Are We Taking It Too Far by Blaming Fast Food Restaurant for Obesity?

Are we taking it too far by blaming fast food restaurant for obesity? Although throughout the years many people have claimed that obesity is a genetic disorder for the most part; results of recent studies strongly indicate that lifestyles rather than genetics are what are causing an obese society, because people choose to not exercise, not watch their diet, and eat fast food.
For the past few decades, food companies had aimed their marketing at single meals, pushing to inflate portion sizes. That initiative was wildly successful. As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported, the average restaurant meal in the United States is now an unfathomable four times larger than it was in 1950(Health). That has translated into "Americans now consume 2,700 calories a day, about 500 calories more than 40 years ago," according to The Atlantic Monthly. One predictable result of this trend is an obesity rate that 's poised to top 40 percent and that already costs the nation hundreds of billions of dollars in additional health care expenditures. The other result is that the supersize campaign has become a victim of its own success. Indeed, food companies are coming to realize that, in terms of per-meal product sales, they are quickly approaching the point where the human body simply cannot -- or will not -- accommodate any more calories in a single sitting. That has left Big Food fretting about a profit-making path forward, and that 's where the innovators at Yum Brands come in.

Known for ignoring public health concerns and pioneering weapons-grade junk food, this conglomerate 's subsidiaries have most recently given us the cheeseburger-stuffed pizza (Pizza Hut), the Doritos-shelled taco (Taco Bell), and the "Double Down" (KFC) -- a bacon-and-cheese sandwich that replaces bread with slabs of deep-fried chicken. So it should come as no surprise that with the three meals hitting their caloric max-out point, Yum Brands has been leading the effort to

Bibliography: Dhar Tirtha, amd Kathy Baylis. "fast food consumption and the ban on advertising targeting children." The Quebec experience (2011): 799-813. This article talk about amid growing concerns about childhood obesity and the associated health risks, several countries are considering banning fast food advertising targeting children. In this article, the authors study the effect of such a ban in the Canadian province of Quebec. Using household expenditure survey data from 1984 to 1992, authors examine whether expenditure on fast food is lower in those groups affected by the ban than in those that are not. The authors use a novel triple difference-in-difference methodology by appropriately defining treatment and control groups and find that the ban’s effectiveness is not a result of the decrease in fast food expenditures per week but rather of the decrease in purchase propensity by 13% per week. Overall, the authors estimate that the ban reduced fast food consumption by US$88 million per year. The study suggests that advertising bans can be effective provided media markets do not overlap. Health, BMC Public. "Neighborhood fast food restuarant and fast food consumption." BMC Public Health (2011): 543-550. The article presents a study conducted to estimate the effect of neighborhood fast food availability on frequency of fast food consumption in a national sample of young adults in the U.S., a population at high risk for obesity. The study found that there are chances that policies aiming to reduce neighborhood availability as a means to reduce fast food consumption among young adults will not be successful. The future research needs to consider individual lifestyle attitudes among other things. Hung- Hao, Chang and Rodofo M. Nayga Jr. "Childhood obesity and unhappiness: The influence of soft drinks and fast food consumption." Journal of Happiness Studies (2010): 261-275. Hung-Hao explains the growing body of literature has examined the determinants of childhood obesity, but little is known about children’s subjective wellbeing. To fulfill this gap, this paper examines the effects of fast food and soft drink consumption on children’s overweight and unhappiness. Using a nationwide survey data in Taiwan and estimating a simultaneous mixed equation system, our results generally suggest a tradeoff in policy implication. Fast food and soft drink consumption tend to be positively associated with children’s increased risk of being overweight but they are also negatively associated with their degree of unhappiness. Current and future policy/program interventions that aim to decrease fast food and soft drinks consumption of children to reduce childhood obesity may be more effective if these interventions also focus on ways that could compensate the increase in degree of unhappiness among children. Settler, Nicolas. "Fast Food Marketing and children 's fast food consumption:Exploring Parents Influences in an Ethically Diverse sample." Public Policy & Marketing (2007): 221-235. Settler shows how fast-food marketing to children is considered a contributor to childhood obesity. Effects of marketing on parents may also contribute to childhood obesity. The authors explore relevant hypotheses with data from caregivers of 2- to 12-year-old children in medically underserved communities. The results have implications for obesity-related public policies and social marketing strategies.