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Is Fast Food Responsible for Obesity? If yes then who is Responsible for Obesity Restaurants or Individuals?
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24 August 2013

Abstract

This paper consists of brief explanation of what obesity is. Being an alarming issue that is expeditiously damaging not only the youth but also disturbing the cycle of life. What is the sole reason behind the increasing rate of obesity in USA? Whether it is the usual reason “fast food” people find it easy to lay there blames on or it is rather their own responsibility that has caused them to lead towards such disease. All the logics that might be responsible for such rapidly increasing rate in USA have been discussed in this research paper.

Is Fast Food Responsible for Obesity? If yes then who is Responsible for Obesity Restaurants or Individuals?

Overweight and obesity result from an energy imbalance. The body needs a certain amount of energy (calories) from food to keep up basic life functions. Body weight tends to remain the same when the number of calories eaten equals the number of calories the body uses or “burns.” Over time, when people eat and drink more calories than they burn, the energy balance tips toward weight gain, overweight, and obesity.
Many factors can lead to energy imbalance and weight gain. They include genes, eating habits, how and where people live, attitudes and emotions, life habits, and income.
Responsibility of Chains of fast food

It is often seen and heard when asked the reason for the weight gain that the blame is upon the “fast food” also commonly known as “junk food”. That directly puts all the fast food chains in USA the sole responsible for the increasing rate of obesity.
Over the past thirty years, the prevalence of obesity and obesity-related diseases in the U.S. has risen sharply. Since the early 1970s, the share of children age 6 to 19 classified as overweight has more than tripled, from 5 percent to 17 percent, while the share of adults classified as overweight or obese rose from half to two-thirds of the population. Over this same period, the number of fast food restaurants more than doubled.
Fast food industry has slowly become one of the symbols of American culture and is spreading to other cultures as well: McDonalds has 26,000locations in 119 countries, Pizza Hut has more than 10,000 in 86 countries, and Subway has14, 500 in 75 countries. Commercials, signs, and huge advertisements are pushing junk food at use every day; people can not even go to the grocery store without candy bars being lined up right by the checkout. The junk food industry realizes how appealing it can be. When a person is in a rush, they can easily eat a large meal without having to make a lot of decisions, work, dress up, or get out of their car. The speed and convenience fit Americans’ pressured lifestyles. It does not fit, however, to our health and wellness. A fast food meal, such as a Burger King Double Whopper with cheese, contains 965 calories, more than double the amount of fat, and as much as750 grams too much sodium for the day. The food is providing all the wrong ingredients; it has too much protein and fat and no fiber or vitamins.
The existence of fast food business is powered by a major transformation in the standard of living of today’s age group. The innovation of technology and modern piece of equipment has transformed the way we live, spoiling people by several techniques.
The only responsibility that these food chains are to be blamed of is in using unhygienic and environmental unfriendly ingredients for the food they prepare. No more then that.
However, putting the entire responsibility for the uprising issue on the industry of food chains is not fair enough. There are several other more reasons which are to be held responsible for increasing obesity in this revolutionary period of our living standards that includes insufficient amount of work out and activities, excessive amount of intake of food and beleaguered marketing are the causes of obesity.

Responsibility of an individual and the choices made

An individual plays a vital role in this uprising devastation of obesity in USA. It is all about the choices made or the wrong choices made. In the era of revolution where technology has empowered us with numerous luxuries on the other hand it has made us more resistive towards any sort of physical activity. The nature of work required today is mainly technology based hence one would not prefer to cook for themselves after exhausting their minds working or playing counter strike type captivating games. Again the choice is made by an individual whether to take out time for some physical work and compensate his routine or rather the usual, get an easy way out by ordering something instead.
Over eating: Overeating leads to weight gain, especially if the diet is high in fat. Foods high in fat or sugar (for example, fast food, fried food, and sweets) have high energy density (foods that have a lot of calories in a small amount of food). Epidemiologic studies have shown that diets high in fat contribute to weight gain.
Frequency of eating: The relationship between frequency of eating (how often an individual eat) and weight is somewhat controversial. There are many reports of overweight people eating less often than people with normal weight. Scientists have observed that people who eat small meals four or five times daily, have lower cholesterol levels and lower and/or more stable blood sugar levels than people who eat less frequently (two or three large meals daily). One possible explanation is that small frequent meals produce stable insulin levels, whereas large meals cause large spikes of insulin after meals.
What to eat: As discussed before in the paper that most of the time an individual does not prefer getting up and cooking for him or her self. Rather they prefer ordering their meal from any restaurant, getting a take away delivery or enjoy the food where it is being served but would avoid cooking on its own in most of the cases. however another option that usually an individual has become blind to is that there are better options than ordering a rich carbohydrate meal from these food chains when there are fat free and healthy meals available. But as the survey goes one prefers a good delicious meal if they are to spend money than a healthy meal.
Psychological factors: For some people, emotions influence eating habits. Many people eat excessively in response to emotions such as boredom, sadness, stress, or anger. While most overweight people have no more psychological disturbances than normal weight people, about 30% of the people who seek treatment for serious weight problems have difficulties with binge eating.
Physical inactivity: Sedentary people burn fewer calories than people who are active. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) showed that physical inactivity was strongly correlated with weight gain in both sexes. Yet again it shows the choice of an individual
It is the lack of will to remain in shape n physically fit. People get up and go to work or school, it is proved according to a survey that an individual would prefer car ride or subways rather than walking or cycling, a convenient and quick option. People take a slip in front of their computers or television for extensive periods as an alternative for running at the neighborhood with friends. Especially those who are already obese they become lazy and have lack of will to recover from their disease.
Technological change has reduced the amount of physical effort that people expend in their jobs, and that the ready availability of inexpensive restaurants has not only caused people to consume more, but has made them less active - less likely to prepare food at home or travel further distances to obtain a healthy meal.
Preference to quick artificial food rather than pure food: Living a life on the go, eating fast-food and microwave dinners, the health of the American people has been sacrificed. Instead of eating a diet of pure, wholesome foods coming directly from the land, Americans eat a diet of packaged, processed, and refined foods. Through technological advancement they have found ways to produce food in mass quantities, make it last longer and taste better. Unfortunately, during this processing somewhere along the line, it seems that they have lost the true essence of food. The highly processed and refined products that pack our supermarket shelves are loaded with sugar, hydrogenated oils, and plenty more ingredients that one can 't even pronounce.

Laziness and lack of exercise
Because of the technology that now offers automation in almost everything we do most of the tasks that require exerting some sort of effort has been effectively replaced with gadgets and other high tech stuff. Watching TV and computers are also contributed greatly to this obesity issue in teens. Teens spend more time in front of the TV or the computer while eating mostly junk food and consuming a vast amount of soft drinks instead of exercising and sweating.

Automobile dependency

US obesity rates continue to soar, in part because of automobile dependence. “Obesity could affect 42% of Americans by 2030.” That is nearly triple the rate experienced just three decades ago, according to an article written by Nanci Hellmich. At current rates, eleven percent of Americans could be “severely obese, roughly 100 or more pounds over a healthy weight."
The dependency over the technology and its nature of making an individual addict is causing adverse effect on people’s health. People have become more prone to technology that they are ignoring their own health. People now a days according to the survey tend to choose to ride a luxurious car or sub ways even in their neighborhoods rather than taking a brisk walk or any other means that may include physical work out for instance skating, cycling etc.
As a result, these recent lifestyle changes have reduced the overall amount of energy expended in our daily lives. According to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, in 2000 more than 26% of adults reported no leisure time physical activity.

Heredity
This is a situation where the overweight problem simply runs in the family. It is often seen as one of the convenient ways to escape taking the responsibility on ones own shoulder for what they are suffering for or might suffer from, obesity.

Environment
People may make decisions based on their environment or community. For example, a person may choose not to walk to the store or work because of a lack of sidewalks. Communities, homes, and workplaces each shape health decisions. With fewer options for physical activity and healthy eating, it becomes more difficult for people to make good choices.

These factors that contribute to teenage obesity must be addressed in order to curtail the increasing number of teens who are currently overweight. There are many cases where the children die ahead of their parents merely because of obesity thus it is important to do something positive and address these issues immediately. The family especially the parents have a big role to play when resolving their teenage obesity.

Sociological factor
Poverty and lower levels of education have also been linked to obesity (NIH, 2006). It has been suggested that one reason why poverty and lower educational levels are risk factors for obesity is that high-calorie, processed food is less expensive and quicker to prepare than fresh fruits and vegetables (NIH, 2006). Through observation and the anecdotes patients have shared with me, I have come to believe the social environment indeed contributes to the increasing prevalence of obesity. To date, only a few research studies have focused on this factor.

Consequences of obesity
Health problems associated with obesity are classified as either nonfatal or life threatening by the World Health Organization (2005). Few of them are listed below; * High blood pressure, hypertension * High blood cholesterol, dyslipidemia * Type 2 (non-insulin dependent) diabetes * Insulin resistance, glucose intolerance * Hyperinsulinemia * Coronary heart disease * Angina pectoris * Congestive heart failure * Stroke Gallstones * Cholescystitis and cholelithiasis * Gout Osteoarthritis * Obstructive sleep apnea and respiratory problems * Some types of cancer (such as endometrial, breast, prostate, and colon) * Complications of pregnancy such as; gestational diabetes, gestational hypertension and preeclampsia as well as complications in operative delivery (i.e., c-sections). * Poor female reproductive health (such as menstrual irregularities, infertility, irregular ovulation) Bladder control problems (such as stress incontinence) * Uric acid nephrolithiasis * Psychological disorders (such as depression, eating disorders, distorted body image, and low self-esteem).

The major stake holders in the rapid increment of obesity

Conclusively the sole responsibility here to avoid rapidly increasing rate of obesity is depending upon an individual. The research papers shows the major stake in resulting increment of obesity is an individual while other factors do play a role but rather minimal.

Work Cited
(Obesity in America. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 04, 2005
Philipson, T., and R. Posner. “The Long Run Growth of Obesity as a Function of Technological Change." Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 46, 3 (Summer 2003): 87-108. Martin McCartney, “causes of obesity” ArtcleBase.com. Feb 26, 2009. Newman, A., (January 31, 2009) "Obesity in Older Adults" OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing Vol. 14, No. 1, Manuscript 3. Available:

Cited: (Obesity in America. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 04, 2005 Philipson, T., and R. Posner. “The Long Run Growth of Obesity as a Function of Technological Change." Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 46, 3 (Summer 2003): 87-108. Martin McCartney, “causes of obesity” ArtcleBase.com. Feb 26, 2009. Newman, A., (January 31, 2009) "Obesity in Older Adults" OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing Vol. 14, No. 1, Manuscript 3. Available: