Childhood Obesity Research Paper
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Lily DeVirgilis
Professor Blazer
ENC 1101 15
9 December 2013
FastFood & Childhood Obesity
According to a recent study, “nearly 15 percent of U.S. youngsters… are obese”
(Holguin). Heavily influenced by our society, childhood obesity in the United States is becoming a widespread and growing epidemic. Somewhere alongside almost all obese cases though, one can usually find a trail of unhealthy eating patterns. But what exactly are the causes for kids developing these unhealthy eating patterns? The answer to that question can be summed up in two words: FastFood. Through numerous, falsely advertised, colorful and clever made advertisements, to adding a “must have” toy to a happy meal, all the way to preconceiving the …show more content…
placements of buildings… fastfood chains are slowly shaping kids to want what they are advertising. The big name fastfood joints are no dummies when it comes to how they advertise their food. They have cleverly integrated promotional giveaways into their fastfood kids’ meals to appear more appealing to the kiddos. I know for myself when I was a little girl, pulling up to the
McDonald’s window to see which new girl toy came with the happy meal was one of my most favorite things. It was always more about the toy for me than the actual food. Dr. James Sargent, pediatrics professor at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, kind of confirms my
DeVirgilis2
experience by stating that "fastfood companies use free toys and popular movies to appeal to kids, and their ads are much more focused on promotions brands and logos – not on the food"
(Weller). Furthermore, a new study published in journal PLOS One between 2009 and 2010 showed that
“nearly all of the fast food ads, 99 percent, that were aired nationally on children’s TV channels such as Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, were from McDonald’s and Burger King, and 70 percent of them included toy giveaways, frequently linked to childfriendly movies, to promote their product” (Sifferlin). The fastfood ad controversy is set right against the numbers of rising childhood obesity in the United States. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that in the last thirty years childhood obesity has doubled in children and tripled among adolescents (Weller). Growing research over the topic is proving that kids of the 21st century are being influenced more and more by what they see and hear in popular culture and not what they are actually being exposed to at home. Parents can somewhat limit their child from the advertising or encourage them to eat healthy food, but as the popular saying goes, “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t force him to drink”. Bottom line is, advertising affects the choices we make. It may be subtle at first but it can make a huge impact on our thought process over a certain topic overtime.
In addition to what these kids are seeing on TV is how often they are seeing it.“Although one in three American children are overweight or obese, fast food companies continue to spend billions advertising mostly unhealthy foods to children and teens”, (Taft) according to a new study by the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity. Even more frightening is that in a the multitudes of commercials out there more than 40 percent consist of candy, snacks and fast food
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(CosgroveMather). After health officials have warned that kids were being inundated with commercials filled with junk food, researchers have now put numbers to those warnings in the largestever study of commercials aimed specifically towards children.. The study, the largest ever of TV ads for children, found that “America 's kids are bombarded with commercials for unhealthy foods full of sugar, salt and fat,” reports CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker.
Overall, the researchers saw, “2,613 ads featuring food and drinks that targeted children and teens and of food ads aimed at children, 34 percent were for candy and snacks, 29 percent for cereal, 10 percent for beverages, 10 percent for fast food…” (CosgroveMather) Just to put it into further perspective, that means when you are watching television the commercials you see will be 44 percent on junk food. This meaning children see way more food ads than anything important such as public service announcements..etc. Senator Tom Harkin, hoping to help a new
Federal Communications Commission task force examining the impact of the media on childhood obesity rates stated that, "The 'childhood obesity epidemic ' isn 't just a catch phrase. It 's a real public health crisis" (CosgroveMather).
Most of us have heard of the saying, “it’s so close I could almost taste it”. Well for most kids in school, thats how it is when it comes to fastfood. “The high number of fast food and takeaway outlets near schools in inner cities is contributing to obesity in children”, suggests a study of schoolchildren 's weight and food consumption. (“Child Obesity linked to”, …show more content…
2012).
Researchers measured and weighed 193 students ages eleven to fourteen to obtain their body mass index and then asked the students how often they visited fast food outlets in an average week. Around one in three of the students ended up being overweight or obese and more than half bought food or drinks from fast food or takeaway outlets twice or more a week, with about
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10 per cent doing so daily (“Child Obesity liked to”, 2012).
Overall, students that have fastfood restaurants within a mile of their school tend to consume less fruits and vegetables, consume more soda, and are more likely to be overweight or obese (Davis). With fast food outlets so close to each of the schools, the obesity growth in the student body is practically inevitable.
A girl flashes across the screen with a big,white smile, probably weighing altogether a total of 90 pounds with a ginormous Big Mac in her hand. Anything wrong with that picture?
Yes, it is called false advertising, bringing us to our last topic. Rarely, if ever, do you see a 400 pound man/woman wobbling across the screen from having too many Big Mac’s or with stained teeth from all the soda drinking. It doesn’t happen because they want their product to look glamourous and that if you eat their food then you won’t ever turn into that fat person with stained teeth the only problem with that is, you will. Fortunately, most adults can probably use their intelligence to understand what would happen if they kept eating fastfood, but unfortunately kids do not have that same intuition. When a kid for instance sees that person,
they may think of their pretty sister or a slim/fit person they know and associate them with fastfood when in fact that person most likely never even touches fastfood.
Child obesity is a major public health problem with both individual and environmental causes leading to significant medical, psychological, and economic consequences (Chang). It is crazy to think how huge of an impact something as simple as fastfood has made on our generation. Not only fastfood speaking literally of just the actual food, but how major fastfood chains have integrated TV and have become intertwined in the minds of kids that make it seem like eating their food is okay and that you won’t become overweight if you continue to eat their food. As I am going into my last year as a “teenager”, it is hard for me to look at other people my
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age and younger and see them already having to struggle with weight issues. I believe more people my age should speak out to fastfood corporations that mainly target kids, we should speak out to TV networks that run those fastfood commercials that target kids more than they run any other commercials, we should make it illegal for fastfood joints to go up so close to schools, and lastly we should speak out against the false advertisement of fastfood. I believe if the younger generation stood against fastfood and began trying to live healthier lives, then we would have such a positive impact on generations to come. As Deirdre Imus, President and
Founder of The Deirdre Imus Environmental Health Center™ at Hackensack University
Medical Center, said “Banning fastfood advertising...won’t solve the obesity...problems in this country or any other, but it’s a step in the right direction – a step that more legislators shouldn’t be afraid to take” (Imus).
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Works Cited
Chang, HungHao, and Rodolfo M. Nayga, Jr. "Television viewing, fastfood consumption, and children 's obesity." Contemporary Economic Policy 27.3 (2009): 293+. Academic
OneFile. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
"Child obesity linked to number of fast food outlets near schools: study authors say
schoolchildren 's access to such shops should be limited." Nursing Standard 26.46 (2012):
16. Academic OneFile. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
CosgroveMather, Bootie.”Kids Get Diet of Junk Food Commercials”.cbsnews.com. CBS news,
28, March 2007.Web.24 November 2013.
Davis, B., and C. Carpenter. "Robert Wood Johnson Foundation." RWJF.com. American Public
Health Association, Mar. 2009. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
Holguin, Jaime. "Fast Food Linked To Child Obesity." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 5 Jan. 2004.
Web. 06 Dec. 2013.
Imus, Deirdre. "Limit Fast Food Advertising toward Kids, Lower Childhood Obesity
Rates." Fox News. FOX News Network, 12 July 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
Sifferlin, Alexandra, and Alexandra Sifferlin. "Forget the Food: Fast Food Ads Aimed at Kids
Feature Lots of Giveaways | TIME.com." Time. Time, 29 Aug. 2013. Web. 08 Dec. 2013.
Weller, Chris. “Fast Food Ads Targets Kids with Toys, Not Food: Is Childhood Obesity
a Product of Pop Culture’s Allure”.medicaldaily.com.Medical Daily, 30 August
DeVirgilis7
2013.Web.25 November 2013.
Lily DeVirgilis
Professor Blazer
ENC 1101 15
9 December 2013
FastFood & Childhood Obesity
According to a recent study, “nearly 15 percent of U.S. youngsters… are obese”
(Holguin). Heavily influenced by our society, childhood obesity in the United States is becoming a widespread and growing epidemic. Somewhere alongside almost all obese cases though, one can usually find a trail of unhealthy eating patterns. But what exactly are the causes for kids developing these unhealthy eating patterns? The answer to that question can be summed up in two words: FastFood. Through numerous, falsely advertised, colorful and clever made advertisements, to adding a “must have” toy to a happy meal, all the way to preconceiving the …show more content…
placements of buildings… fastfood chains are slowly shaping kids to want what they are advertising. The big name fastfood joints are no dummies when it comes to how they advertise their food. They have cleverly integrated promotional giveaways into their fastfood kids’ meals to appear more appealing to the kiddos. I know for myself when I was a little girl, pulling up to the
McDonald’s window to see which new girl toy came with the happy meal was one of my most favorite things. It was always more about the toy for me than the actual food. Dr. James Sargent, pediatrics professor at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, kind of confirms my
DeVirgilis2
experience by stating that "fastfood companies use free toys and popular movies to appeal to kids, and their ads are much more focused on promotions brands and logos – not on the food"
(Weller). Furthermore, a new study published in journal PLOS One between 2009 and 2010 showed that
“nearly all of the fast food ads, 99 percent, that were aired nationally on children’s TV channels such as Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, were from McDonald’s and Burger King, and 70 percent of them included toy giveaways, frequently linked to childfriendly movies, to promote their product” (Sifferlin). The fastfood ad controversy is set right against the numbers of rising childhood obesity in the United States. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that in the last thirty years childhood obesity has doubled in children and tripled among adolescents (Weller). Growing research over the topic is proving that kids of the 21st century are being influenced more and more by what they see and hear in popular culture and not what they are actually being exposed to at home. Parents can somewhat limit their child from the advertising or encourage them to eat healthy food, but as the popular saying goes, “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t force him to drink”. Bottom line is, advertising affects the choices we make. It may be subtle at first but it can make a huge impact on our thought process over a certain topic overtime.
In addition to what these kids are seeing on TV is how often they are seeing it.“Although one in three American children are overweight or obese, fast food companies continue to spend billions advertising mostly unhealthy foods to children and teens”, (Taft) according to a new study by the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity. Even more frightening is that in a the multitudes of commercials out there more than 40 percent consist of candy, snacks and fast food
DeVirgilis3
(CosgroveMather). After health officials have warned that kids were being inundated with commercials filled with junk food, researchers have now put numbers to those warnings in the largestever study of commercials aimed specifically towards children.. The study, the largest ever of TV ads for children, found that “America 's kids are bombarded with commercials for unhealthy foods full of sugar, salt and fat,” reports CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker.
Overall, the researchers saw, “2,613 ads featuring food and drinks that targeted children and teens and of food ads aimed at children, 34 percent were for candy and snacks, 29 percent for cereal, 10 percent for beverages, 10 percent for fast food…” (CosgroveMather) Just to put it into further perspective, that means when you are watching television the commercials you see will be 44 percent on junk food. This meaning children see way more food ads than anything important such as public service announcements..etc. Senator Tom Harkin, hoping to help a new
Federal Communications Commission task force examining the impact of the media on childhood obesity rates stated that, "The 'childhood obesity epidemic ' isn 't just a catch phrase. It 's a real public health crisis" (CosgroveMather).
Most of us have heard of the saying, “it’s so close I could almost taste it”. Well for most kids in school, thats how it is when it comes to fastfood. “The high number of fast food and takeaway outlets near schools in inner cities is contributing to obesity in children”, suggests a study of schoolchildren 's weight and food consumption. (“Child Obesity linked to”, …show more content…
2012).
Researchers measured and weighed 193 students ages eleven to fourteen to obtain their body mass index and then asked the students how often they visited fast food outlets in an average week. Around one in three of the students ended up being overweight or obese and more than half bought food or drinks from fast food or takeaway outlets twice or more a week, with about
DeVirgilis4
10 per cent doing so daily (“Child Obesity liked to”, 2012).
Overall, students that have fastfood restaurants within a mile of their school tend to consume less fruits and vegetables, consume more soda, and are more likely to be overweight or obese (Davis). With fast food outlets so close to each of the schools, the obesity growth in the student body is practically inevitable.
A girl flashes across the screen with a big,white smile, probably weighing altogether a total of 90 pounds with a ginormous Big Mac in her hand. Anything wrong with that picture?
Yes, it is called false advertising, bringing us to our last topic. Rarely, if ever, do you see a 400 pound man/woman wobbling across the screen from having too many Big Mac’s or with stained teeth from all the soda drinking. It doesn’t happen because they want their product to look glamourous and that if you eat their food then you won’t ever turn into that fat person with stained teeth the only problem with that is, you will. Fortunately, most adults can probably use their intelligence to understand what would happen if they kept eating fastfood, but unfortunately kids do not have that same intuition. When a kid for instance sees that person,
they may think of their pretty sister or a slim/fit person they know and associate them with fastfood when in fact that person most likely never even touches fastfood.
Child obesity is a major public health problem with both individual and environmental causes leading to significant medical, psychological, and economic consequences (Chang). It is crazy to think how huge of an impact something as simple as fastfood has made on our generation. Not only fastfood speaking literally of just the actual food, but how major fastfood chains have integrated TV and have become intertwined in the minds of kids that make it seem like eating their food is okay and that you won’t become overweight if you continue to eat their food. As I am going into my last year as a “teenager”, it is hard for me to look at other people my
DeVirgilis5
age and younger and see them already having to struggle with weight issues. I believe more people my age should speak out to fastfood corporations that mainly target kids, we should speak out to TV networks that run those fastfood commercials that target kids more than they run any other commercials, we should make it illegal for fastfood joints to go up so close to schools, and lastly we should speak out against the false advertisement of fastfood. I believe if the younger generation stood against fastfood and began trying to live healthier lives, then we would have such a positive impact on generations to come. As Deirdre Imus, President and
Founder of The Deirdre Imus Environmental Health Center™ at Hackensack University
Medical Center, said “Banning fastfood advertising...won’t solve the obesity...problems in this country or any other, but it’s a step in the right direction – a step that more legislators shouldn’t be afraid to take” (Imus).
DeVirgilis6
Works Cited
Chang, HungHao, and Rodolfo M. Nayga, Jr. "Television viewing, fastfood consumption, and children 's obesity." Contemporary Economic Policy 27.3 (2009): 293+. Academic
OneFile. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
"Child obesity linked to number of fast food outlets near schools: study authors say
schoolchildren 's access to such shops should be limited." Nursing Standard 26.46 (2012):
16. Academic OneFile. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
CosgroveMather, Bootie.”Kids Get Diet of Junk Food Commercials”.cbsnews.com. CBS news,
28, March 2007.Web.24 November 2013.
Davis, B., and C. Carpenter. "Robert Wood Johnson Foundation." RWJF.com. American Public
Health Association, Mar. 2009. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
Holguin, Jaime. "Fast Food Linked To Child Obesity." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 5 Jan. 2004.
Web. 06 Dec. 2013.
Imus, Deirdre. "Limit Fast Food Advertising toward Kids, Lower Childhood Obesity
Rates." Fox News. FOX News Network, 12 July 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
Sifferlin, Alexandra, and Alexandra Sifferlin. "Forget the Food: Fast Food Ads Aimed at Kids
Feature Lots of Giveaways | TIME.com." Time. Time, 29 Aug. 2013. Web. 08 Dec. 2013.
Weller, Chris. “Fast Food Ads Targets Kids with Toys, Not Food: Is Childhood Obesity
a Product of Pop Culture’s Allure”.medicaldaily.com.Medical Daily, 30 August
DeVirgilis7
2013.Web.25 November 2013.