Lexi Shryack

1st Year Writing & Rhetoric

9:00 Nathan Pieplow

Authors Note:My piece of writing addresses the current issue of the

implications of eating fast food and why there should be restrictions on fast food. I am presenting health statistics that

determine why there should be restrictions and what type specifically to the government. This is why I have chosen to

create a white paper, in which I attempt to convince the federal agency why restrictions on fast food is necessary.

The Negative Effects of Fast Food

Why America Needs RestrictionsOn Fast Food

White Paper © copyright 2014 LSHealth

White Paper

The Negative Effects of Fast FoodWhy America Needs Restrictions on Fast Food Restaurants

The fast food market continues to rapidly increase, placing its restaurants in malls, zoos, airports, high schools, stadiums, etc. Claudiu Avram explain that in 20 years McDonald’s restaurants increased 1000 times. So in result, access to fast food has become easier than ever, with now approximately half of US food spending going to eating out.

Fast food restaurants are known for their convenient and inexpensive meals that seem like the best option when one is on the go or don’t have the time to cook. Fast food restaurants are familiar with the specific areas in which they will receive the most purchases hopefully create brand loyalty. McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, are all well-known restaurants that so many of the population consumes often, or even daily. However, does the possible health risks of consuming fast food on a regular basis outweigh the convenience that fast food restaurants provide?

Because of such a high demand of fast food products we need to ensure that our society is consuming a healthy amount of nutrients in the food that they are getting. However, it seems that fast food restaurants focus on the health of the business rather than the health of the consumers. Shanthy A. Bowman, et al. argues that a major reason behind the increasing rate of obesity, especially in children, is a result of the fast food consumption. Not only is the population at risk of gaining weight but many other health implications as well.

Health Effects

A health affect that can be caused by eating fast food is diabetes. Matthew Lee researched that eating fast food regularly can double the chance of insulin resistance, which increases the chance of type 2 diabetes. Cardiovascular health is also at risk when eating fast food on a regular basis. Locations with a large amount of fast food restaurants are 2.62 times more likely to be hospitalized for coronary issues. Shanthy Bowman et al. state that children eating fast food on a regular basis could add up to gaining an additional 6 pounds of weight per child per year. This means that within 10 years a child could gain an additional 60 lbs, than what they would’ve gained not eating fast food.

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What We Are Really Eating

Those who purchase and consume fast food are measured to eat more total fat, more saturated fat, more total carbohydrate, more added sugars, more sugar-sweetened beverages, less fluid milk, and fewer fruits and non-starchy vegetables. (Shanthy A. Bowman, et al. 2004)

The Harvard Medical School family health guide explains that saturated fats and trans-fats, also known as bad fats, can increase total cholesterol. Specifically these fats can increase LDL cholesterol which assists in the formation of coronary artery blockages. These blockages are ultimately the culprits that lead to heart disease and hypertension. These types of “bad” fat are found in beef, beef fat, lard, milk, cream, poultry fat, butter, cheeses and other dairy products. Many foods in fast food restaurants are made with trans-fatty acids because it allows a longer shelf life for their products (Dougherty, M. 2007) A typical meal from a fast food restaurant often lacks the correct amount of quality foods we are recommended to consume. To get a better understanding of the lack of recommended foods that fast food restaurants sell, we can observe a study done by Mary Hearst, et al., and a graph of the results. This graph shows statistics of optimal daily consumption of certain compared to what fast food eaters regularly consume based on the Healthy Eating Index Score. The orange bar represents the recommended amount of food groups we should be getting. The green and blue bar represent what regular fast food eaters consumed on a typical day in 1997/1998 and in 2009/2010.

Inside the Menus

According to Melodie Anne Coffman from Demand Media suggests that the general population needs 202 to 292g of carbs, 40 to 70g of fat, less than 1,500 milligrams of sodium, 45 to 157 grams of protein, and around 1800-2000 calories daily to sustain a healthy diet. One may order

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a Bacon Clubhouse Burger with medium size french fries and a medium sized coke from McDonalds. Sounds like a simple energizing lunch, right? Well this meal totals over 1300 calories, 530g of fat, and 1740 milligrams of sodium. You have already reached your sodium limit, surpassed your grams of fat limit, and only have around 500-700 calories to eat for the rest of the day. A Doublicious sandwich from KFC has 1390mg of sodium. That is about the entire amount of sodium for the day.

Restrictions

Location

Location is a major cause of why people choose to eat fast food. Therefore, there is much controversy over the restrictions of the location of fast foods. As analyzed above, fast food restaurants place their locations near schools, knowing the large amount of customer they will receive from the youth (Bryn Austin et al. 2005). A larger production and easier access to markets, that contain nutritious foods, should be encouraged. Boone-Heinonen, et al. discovered in a recent study that there was a relationship between fast food restaurants and low income Americans, especially those without a car. The absence of a car restricts one from driving to a market to purchase nutritious food therefore they are more likely to walk to the closest fast food restaurant to receive food. In addition to low-income areas there are “3 and 4 times as many fast-food restaurants within an area up to 1.5 km from schools than would be expected if the restaurants were distributed throughout the city in a way that was unrelated to the location of schools.” (Bryn Austin et al. 2005) There is a good possibility that if fast food restaurants were limited in certain locations, the total consumption of fast food in those areas would decrease.

Marketing

Food marketing can appear almost anywhere. The radio, television, sports games, internet are all places that are viewed by any demographic. However, many food marketers strategically market to the youth. William Neuman believes the including product-based games in kid’s meals and other type of media advertising is a serious problem. According to Claudiu Avram, The reason being for marketing to the young population is simply that, regardless of the health content of the food, any type of eating pattern that a child adapts in their youth usually remains in adulthood. Fast food business want to keep the business purchases flowing. They are not taking into consideration the health risks of the children they are advertising to. Mary Hearst, et al. explain that among the child population, the energy that is consumed from fast food has exceeded the amount of energy consumed at school. Limiting marketing to the public, especially the youth, gives a chance for society to avoid these health risks. Limiting the cool/hip image with child attracting packaging will reduce the child obesity epidemic occurring in our society today.

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Content

However, changing the content of the food is essential. Reducing the amount of trans-fat, regardless of the prolonged shelf life would be a tremendous improvement to the health content of the food. In addition, reducing overall sodium, fat, and calories could contribute to reducing the obesity problem that continues to grow in our population today. The New York Daily News describes a new ban in New York which states fast food drinks need to have “fewer than 25 calories per ounce” and “bagels must be cut in half or quarters or ‘mini sizes.’” (Robbins, Katie 2011) Restrictions such as these play a big role in bettering the health of society. It is imperative that all states receive the same ban and laws against certain amount of nutritional content could help save the health of our population.

Conclusion

It is time for fast food restaurants to look past what will make them the most profits and the most business. It is time to look at what fast food restaurants are really doing to the population. Fast food plays such a huge role in the rapid rate of increasing obesity within America. It is time to make a change to this current problem. Restrictions on fast food that regard the content, marketing, and location can make all the difference in impacting our health of our society.

LSHealth White Paper

Works Cited

Avram, Claudiu (2013). Fruit, Vegatables and Fast Food Consumption among University Students. Timisoara Physical Education & Rehabilitation Journal, 5(10), 54-60.

Boone-Heinonen J, Gordon-Larsen P, Kiefe CI, Shikany JM, Lewis CE, Popkin BM. (2012) Fast Food Restaurants and Food Stores: Longitudinal Associations With Diet in Young to Middle-aged Adults: The CARDIA Study. Arch Intern Med. 2011;171(13):1162-1170. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2011.283.

Bryn Austin, Steven J. Melly, Brisa N. Sanchez, Aarti Patel, Stephen Buka, Steven L. Gortmaker Am J Public Health. 2005 September; 95(9): Clustering of Fast-Food Restaurants Around Schools: A Novel Application of Spatial Statistics to the Study of Food Environments 1575–1581. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2004.056341

Hearst, Mary. O., Harnack, L. J., Bauer, K. W., Earnest, A. A., French, S. A., & Michael Oakes, J. J. (2013). Nutritional Quality at Eight U.S. Fast-Food Chains: 14-Year Trends. American Journal Of Preventive Medicine, 44(6), 589-594. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2013.01.028

Lee, Matthew. (2011) Statistics of Health Risks From Eating Fast Food. Demand Media. Hearst Newspapers.

Coffman, Melodie Anne. (2014) Daily Amounts of Carbs, Fat, Fiber, Sodium & Protein. Demand Media. Hearst Newspapers.

President & Fellows of Harvard College (November 2007) The truth about fats: Bad and Good. The Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide.

Shanthy A. Bowman, Steven L. Gortmaker, Cara B. Ebbeling, Mark A. Pereira, David S. Ludwig: Effects of Fast-Food Consumption on Energy Intake and Diet Quality Among Children in a National Household Survey, Pediatrics Vol. 113 No. 1 January 1, 2004 pp. 112 -118

WILLIAM NEUMAN (2011, April 28) U.S. Seeks New Limits on Food Ads for Children. New York Times. B1.

2014 Nutrition Information. McDonalds.

http://wallko.com/blue-backgrounds.html

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/fast-food/obesity-vs-fast-food-availability/