Government regulation of fast food and junk food reduce obesity in the U.S. (Research Paper Sample)

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Government regulation of fast food and junk food reduce obesity in the U.S.
Since 1970, fast food restaurants have increased rapidly and currently, they have surpassed more than double the number back then. This has led to increased access to fast foods to everyone from children to adults. In the U.S., more than one third of the adults are considered obese. Several studies have shown that the increase in the number of the fast food restaurants have a significant effect on the rates of obesity among children and adults alike. Widespread obesity can be attributed to an increase in calorie intake and low physical activity. Most fast foods and junk are highly processed, have a high fat content and high levels of calories. A typical fast food meal each day with less activity can lead to an increase in calories intake which could lead to weight gain and potential for obesity. Thus, there is a significant relationship between obesity and fast food. With government’s regulation on fast foods, obesity levels could be pushed down to manageable levels (L. Ogden Cynthia et al 2014).
As earlier stated, obesity rates in adults and children have more than doubled in last few decades. While recent studies may indicate an overall decline or no change in the rates among some groups, obesity is still a prevailing public health problem in the U.S. Disparities however exist based on factors such as race, gender, geographical region and the socioeconomic status of a group. In spite of the relationship between fast food and obesity, it (obesity) seems to be prevalent to some groups more than others. For instance, non-Hispanic blacks have the highest rates of obesity at 47.8 percent followed closely by the Hispanics at 42.5 percent. Whites and Asians have relatively low rates of obesity at 32.6 and 10.8 percent respectively. In relation to age, adults between the ages of 40-59 years have a higher prevalence at 39.5% compared to adults aged between 20-39 years at 30.3% or adults above 60 years at 35.4%. There is also a significant relationship between the socioeconomic status of a group and the rate of obesity. Higher income groups are likely to be less obese than low income groups. Also, higher income women are likely to have low levels of obesity than low income women. In addition to the disparity caused by age and socioeconomic factors, race is also a significant determinant in the rates of obesity among groups of people with high rates of obesity in the non-white population (L. Ogden Cynthia et al 2014).
High rates have always been attributed to the proliferation of fast food restaurants in areas easily accessible to many people. This has motivated many scholars to study the relationship between fast food and obesity and possible ways to reduce the numbers. Combined with low physical activity of the fast food consumers, obesity finds prevalence in this group of people. In order to understand the connection between fast foods and obesity, we need first to look at other factors that may contribute and escalate the effects of the fast foods on body weight.
Obesity impacts health in many ways. It is a cause of some chronic diseases that lead to early deaths. It also increases the risk of diabetes type 2 in fivefold in men and twelvefold in women and also increases the risk of hypertension. There is a complex relation between socioeconomic and physical environment as factors underlying obesity. One important factor towards reducing the levels of obesity is to modify the environment so that it does not promote sedentary behavior or provide easy access to energy-dense foods such as junk foods. The aim of this is to make healthy choice via environment change (Obesity and the Environment). Most people take foods with high energy content and then at the end of the day, they end up using only a fraction of the energy they have taken up. Due to this, they end up with surplus calories which then are converted to fat. Over time, they gain weight rapidly some leading to obesity while others just become overweight.
In a study done on the effect of increases in the local supply of fast food restaurants on obesity rates, the following was observed. Before the test, there were some few factors to be considered such as: the proximity to fast food restaurants and how they affect the rates of obesity in 3 million school going children and the weight gain in 3 million pregnant women. In the school going children, the focus were on the ninth graders while for the mothers was the weight during pregnancy. After the test, while results indicated that even though fast foods are not healthy, it is not obvious priori that the proximity of a fast food restaurant led to an increase level of obese population. The effect of changes in the proximity of fast food restaurant was found to have a slight effect in the levels of obesity. That is when the distance is very short. Lengthening the distance would give a slight fall in the levels of obesity for a particular group and vice versa for the same. The study found out that doubling the distance of the fast food restaurant made the number of obese children fall slightly. Proximity of the restaurants increased the number of these children by at least almost 1.7% of the obese children in a class.
Among the pregnant women, if the fast food restaurant was within half a mile of residence there was a probability of gaining over 20 kgs. The effect was even larger for mothers at proximity of 0.1 miles. Interestingly, the effect was observed to vary across races and educational backgrounds. The rate was high for African American mothers and mothers with high school education or less. Zero rates for mothers with college degrees or associate degrees (Currie et al 2014)..
From the above study, it is evident that. One, the increase in the supply of fast food restaurants has a significant effect of the obesity rates at least for some groups. On the other hand, proximity to fast food outlets did not come out as a major determinant in the rates of obesity. In fact, proximity to the fast food restaurants only increased the rate by only about 0.5 percent in the 9th graders while for the women it increased the rate by a rough 2.7 percent (Currie et al 2014). Ideally, fast food restaurants tend to open up in places where the demand is high. Again, due to the availability and easy access of the unhealthy foods, the obesity levels tend to rise.
While making healthy food easily accessible to more people could help reduce the rate of obesity in the American population, some researchers believe that such actions can only yield if they were combined with regulations to limit the access of unhealthy food. Governments have the ability to slow down or reverse the obesity epidemic if tougher regulations are introduced in the market of fast foods. One of the most common methods the government uses to restrict fast food access is by zoning. Zoning refers to placing restriction and bans to limit access to the fast foods. There are different methods of zoning including: Banning of fast food outlets in certain parts of a city, restricting the number of food outlets in a certain region; regulating the distance between other institutions and fast food outlets and outlets (Corporations and Health Watch 2010).
NPLAN is one organization that has enacted a food zoning model. This was after a report that 16.3% of adolescents and children aged 2-19 are obese and 31.9% are either obese or overweight. A study had shown that there was an increased potential of obese school going kids where a fast food restaurant is established within half a mile from the school. The zoning prohibits any fast food restaurant to be opened in close proximity to any school or other locations where children happen to frequent (Food Research Action Center Overweight and Obesity in the US Comments).
On legal basis, zoning is legitimate and shows an example of how children can be limited to access fast food restaurants. The state law allows local governments to use such measures to regulate growth and development of a community. Most communities may impose the zoning model by requiring the restaurants to be located in commercial spaces instead as opposed to residential districts. The ordinance however does not remove already established stores. It is rather used as an ideal for communities planning new schools or recreational facilities for children. The ordinance does not also affect other food restaurants offering healthy options. Mobile vendors who move in cars are however affected by such bans (Public Health Observatories).
Another strategy that the government may use to limit the consumption of fast food is by restricting advertising of the fast foods and junk. Most fast food adverts can mislead consumers particularly those with less knowledge in foods and nutrition. By restricting these advertisements, the aim is to make the fast foods less popular thus less ubiquitous which helps to change the social attitudes towards the foods. Conversely, these restrictions may render the consumers less knowledgeable about their choices and the foods to avoid should they come across them. Critics though argue that restricting advertisements is not an effective measure to reducing the rate of obesity in children (Public Heal...