The Epidemic of Obesity

  Obesity Epidemic

"A government resposibility"

        In America, 1/3 of children are overweight or obese putting them a greater risk of obesity related conditions like diabetes and cancer, heart disease and asthma ... and that number is only going to go up when these unhealthy children will be reaching adulthood ( Michelle Obama, NAACP 2010) and this is why it should be a government responsibility. The same way it is responsible of promoting education and promoting health so why not spreading awareness against obesity and the health consequences related to it.

"Fast foods reduce the quality of diet and provide unhealthy choices especially among children and adolescents raising their risk of obesity" (Dr. Ananya Mandal, MD, 2015)

        According to Zinczenco (2002), "McDonald's, Taco Bell, Kentucky Friend Chicken or Pizza Hut were the only available options for an American kid to get an affordable meal" (p. 391, 392). To illustrate my argument : an american kid is not responsible for the inflation or the increase rate of the ingredients such as fruits or vegetables for example, necessary to prepare an "healthy meal" so why would they be responsible for their overweight and other medical related problems when the majority of them living in poverty can only afford those fast-foods, or because of their maturity level cannot make better choices concerning their health. In 2002, according to the National Institutes of Health, Type 2 diabetes accounts for at least 30 percents of all new childhood cases of diabetes in the country ( Zinczenco, 2002, p. 392).  

            Fast-food restaurants do not or barely provide information necessary to know what we are consuming : the calories charts should be provided and be under Food and Drug Administration labelling Laws. But even if provided, it is also hard to understand what is written on them. And by barely giving those informations and keeping the consumers in the dark, the government along with those fast-foods companies and private medical companies  are responsible for systematically setting up the population, mostly poor families to failure by capitalizing monetary to protect and increase their profits in this epidemic. 

        Obesity is a public health care matter considering that it can lead to other diseases and according to Radley barlko ( 2004)  " All the democratic candidates for president boasted plants to push health care further into the public sector" (p. 396) and by pushing it more towards public sector, we could find a better approach towards this epidemic and it could also result to the decrease of stigmatisation in the communities. 

        

        The government has the responsibility to incorporate the obesity awareness in the education and medical system and should put more restrictions on what the population is consuming for example : " on what McDonald's can put on it's menu, what Safeway or Kroger can put on grocery shelves, or holding food companies responsible for the bad habits of unhealthy consumers." ( Balko, 2004, p. 397)

Reference 

Zinczenco, David. Don't Blame The Eater. 2002

Balko, Radley. What You Eat Is Your Business. 2004

"First Lady Michelle Obama Addresses the 101st NAACP Convention". YouTube, uploaded by NAACP, 12 July 2010, https://youtu.be/ilal-sfplpc?feature=shared