Fast Food Consumption

2 Pages 505 Words

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the consumption of fast food in children from an urban setting compared to those of a suburban setting. The sample consists of kids from kids in an urban environment as well as kids from a suburban environment. My first hypothesis concerns whether contextual variables of the setting influence the individuals choice when choosing what to eat.
According to former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, fast food restaurants crowd out access to healthier food in inner-city neighborhoods. Satcher also argues that fast food marketing in inner-city neighborhoods is comparable to overly aggressive tobacco marketing in inner-city neighborhoods during the 1990s. Mr. David Satcher said that “ the situation is so bad that it should be called an epidemic among children. According to Northeastern University, “McDonald’s alone spent $1.1 billion on advertising in 2001; the government’s budget for a pro-fruit/vegetable campaign was $1.1 million.” (emphases added) People in the poorest urban areas have two and half times more exposure to fast food outlets than people in the wealthiest category.
The fast food industry may also exert undue influence on children, regardless of their social, economic, and ethnic backgrounds:
According to CBS News, “the highest levels of fast-food consumption were found in youngsters with higher household income levels, boys, older children, blacks and children living in the South.”
“Every day, nearly one-third of U.S. children aged 4 to 19 eat fast food, which likely packs on about six extra pounds per child per year and increases the risk of obesity, a study of 6,212 youngsters found.” According to Consumer Reports, “[a]-not-yet published 15-year study from Harvard Medical School of more than 3,700 young adults from across the country found that eating fast food more than twice a week increased the risk of obesity by about 50 percent for white...