Obesity and Fast Food Essay - 887 Words

In the book Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser writes about the fast food industry. Schlosser tells the story of J.R. Simplot, the man behind McDonald’s source for potatoes. He started his own business right out of the eighth grade, after dropping out. He started out small but eventually became one of the riches men in America. He owned then 160 acres of land to start off this business. He sold his potatoes to companies at first all natural. But he soon discovered that if you dry out the food it will keep for longer, more companies then bought from him. Then in the 1950s he found out about freezing them, and the method of frozen food. McDonald’s started buying and selling Simplot fries. The customers seemed to like it, they†¦show more content†¦Smelled alone, that chemical provides and unmistakable sense of the food. Ethyl -2-methyl butyrate, for example, smells just like an apple. Today’s highly processed food offer a blank palette: whatever chemicals y ou add to them will give them specific tastes. Adding methyl-2-peridylketone makes something laste like popcorn. Adding ethyl-2-hydroxybutanoate makes it taste like marshmallow. The possibilities are now almost limitless. Without affecting the appearance or nutritional value, processed foods could even be made with aroma chemicals such as hexenal (the smell of freshly cut grass) or 3-methyl butanoic acid (the smell of body odor). (Schlosser 111-112). Fast food today is just all chemicals, hardly any of the flavor come from the actual burger, fries, or even milk shake. Even the things that don’t come from artificial flavorings, are still man made. Natural and artificial flavors are not manufactured at the same chemical plants, places that few people would associate with Mother Nature(127). People don’t eve know when they are eating this highly processed food. Sometimes the company doesn’t disclose this information, and they can get away with it, it is totally legal. The Food and Drug Administration does not require flavor companies to disclose the ingredients of their additives, so long as all the chemicals are considered by the agency to beShow MoreRelatedObesity And Fast Food1444 Words   |  6 PagesStates? In the United States, obesity is one of the public health issues that causes thousand of deaths. When a person’s body mass index shows an extremely high number, he or she is considered having obe sity. It is important because it is a serious health problem due to mortality and morbidity. In addition, eating many unhealthy food and lacking exercises lead to dangerous chronic illnesses which then leads to premature death. Lifestyle choices contribute to obesity, in general, and can have adverseRead MoreFast Food And Obesity771 Words   |  4 Pages Is fast food causing people to be obese or is it just a part of the equation? Three hundred thousand people die each year from obesity linked deaths. According to the health care costs of obesity, obese adults spend 42 percent more on direct health care costs than adults who are a healthy weight. Obesity has been an ongoing epidemic for many years not only in America but many other countries. Kids nowadays eat more fast food because it is easy for them to choose this option. Even some schoolsRead MoreFast Food And Obesity : Obesity2432 Words   |  10 PagesKimberly Vang English 1A Andrew Bligh 30 July 2014 Fast Food and Obesity In the Fresno County, a lot of children are becoming overweight and obese. Parents are not doing their proper jobs by looking after or taking care of their children. They are over feeding them; stuffing them with sweets and sodas, and junk foods. Parents aren’t really paying attention until their child is overweight and obese. 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It is a problem thatRead MoreFast Food And Its Effect On Obesity1655 Words   |  7 PagesKhalid Alebraheem ENG 101 November 25, 2014 Fast Food and Its Effect on Obesity Today, the names of fast food and obesity are synonymous worldwide. Since the 1970s, the number of fast food restaurants in the US has doubled, corresponding to approximately 300,000 new chains (Egger and Boyd 23). Equally, there has been an exponential increase in the number of obese people over the same period, turning obesity into a public health problem in the US and most developed nations (Egger and Boyd 25). HenceRead MoreFast Food Is The Reason For Obesity955 Words   |  4 PagesFast food is the reason to blame for obesity. Food made and prepared in a matter of minutes should certainly raise some flags. ---- Roberto De Vogli states in â€Å"†globesization’: ecological evidence on the relationship between fast food outlets and obesity among 26 advanced economies† that â€Å" the diffusion of ‘fast food restaurants’ resulting from rapid global market integration (Hawkes 2009) and trade liberalization policies (Thow and Hawkes 2009) seems to b e one of the key contributing factors behindRead MoreFast Food Restaurants And Obesity1528 Words   |  7 PagesDo fast food restaurants contribute to obesity in America? One out of every four Americans stop by to eat fast food daily. Many people may not know this, but you would have to walk seven straight hours to burn off a super sized Coke, fry, and Big Mac. Sixty percent of all Americans are either overweight or obese. Did you also know that some fast food restaurants sell more toys than Toys-R-Us? Fast food restaurants contribute to obesity in America by promoting time-saving eating options, using celebritiesRead MoreFast Food Obesity Essay1165 Words   |  5 PagesThroughout the years, fast food is becoming more and more of an outlet for many people that are short on change, in a rush but still need to grab a bite to eat, or even who are just too lazy to cook a meal. Fast food is very cheap, yet when we eat it we don’t necessarily realize the price we pay when we are starting to gain weight. Who is to blame? The person that is addicted to fast food, or the fast food restaurants? I agree fast food is cheap, yet delicious. I understand th at it may get addicting