The Argument Against Same-Fats: Helpful Or Harmful?

In 2002, parents of two obese teenaged girls filed a lawsuit against the McDonald’s Corporation alleging the company’s negligent, yet effective, marketing of fatty foods toward the American youth led to her unhealthy weight and lifestyle. The complaint also noted that McDonald’s failed to properly disclose the ingredients and nutritional information of their products. Similarly, in 2003, a male in California filed a lawsuit against Nabisco for their use of trans fats ingredients in their snack products, primarily the popular—and delicious—Oreo cookies; he argued that the company knew trans fats cause tremendous and undesirable weight gain leading to an unhealthy American populace. While both cases failed to fully navigate their way to trial,
Even when behaviors are steadily acceptable, children may find themselves unable to fully concentrate in school and sports activities. The report notes that since energy is first reserved for vital organs, children may experience periods where they don’t have enough energy to exceed—or even meet-performance expectations by their teachers, parents, or coaches (SCAA, 2006). It’s not a desired conclusion to assert that children who are malnourished are incapable of performing but, rather, their cognitive skills are severely limited when juxtaposed against their full, well-nourished potential. Many children and their parents who have the resources to ensure a well-nourished lifestyle tend to make poor choices when it comes to nutrition. According to the Center for Disease Control, within the past 40 years, the number of children who are considered overweight just in the United States has doubled, and ten percent of children between the ages of two and five (and fifteen percent of those six to nineteen) are considered overweight (CDC, 2007). The emotional reaction to these statistics are disturbingly heightened when one accounts for the number of children who are “at risk” of becoming overweight, placing the number of children