Obesity in Children: What Fast Food Corporations are Doing to Cause It

• Children's Health • • Obesity • Apr 16, 10

Nobody can deny that fast food is unhealthy. Everyone knows that fast food is high in calories, fats, and sodium. But what causes obesity? When asked this, most people will say “fast food.” A diet high in calories and a lack of physical exercise are what cause a large percentage of the cases of obesity. Fast food explains the calories, but what about the sedentary lifestyle? Well, believe it or not, fast food can explain that as well. As it turns out, fast food corporations are a major cause of childhood obesity because they promote unhealthy foods and a sedentary lifestyle for children.

One striking factor of the fast food corporation’s link to child obesity is the abundance of fast food restaurants worldwide. “McDonald’s is the leading global foodservice retailer with more than 32,000 local restaurants serving more than 60 million people in 117 countries each day.” (“Our Company”) I even performed a search on the McDonald’s website to see how many McDonald’s restaurants there are in my area. According to the search there are at least 35 McDonald’s restaurants within a 13-mile radius of my house! This shows that there are a huge number of fast food restaurants in the world, especially since these numbers are for just one corporation. Adding on to the numerical evidence, fast food restaurants have increased 12.8% in the past 10 years (Entertaining Marketing Letter). This shows that fast food corporations are increasing the amount of restaurants they have in order to increase their profits. These numbers, although they may not look it, are in fact a big link to fast food corporations’ causing of obesity in children. The overwhelming presence of fast food restaurants means that children see the restaurants more often and that they are more likely to get their parents to stop there and eat. Also, when children are old enough, they can go to the restaurants with their friends. For example, my friends and I ride our bikes to a McDonald’s that is only about a two-minute ride from my house. If we don’t feel like having McDonald’s that day, there is a Burger King right next to it. All in all, the growing number of fast food restaurants does have an impact on childhood obesity.

In addition to the amounts of restaurants, the food that these fast food restaurants serve is a considerable factor of childhood obesity. Many of the foods that are served in fast food restaurants, besides having tons of calories, are high in fat, carbohydrates, and sodium. Fats and carbohydrates contribute greatly to obesity. “Fast-food lovers consumed more fats, sugars and carbohydrates and fewer fruits and non-starchy vegetables than youngsters who didn’t eat fast food” (Holguin). The foods that these fast-food lovers eat, namely hamburgers and French fries, are high in carbohydrates and fats. For example, the McDonald’s “Small Fries” has, out of 230 calories, 100 from fat. It also has 29 grams of carbohydrates, which is 10 percent of your recommended daily value right there. A hamburger has 520 mg (milligrams) of sodium (Corporation). Excessive salt intake can lead to many diseases including hypertension, osteoporosis and cardiac enlargement. Some people say that McDonald’s (and other fast food corporations) are adding healthy foods to their menus in order to combat obesity. While this is true that there are healthy foods being added to menus, there are still flaws in this plan. The foods added are either for young children or are not as healthy as they are claimed to be. The Apple Dippers and chocolate milk were added mainly for young children and many older children and teenagers do not want to eat (or drink) these foods. In addition, the foods that are made for older consumers are not as healthy as they claim to be. The Premium Southwest Salad with Crispy Chicken has 430 calories with 180 of them fat calories. The salad also has 920 mg of sodium, which is 38 percent of your daily recommended value (Corporation). Also, as the younger children grow up they will grow out of eating Happy Meals and will stop eating Apple Dippers and go into eating the unhealthier foods like hamburgers and French fries. Until fast food corporations develop healthier food choices for people of all ages, fast food is still unhealthy and it is a major cause of obesity on children.

Fast food corporations promote a sedentary lifestyle as well as unhealthy food. With the addition of play places in many McDonald’s restaurants, it is almost unimaginable to think that fast food corporations would promote a sedentary lifestyle. However, there are many subtle things that McDonald’s and other fast food corporations do to keep kids on their chairs rather than on their feet. The first thing they do is hand out toys. In every Happy Meal or other kid’s meal, a themed toy is handed out to every child. The toy, although it is simple and usually does not perform any special function, serves two main purposes. It keeps the child entertained and having fun. The other job it does is to keep the child from doing a physical activity. The little boy or girl, rather than running around and playing tag or other childish games, sits down and plays with the toy while eating their 230-calorie French fries. This results in less calories burned and consequently, more weight gained. Along with the subtlety of the toy, there is another hidden method to the corporations’ madness. While perusing the McDonald’s main website, I came across a website called ronald.com. It was a website designed especially for children ages 4 to 7. On the website there are sections entitled Learn, Play and Create. There are learning activities, games to play, and print-outs to color. This is just another way for fast food corporations to get children to sit around rather than play outside. Kids will sit around on the computer instead of play outside, causing yet again less calories burned and more weight gained. A recent addition to McDonald’s restaurants is video games. I have been to multiple McDonald’s locations where they have had video game consoles for children to play rather than play in the play place. There are also small tables with Legos for children to sit and play with instead of playing in a play place as well. All of these additions get children to live a more sedentary lifestyle because they are just sitting around rather than doing any type of physical activity.

With the rising amounts of fast food restaurants becoming a worldwide epidemic, it is no wonder that obesity rates are rising as well. Children are the largest group of victims of this epidemic. The intake of unhealthy foods and a sedentary lifestyle are the most prominent causes of obesity in children. This essay has only scraped the surface of this argument and there are still many more details that are left uncovered. It is up to you, the consumer, to learn the truth about these corporations.

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HealthMad