Fast Food Restaurants - How unhealthy is Fast Food?

Fast Food Restaurants - How unhealthy is Fast Food?

Introduction

Most fast food meals are actually low in nutrients and rich in fat. Even salads can be harmful with the wrong dressing is calorie traps. Almost all fast food products are also rich in additives such as colorings, flavor enhancers and preservatives. With regular fast food consumption, weight gain is through the many empty calories probably. (Anderson and Matsa, 2009).

Discussion

Studies show that America's youth are heavier than ever before. As a result, obesity-related illnesses, such as Type II diabetes, are on the rise among the nation's young people. It is true that children are eating more high-fat and high-sugar foods and are less active than ever before. But experts question how great a role those factors play in those health problems.

Since young people spend a large part of their waking hours in school, many people have focused on the role schools play in the nutrition and health of the nation's children. Specifically, they have been looking at what kids eat for lunch and what types of foods are offered in schools, both in cafeterias and through vending machines.

Critics say that the adverse health effects of junk food are so significant that it should be banned from schools. Foods like candy, potato chips and soda have no or almost no nutritional value, they say, and have no place in schools. According to a 2001 report by the USDA, only 2% of school-aged children meet the Food Guide Pyramid serving suggestions for all five food groups. Some 56% to 85% of children, depending on age, drink soda an any given day. And more than one-third of teenage males drink three or more servings of soda each day.

The consequences of overconsumption of junk food are very clear, critics ...