The Association Between Childhood Obesity and Fast Food
Monday, March 1st, 2010Is there actually a connection between childhood obesity and fast food? The answer will vary depending upon whom you involve in the question. Apparently the fast food industry would like to deny such a connection. But parents will do well to consider the facts. Obesity isn’t merely a problem of how a child looks. It also means many dangerous and often deadly health conditions. Being overweight is associated with bronchial asthma, arthritis, joint damage, heard disease, diabetes, certain types of cancer, gout, sleep apnea, respiratory distress, and chronic pain. So, thinking about whether or not childhood obesity and fast food are linked can mean saving a child’s health. Let’s look at this subject a bit closer.
One reason to think that there’s a link between childhood obesity and fast food is that obesity is a modern problem. Doctors have never encountered as many cases of it in the past as they do nowadays. It seems as if it’s no coincidence that we also have more fast food restaurants today than ever before! These restaurants are on just about every street corner in the U.S. They are even inside of many other businesses such as retail stores, libraries, office buildings, and even schools. But the number of restaurants and the number of cases of children being overweight doesn’t itself prove that there’s a connection between childhood obesity and fast food.
Nonetheless, you would do well to look at the types of foods served at fast food restaurants. With this in mind, the connection between childhood obesity and fast food may be more glaring. Just about all items on a fast food menu are very calorie-dense. This means that they have a lot of calories for the amount of food you’re getting. About all medium sized hamburgers have about 500 or more calories. Compare that to a turkey sandwich on wheat bread which might have around 200 calories. And, of course, along with the hamburger comes fries and a soda, and maybe even a milkshake or dessert.
The link between childhood obesity and fast food becomes obvious when you think about how frequently children consume these kinds of meals. Just one fast food meal can hold a full day’s worth of calories. A child that eats these meals many times per week or more than one per day can mean they’re virtually eating thousands of extra calories per week.
The number of calories that an individual will normally devour at a fast food restaurant is an obvious connection between childhood obesity and fast food. If a child is active enough to burn the extra calories it might not be a problem. But a lot of children nowadays live very sedentary lives, sitting in front of the television screen during their spare time instead of than being outside playing. Even though the connection between childhood obesity and fast food is obvious, the food isn’t the only perpetrator or cause to the problem. A parent had best get their child up and active in order to preserve his or her health.
For a free guide to healthful cooking, visit Facts About Childhood Obesity. For more information about some of the causes of childhood obesity visit Facts About Childhood Obesity.
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