stated from the article Fast Food Executives: Rising Taxes Are Hurting LowIncome Americans by Martinne Geller, and Lucia Mutikani, Wal-Mart shares closed down 2.1 percent on Friday after Bloomberg reported that the world's largest retailer suffered its worst sales start to any month in seven years in February, due to increased payroll taxes and delayed tax returns. (Geller, Martinne. Mutikani, Lucia. 2013) With this happening, not only are the fast food industries suffering, but grocery stores are as well. With middle-class jobs being lost, many people are not buying as much products from the stores, nor are they buying fast food products

Running Head: OBESITYS MAIN CAUSES 6 from places such as Burger King, even with the prices being as low as they are, the amount of money spent on fast food alone can be higher than one expects. Researchers from Emory University discovered that Americans spent 168 billion dollars on fast food in 2011. Although the fast food industries seem to be doing very well, they do have problems during these troubling times. Some companies may even work together in order for their business to continue to remain economically stable. In recent years, obesity has steadily risen in the ranks of health risks to pose a serious problem in the United States. Due to the easy access of food that is packed full of calories, such as fast food, obesity affects millions of Americans and costs millions of dollars each year to treat it. According to director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), not only is obesity practically an epidemic in young children, but that it also contributes to obesity-related diseases like diabetes and even several types of cancer (Frieden, Dietz, & Collins, 2010). By allowing the continued consumption of junk food and items ordered from restaurants like McDonald's to go unchecked, adults are not only setting themselves up for health problems in the future, but are practically guaranteeing obesity-related health risks for their children. Before the problem grows wildly out of hand, state governments and health institutions need to start making drastic changes within the dispersal of obesity-causing food items. To do this, current policies must be overruled and new, stricter ones must be instated in their place. Simply telling people to stop eating fast food is not the answer, as many people choose to ignore the growing amount of evidence that fast food is likely to cause health problems. Instead, regulations must be created to limit the public's access to unhealthy food. "We know what makes us overeat," says Marion Nestle, writer for the online news site SFGate, "billions of dollars in advertising messages, food sold everywhere - in gas stations, vending machines" To put things

Running Head: OBESITYS MAIN CAUSES 7 simply, if something is to be done, we need to change the way unhealthy food is advertised and distributed. It doesn't help that fast food and unhealthy food industries advertise their products so widely. One can hardly turn on the TV without seeing at least one McDonald's ad or a Hostess commercial within an hour. To make matters worse, these types of commercials are more common on channels that children watch, targeting and influencing their young minds without them even realizing it. It is advertisements like these all around the country that are contributing to the growing numbers of childhood obesity, meaning that if something is to be done about obesity in general, these ads either need to be limited or eliminated entirely. Another policy that needs to be introduced is for mandatory exercise for children and teens. The younger generation of America today is too sedentary, sitting in front of the TV watching movies or playing games when they should be outside working off any excess body fat (Frieden, Dietz, & Collins, 2010). Just by simply going outside and engaging in physical activities, they will be saving themselves more health problems in the future. Also, if the child or teen is within walking distance of their school, they should forgo transportation in a vehicle and either use their own two legs to get there or ride a bike. In order to prevent problems in the future, it would be prudent for governments to introduce policy changes all over the United States; it would reduce the amount of obese people in the future and thus save millions of lives from health problems like coronary heart disease. For this to work, state governments will have to place regulations on the distribution and consumption of unhealthy foods, like taxing or limiting exposure. More importantly, fast food restaurants will need to be more fastidious with their labeling and may need to change their menus entirely. However, citizens cant rely on the government to do all the work; in order to

Running Head: OBESITYS MAIN CAUSES 8 reduce the obesity rates in this country, it will have to be a group effort with everyone pitching in, whether it is simply going outside for a jog, refusing to eat McDonalds, or even protesting against the sale of junk food. Only then can the country be on its way to a healthier nation. In an overall ending statement, by introducing policy changes all over the United States, we would be reducing the amount of obese people in the future and thus saving millions of lives from health problems like coronary heart disease. In order for this to work, state governments should place regulations on the distribution and consumption of unhealthy foods, like taxing or limiting exposure. More importantly, fast food restaurants need to be more fastidious with their labeling and may need to change their menus entirely. However, Americans cannot rely entirely on the government to fix this community issue. In order to reduce the obesity rates in this country, everyone needs to put some effort into combating it, whether it is simply going outside for a jog, refusing to eat McDonalds, or even protesting against the sale of junk food.

Running Head: OBESITYS MAIN CAUSES 9 References Agiesta, Jennifer. (2013, January 6) Effects of obesity weigh on Americans. Washington Times. Retrieved from http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jan/6/heart-diseaseanddiabetes-get-all-the-attention-b/?page=all Bray, George. (June 2004) Medical Consequences of Obesity. Obesity: Special Features. Retrieved from http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/89/6/2583.long Burks, Frances. (2011) Types of Economic Factors That Can Affect the Fast Food Industry. Small Business, Chron. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/types-economic-factors-canaffect-fast-food-industry-36923.html Frieden, T. R., & Dietz, W., & Collins, J. (March 2010). Reducing Childhood Obesity Through Policy Change: Acting Now to Prevent Obesity. Health Affairs 29, No. 3., 357-363. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2010.0039 Geller, Martinne. Mutikani, Lucia. (2013) Fast Food Executives: Rising Taxes Are Hurting Low-Income Americans. Huffington Post, Business. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/fast-food-executives-rising-taxes_n_2720406.html Krauss, Ronald.(1998) Obesity. Impact on Cardiovascular Disease. Retrieved from http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/98/14/1472.full Nestle, M. (8/31/2012). Regulations do change eating behavior. SFGate, Saturday Oct 19, 2013 10:51 AM PT. Retrieved from http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Regulations-do-changeeating-behavior-3831843.php Rayner and Colleges at Oxford. (2009) Fast Food Facts in Brief. Rudd Center for food policy and Obesity at Yale. http://www.fastfoodmarketing.org/fast_food_facts_in_brief.aspx

Running Head: OBESITYS MAIN CAUSES 10 Schlosser, Eric. (2009) Americans Are Obsessed With Fast Food: The Dark Side Of The All American Meal. CBS News http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-204_162-326858.html Schlosser, Eric. (2012) Still A Fast Food Nation: Eric Schlosser Reflects On 10 Years Later. The Daily Beast http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/12/still-a-fast-food-nationeric-schlosser-reflects-on-10-years-later.html