We live in a world of fitness influencers and constant weight loss marketing. Our athletes are fitter than at any other time in American history, and nutritional sciences have advanced leaps and bounds. Despite such progress, the most recent National Institute of Health (NIH) data suggests that 42.4 percent of Americans are clinically obese. On an individual level, obesity is not always an indicator of poor health overall. That said, its prevalence in a population serves as a good barometer for disease risk.
There are many causes of Americans’ decreasing health. Sedentary lifestyles, a shift from locally produced to industrial food, and increasingly meat-based diets have all contributed to the obesity epidemic. While personal willpower and intelligent life choices are certainly important to protect your health, rising BMIs (body mass indices) are not solely due to consumer laziness. Fast food brands are at least partially responsible for the many American deaths to heart disease (the nation’s leading cause of death), diabetes, and cancer.
By no means is this article meant as an attack on the occasional unhealthy snack. Cheat days aren’t severely damaging to your health and eating McDonald’s once a week is not going to kill you. However, many popular fast food menu items have been specially designed to maximize their addictiveness. Profiteering food scientists and entrepreneurs have collaborated to create a product that brings their customers back, whether it’s good for them or not. Additionally, not only are fast food corporations preying on American consumers and ignoring the downstream health consequences caused by their food, but they’ve also manipulated prices. In many places in America, soda cans are cheaper than water bottles, damning evidence of a corrupt and unfair food economy.
Because fast food companies generally sell their products for outrageously low prices (ex. Burger King’s “2 for $5” deal), they target poor communities unable to afford higher quality food. Fresh fruits and vegetables are more expensive than a Big Mac, and for a family living below the poverty line, any food is better than starving. According to a 2011 study by Mayo Clinic medical professor James A Levine, “Counties with poverty rates of [thirty-five percent or more] have obesity rates 145 [percent] greater than wealthy counties.” It’s time that America wakes up and realizes that our fast food economy is sinister, dangerous, and unequal. We are allowing junk food titans to prey upon the underprivileged, effectively signalling that health discrimination is legally allowable.
Congress must act fast to pass laws restricting the sale of fast food and the proliferation of unhealthy chain restaurants. Additionally, more prevalent and noticeable food labels must be implemented, so that consumers clearly understand their food’s nutritional content (or lack thereof). Although the outgoing Biden administration has recently attempted to regulate food labels, Donald Trump’s return to power could signal a marked decrease in government oversight. State and community leaders must take action where the federal government won’t.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nominee for Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, has vocally criticized weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic, despite their success in breaking addictions to fast food. Even if such drugs stay on the market, their effectiveness may be short-lived. Fast food companies have many addictive compounds at their disposal, and they can experiment with their products to see what “hooks” weight loss patients best. Many scientists are hard at work to cure the obesity epidemic; but they will not succeed without the help of local, state, and national policy-makers. We all have a right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” While intelligent decision-making about the food we consume is still an important pillar to a healthy lifestyle, America must stop impairing its citizens via manipulative fast food chains that prioritize profit over people.
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