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Ronnie Holcomb
Charley Bevill
ENGL 1301-03
22 March 2016
Report On the Relationship of Fast Food and Obesity
Obesity has been a serious problem in The United States for decades, and one of the
major contributing factors of such a high rate of obesity is the increased consumption of fast
food. Obesity and being over-weight is a health concern that should not be neglected. Even
though obesity rates have not been growing as fast as they have in the past, it is still a significant
issue that has to do with the general health of the country.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines obesity as someone that
is obese is someone who has a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater (Defining Obesity Adult
Overweight and Obesity).
BMI isnt a perfect way to measure whether someone is healthy or not, but it is the metric
used by researchers to determine obesity. The CDC explains the BMI metric:
BMI is persons weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters.
BMI does no measure body fat directly, but research has shown that BMI is
moderately correlated with more direct measures of body fat obtained from
skinfold thickness measurements, bioelectrical impedance, densitometry
(underwater weighing), dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and other
methods. Furthermore, BMI appears to be as strongly correlated with various
metabolic and disease outcome as there are these more direct measures of body
fatness. In general, BMI is an inexpensive and easy-to-perform method of

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screening for weight category, for example underweight, normal or healthy
weight, overweight, and obesity (About Adult BMI).
Being overweight and obese is not just an innocuous choice of life style. According to the
CDC some examples of health effects associated with obesity are all causes of death (mortality),
type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis (A breakdown
of cartilage and bone within a joint), a relatively low quality of life, some types of cancer, mental
illness such as clinical depression, body pain, and difficulty with physical functions (The Health
Effects of Overweight and Obesity).
Americans are consuming an astonishing amount of fast food, and a significant portion of
the population is obese. Obesity has only been a problem for the US for a couple of decades, ever
since McDonalds, the biggest fast food chain, filed for its first trademark in 1961, obesity and
fast food consumption have both seen significant growth. On TheAtlantics website, there is an
animated map that tracks the CDCs official data of rates of obesity from 1985 to 2010. The map
shows that percent of the population that is obese tripled from 1990 to 2010 in many southern
states. Jumping from 10% to 30% in Texas. Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children
and quadrupled in adolescence (Look How Quickly the U.S. Got Fat (1985-2010 Animated
Map)). That data correlates with the fact that in the year 2000, Americans spent approximately
one hundred ten dollars on the fast food industry. Thats up from six billion in 1970. (Schlosser,
Eric. Fast Food Nation. Paragraph 5).

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Fig. 1. Chart that shows

rates of childhood obesity from 1971 to 2008. From Gladd, Jeffrey, MD. Keep Your Kids Off
the Obesity Chart KevinMD.com. KevinMD. Web. 22 January 2012.
Children are more vulnerable to the dangers of fast food. Children and young adults do
not have a fully developed brain, so un-healthy habits they form in adolescence are very difficult
to break even when they become adults. According to the CDC, Obese youth are more likely to
have risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure. In a
population- based sample of 5- to 17-year-olds, 70% of obese youth had at least one risk factor
for cardiovascular disease (Childhood Obesity Facts).
Another example of the dangers of fast food is that people can become physically
addicted in a similar way to drug addictions. High-calorie and high-fat foods, such as many of
the items someone will find in a fast food restaurant, affect the brain in much of the same way as
cocaine does. Sarah Klein, a writer at the health section of CNNs website, reports:
Doing drugs such as cocaine and eating too much junk food both gradually
overload the so-called pleasure centers in the brain, according to Paul J. Kenny,
Ph.D., an associate professor of molecular therapeutics at the Scripps Research

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Institute, in Jupiter, Florida. Eventually the pleasure centers crash, and achieving
the same amount of pleasure--or even just feeling normal--requires increasing
amounts of the drug or food, says Kenny, the lead author of the study. website
(Fatty Foods May Cause Cocaine-Like Addiction).
Fast food is certainly harmless to eat in moderation, however, since it has addictive properties, it
can be risky to consume.
Obesity is a major health concern for The United States of America, and it has been for
many decades. Therefore, it is important that everyone is aware of the fact that fast food is a
major contributor of the high obesity rates in the country. Every citizen should fully appreciate
the dangers of fast food before they consume it.

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Works Cited
About Adult BMI
cdc.gov. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web. 15 May 2015.
Childhood Obesity Facts
cdc.gov. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web. 27 August 2015.
Defining Adult Overweight and Obesity
cdc.gov. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web. 27 April 2012.
The Health Effects of Overweight and Obesity
cdc.gov. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web. 05 June 2015.
Hablin, James. Look How Quickly the U.S. Got Fat (1985-2010)
Theatlantic.com. The Atlantic. Web. 11 April 2013.
Gladd, Jeffrey. Keep Your Kids Off the Obesity Chart
Kevinmd.com. KevinMD. Web. 22 January 2012.
Klein, Sarah. Fatty Food May Cause Cocaine-Like Addiction
CNN.com. Cable News Network. Web. 30 March 2010.
Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation. Houghton Mifflin,
2001. Print.