Obesity and fast food: there is little doubt about the link. Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. And it is an epidemic that has grown hand in hand, step by step, with the fast food industry.
Eric Schlosser, in his brilliant and powerful book, Fast Food Nation, describes America as “a grease empire,” and blames this clearly and convincingly on the door of the fast food industry.
Fast food facts on obesity
Twice as many American adults are obese today as in the 1960s. More than half of all adults and a quarter of all children are obese. During this same period, fast food has become cheaper and easier to buy.
More evidence of the link between obesity and fast food can be found outside of the US Since the early 1980s, the culture of American-style fast food has spread like wildfire around the world. And obesity has followed, accompanied by many unwanted side effects: heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and other illnesses.
As people in countries like Japan and China have abandoned traditional healthy diets in favor of fast food, rates of obesity and associated diseases have skyrocketed.
In countries that have resisted the expansion of fast food culture, such as France, Italy and Spain, obesity is much less of a problem. The good news is that there is now more awareness about the ill effects of fast food than ever before, thanks in part to books like Fast Food Nation and documentaries like Morgan Spurlock’s popular and hard-hitting Super Size Me.
There also appears to be a genuine change in people’s attitudes towards food and how it is produced. As Schlosser modestly says of his book: “Its success should not be attributed to my literary style, my ability to tell stories, or the novelty of my arguments.
“If the same book had been published a decade ago, with the same words in the same order, it probably wouldn’t have attracted much attention. Not just in the United States, but throughout Western Europe, people are beginning to question homogenizing the systems that produce, distribute and market your food The unexpected popularity of Fast Food Nation, I believe, has a simple but profound explanation.
What can we do about fast food and obesity?
So what can we as consumers do to tackle obesity and fast food?
First, we can stop supporting traditional unhealthy fast food chains. We better buy at points of sale that sell healthy alternatives. More and more of these restaurants and delicatessens are opening. There must be at least one near you. Support it!
Another thing we can do is pressure our congressman (or congressman or some other political representative if we are in a country outside the US) to ban all advertisements promoting foods high in fat and sugar for children. .
As Schlosser points out, prevention is far better than cure. “A ban on advertising unhealthy foods to children would discourage eating habits that are not only difficult to break, but can be life-threatening.”
Such a ban may seem far-fetched, until you remember that 35 years ago a ban on cigarette advertising seemed equally unlikely. Five years later, Congress banned cigarette advertisements on television and radio. And those ads were aimed at adults, not children.
Smoking has decreased since then.
It’s time we did something similar with obesity and fast food.
