Preview

Supersized Children: a Blind Form of Child Abuse

Best Essays
Open Document
Open Document
4293 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Supersized Children: a Blind Form of Child Abuse
John Aagesen
Professor Burns
English 1020
7 May 2012
Supersized Children: A Blind Form of Child Abuse
Childhood obesity is a form of child abuse and act of neglect that directly correlates to poor parenting and lack of attention to young children’s diets. Furthermore, fast food advertising agencies should be just as guilty of child abuse as some parents, due to the fact they specifically market cheap, harmful, and unhealthy foods to today’s youth. Additionally, the government is partially to blame for kindergarten through 12th grade aged kids becoming morbidly obese because of the bill that Obama passed called, The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. The three groups of adults previously listed above have direct affects on children’s dietary habits and all play an active role in morbidly obese youth. Poor parenting, fast food companies, and the government are all to blame for the rising obesity rates in the United States; however, should these three groups of people with power be facing charges of child abuse or neglect? Should children who are forced to eat unhealthy food for lunch in public schools have to suffer lifelong health issues because of poor decisions made by adults, over which they had no control?
There are many health risks associated with being morbidly obese at a young age. According to L. J. Lloyd, being overweight as a child can lead to the risk of developing adult metabolic syndrome. The adult metabolic syndrome is a multiplex risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The studies in which Lloyd and his partners conducted have shown that overweight youth are more likely to develop the disease; however, there are some areas that remain unclear and question the relationship. One particular study which Lloyd researched at Nottingham University stated, “the four papers that considered metabolic syndrome as an end point, none showed evidence of an independent association with childhood obesity” (Lloyd 2). Interestingly, these four

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In a passage from his essay “The Battle Against Fast Food Begins In the Home,’ Daniel Weintraub, discusses how parents are the one’s to blame for their child’s health, particularly in the obesity epidemic. Weintraub wants parents to take responsibility for the health of their kids. I agree with Weintraub’s passage because neither food corporations nor the government are forcing your child to eat anything. The public likes to blame big food corporations for their bad health decisions.…

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    David Zinczenko’s essay, “Don’t Blame the Eater,” (New York Times, November 23, 2002) emphasizes the idea that the large conglomerates may be held accountable for some legal responsibility for the skyrocketing rate of obesity in America within children. He uses anecdotal evidence from his past to argue that it is not the consumer’s fault that they are experiencing health issues, it is the multinational corporations that own the most well known fast food restaurants. Zinczenko starts by saying that he has been a victim of these large conglomerates as a younger boy. He states that he had a daily task of choosing where to have his lunch and dinner between four well-known fast food chains. Zinczenko also shares that he lost…

    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In David Zinczenko’s Don’t Blame the Eater, he criticizes the fast food industry's failure to provide nutrition information and the resulting consequences in the American health and legal systems. He argues that we should not blame kids for eating unhealthily but instead look to the fast food industry as the problem. Kids are suing McDonalds because they are overweight and the author has had a similar experience growing up. The problems with kids eating too much has become a national crisis and causing an increase in childhood diabetes. One reason this problem is so serious is that there isn’t any alternative, it’s cheap, and healthy food…

    • 191 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The statistical data does not conclusively prove that being obese in childhood causes a higher risk of cardiovascular disease in adulthood. It is possible that the increase in adult cardiovascular problems of children who were obese is connected to the increase in monitoring of these children instead of a true correlation between childhood obesity and cardiovascular disease. Therefor, it is not clear as to weather the conclusions are appropriate. Moreover it is difficult with the information provided to make a conclusive decision as to the studies effectiveness. The study does show a clear correlation between childhood obesity and an increased risk of adult cardiovascular disease. However there are mitigating factors such as the amount of monitoring study participants received that may indicate that it is not obesity that caused the increased risk but that these participants were found to have risk factors that might be present in normal weight children had they also been monitored. The studies findings emphasize the importance of maintaining ideal weight from youth to adulthood in cardiovascular risk…

    • 1585 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In David Zinczenko’s Don’t Blame the Eater article, he blames the fast-food industry for starting the rising obesity problem because of the failure of providing the facts and warnings labels about their high calorie junk food to the consumers. Zinczenko argues that kids are drawn by the cheap, high-calorie junk food that the fast-food chains like McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, or Pizza Hut are happy to supply because with lots of parents working all day, they do not have time to check what their children are eating. For Example, the author David Zinczenko states that when he was a little boy, his mother would always be away at work, so he would eat Taco Bell, McDonald’s, and at other places every day, and he ended up obese.…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Daniel Weintraub Essay

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages

    According to his article, “The Battle Against Fast Food Begins In The Home”, the author, columnist and blogger Daniel Weintraub, argues parents, not fast-food companies or the government are responsible for their child's health and well being. Weintraub supports this claim by providing data from the Center For Public Health Advocacy on the subject of overweight schoolchildren, State law recommendations outlining nutritional standards, and his own experience with the problem. Weintraub intends to convince or persuade the parents or parent to accept the blame for their overweight child. From my standpoint, however, it is clear the parents or parent should not be the only ones to blame for the increasing weight problems children were dealing with, and are still currently dealing with today.…

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the article “Don’t Blame the Eater,” written by David Zinczenko, he asserts that children have the right to sue fast food companies because their food made the children unhealthy and over-weight. Zinczenko believes that the fast food companies cause the childhood obesity because their primary concern is to make profit. Therefore, they do not care about the unhealthy food that their customers consume. He states that the fast food restaurants purposely target young children and teenagers because they enjoy cheap and readily available meal. As a result, they tend to eat at the fast food restaurants, such as McDonalds and Burger King, because they can…

    • 745 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Obesity in America is an ever-growing problem. Despite years of trying to eradicate obesity, it continues to grow. From governmental intervention to simple magazine articles, every step of action has been taken. Amidst the plethora of passages about this touchy subject there are two that stick out. The first is, “Don’t Blame the Eater,” an article written by David Zinczenko. The picture that Zinczenko paints is one that puts the fault of obesity on the fast food industry. Because he was once an overweight child, he sympathizes with the eater. In the second writing on this subject, “What You Eat is Your Business,” Radley Balko, takes a different standpoint on the matter. Balko believes that it is nobody’s business but your own when it comes to what you eat. He absolutely focuses on the problem of obesity, but he puts the blame on the government and the eater. Zinczenko and Balko both acknowledge the growing problem of obesity as a whole. Although they both have very valid points, Balko has a more serious, truthful tone to his writing.…

    • 1551 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The United States is facing a growing epidemic of obesity. Obesity affects individuals of any age, gender, or nationality. Diseases increased by obesity are increasing at alarming rates in children and adults. It is thought that children suffering from obesity will not live as long as their parents. Along with health risks in children they have to endure ridicule and teasing from other children at school resulting in psychological problems that can follow them into adulthood (Neighmond, 2010). Americans have a fascination with fast food and consuming too much food in one meal…

    • 2161 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Curing of an Epidemic

    • 919 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The fast food industry is not the only cause for obesity. One can buy this unhealthy food in abundance at pretty much any store that sells groceries. Even the public school systems provide this food to kids. Spurlock says that “[m]any lower-income kids depend on the federally funded National School Lunch Program for their primary hot meal of the day – and get basically the same high-fat, low-nutrition food dumped on them there as they’d get at a fast food joint” (26). Even though this problem is still prevalent, over the past few years the government has…

    • 919 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Children that are obese are more likely to increase their risk of cardiovascular disease such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure. In a population based sample of 5-17 year olds, 70% of obese youths had at least one of the risk factor for cardiovascular disease (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). Diabetes is another health issue among obese children. Children are more diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, but Type 2 diabetes is brought on by obesity and inactivity. Type 2 diabetes found in children used to be very rare and a child developing this type of disease is growing rapidly. Researchers from the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study released data showing that “Type 2 diabetes in 10-19 year olds has increased 21% between the years of 2001-2010 (Gebel, PhD).…

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Battle Against Fast Food

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Daniel Weintraub, in the article,”The Battle Against Fast Food Begins in the Home”, wants his public to realize that ultimately parents need to take good responsibility for their children’s actions and I completely agree with his conclusions. Weintraub discusses many points, for example, parental faults, school issues, and societies fault, to prove that obesity in children is an issue that cannot be overlooked. Weintraub’s points along with my personal experiences led me to agree that responsibility and child obesity go hand in hand. Of course this is my opinion, but I believe that his article mostly goes out to the parents who are lazy and have children.…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Americas Obesity

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The McDonald's Corporation wants to be everywhere that children are. The number of obese children has more than doubled since 1980. Many people blame the fast food industry for making the people of America fat. Most of the people in America blames the companies for selling their unhealthy food, advertising and promoting their food to young children, and creating super sized servings. Having said that, there are people who believe that it is the person's fault for being an unhealthy and obese person. Weintraub's article “The Battle Against Fast Food Begins in the Home”, argues that America shouldn't be blaming the fast food industry or the government, but instead the parents. Weintraub explains how it's the parent's responsibility for their own child's health and I agree with him.…

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Child Obesity

    • 723 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Do you want to be surrounded with a society filled with obese children? Obesity has become a big problem in America. Parents are not being careful with the amount of junk food they’re allowing their kids to take in. According to Daniel Wientraub’s article “The Battle Against Fast Food Begins in the Home”, he claims that parents are in the position to fight the epidemic of overweight children, not the government or fast food companies. I agree with Daniel Wientraub because parents should be held accountable for the obesity of their children.…

    • 723 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the United States today there is a widespread of childhood obesity. Childhood obesity has increased at an alarming rate over the last 20 years. Today, nearly one in five children is battling this condition and if patterns predict the future, almost all of America’s children will be living with diabetes, heart disease, and dying younger due to obesity within the next 20 years. (Alan) Think about this problem, Americans point their fingers at restaurants like McDonalds, saying their unhealthy foods and serving sizes are responsible However, people’s lifestyles are really to blame. They are so busy that they go to fast food restaurants instead of eating healthy meals at home. Parents need to be more observant with their children and what they eat; they need to be better role models for their children as well. (Palmer) The obesity in children has severe health risks. Until Americans stop themselves from going to fast food places the problem of obesity in the US will not go away.…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics