Over the past few decades, fast food consumption in the United States has risen dramatically and become ingrained in American culture. However, extensive medical research has established clear links between fast food and severe chronic health conditions such as obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. These preventable diseases strain both individuals and the healthcare system. While banning fast food may limit consumer choice, it offers the most effective means to curb the consumption of an unhealthy commodity and protect public health. This essay argues that banning fast food is crucial to combating these health issues and promoting a healthier lifestyle among Americans.
Fast-food culture has mushroomed in America; it is spreading very fast. This has made the issue of eating culture reach across the country from one end to the other. McDonald’s, Burger King, and Taco Bell have almost become household names and have stuck with other franchises (Tapia-Segura et al., 2023). The popularity of fast food can reasonably be explained by fast food convenience and affordability, thus spreading among those majorities who either lead a hectic life or do not have convenient access to other possibilities of food consumption. The effects of regular fast food intake are strongly discouraging. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also has other contributors to the high levels of obesity in American adults, such as the fat, sugar, and high content of calories in fast foods. A fact sheet from the CDC indicated that currently, over 42% of adults in America have been classified as obese, whereby 9.0% have severe obesity, and the other 31.1% are overweight (Fryar et al., 2018). The more one eats fast food, the more likely they are at risk of getting the most common and deadly diseases in the US: diabetes and heart disease.
At the same time, overconsumption of fast food strongly relates to frequent occurrences of obesity, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular illnesses, and diabetes. Their high-calorie levels come from unhealthy fats and refined carbohydrates without enriched nutrients like vitamins, minerals, and fibers. Other research has proven that compared to people consuming fast food less periodically, those doing it twice or more a week have almost doubled odds of becoming obese, with the risk for metabolic syndrome and diabetes going up by 25-51% (Ntarladima et al., 2022). Suppose one consciously decides to eliminate fast food from their diet, substituting it with healthy edible items. Their risks of catching severe health issues are drastically reduced in that case. This underscores the relevance and importance of efforts to facilitate healthier diet choices and the reduction of fast food for better health status and better living. Indeed, sitting back and getting to a balanced diet with all kinds of foodstuffs containing different nutrients is the best possible cure for better health maintenance and reduction of potential chronic disease risks that may be brought about by fast food consumption.
Heart disease is yet another risk associated with fast foods. Fast foods are high in bad fats, salt, and cholesterol; therefore, there is a direct risk to the heart. Research has shown that the increased incidences of ingesting fast foods are strongly connected with high blood pressure, increased levels of cholesterol, and other risk factors that threaten the heart (Fuhrman, 2018). The American Heart Association has also issued warnings with the same notion that too much fast food may increase one’s chance of getting heart disease and other associated cardiovascular problems by significant percentages. This implication by itself, therefore, gives powerful insights, bearing in mind that heart disease is elaborated as one of the leading killer diseases in the United States. The high consumption prevalence of fast foods in the American diet has become a red alert to put control measures in place. Public sensitization on the danger posed by the consumption of fast foods and policy measures that will encourage healthy consumption through diets is paramount to offset the public health burden posed by heart diseases through campaigns and awareness creation.
In addition, fast food consumption directly relates to diabetes, besides heart disease. The high content of sugar in fast foods, when mixed with refined carbohydrates, may lead to an insulin resistance quality in people with type 2 diabetes. Under these assumptions, the American Diabetes Association assumes that type 2 diabetes accounts for about 90-95% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes among adults (Sobhani et al., 2021). It has also been more common in the past because people have generally poor diets, such as regularly eating fast food. Poor overall diet may be fueling an epidemic of type 2 diabetes, which can lead to diseases that shorten millions of lives, leave millions more totally or partially debilitated, and can lead to severe and life-threatening health problems. With the well-established strong link that exists between the fast foods highly consumed and diabetes, nothing less should be done than reverse this trend, primarily through public health-related interventions, such as education-driven campaigns and policy change to upsurge consumer awareness about the risk borne in the fast food consumption and the fostering of healthy eating habits. Still further, increasing access to healthy foods and environments will give an excellent chance to eat healthy with the purpose of reducing diabetes incidence and improving the overall health of the population.
While there is a predominant element of personal responsibility attached to health hazards, in some cases, the danger likely posed by such products is just as calls for government intervention as other more traditional health dangers (Fuhrman, 2018). After all, governments worldwide have implemented a long list of regulations on everything from trans fats to lead paint, from indoor smoking to pollutants that regulate indoor smoking. In their omnipresence, aggressive marketing, and effect on children and other vulnerable consumers, junk food easily meets the same qualification. Most of the time, these groups are in no position to make informed decisions or even resist the level of crazes in fast foods that come with a lifetime of health implications. Moreover, in all circumstances, it remains the responsibility of various governments to maintain the health and welfare of the public; hence, there is a need to tackle adverse effects that present themselves out of fast foods as an aspect of this due call of duty. Therefore, settling for policies that limit or even go to the extent of outlawing fast foods in some contexts serves to protect individuals and communities from their vulnerability to its effects. By regulating such foods in advance, the government will be seen to have fulfilled the roles of public health care and, hence, healthy lives for its citizens.
In most cases, critics against banning fast foods will find this a violation of personal freedom and will always argue that people can eat whatever they want. Food choice is individual freedom, but one must know what choices to make regarding public welfare when consuming these foods creates social implications. The effects of fast food spread beyond just individual choice; it imposes a burden on society. Fast food is the network that begets the problem and elevates the cost of health care with the persistent pumping out of adverse health consequences in the form of diet-related diseases, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes (Fuhrman, 2018). The broadness of advertising, thus getting more divisions of fast food in the communities, and the depth of impact in some ways, just help the new walls to strengthen the culture of unhealthy eating and feed declining quality of life cycles for many Americans. Advocating for the fast food ban, one will be at the forefront regarding people’s health and health status, let alone the fact that this is indeed the move on the frontline to establish an overall healthier public. Promoting healthier dietary behaviors and creating a healthy environment support general wellbeing and improve national health.
Critics opposing fast food over the regular argument are linked to violating civil liberties and individuals’ choices more than required. Critics argue that people should have freedom of choice regardless of whether such dietary decisions are for their wellbeing (Fuhrman, 2018). It should be understood, however, that the restriction of the choice circle of consumers in health preservation is ethically and legally grounded only in the situation when proven ill practices seriously threaten the life and welfare of society. From an ethical perspective, protecting public health may justify the limitation of individual freedoms in case they bring harm. It is within the legal framework through which governments set policies for the betterment of their people, even in doing so if it means some people’s preferences may have to be limited. The verified link of fast food to several health issues—such as obesity, heart disease, and diabetes—makes the strongest argument for interference. However severe they may seem, claims regarding civil liberties and the right to choose must be weighed against the greater purpose of public welfare.
An example of a rebuttal would be that since the arguments against the policy to ban fast food suggest urgency beyond what attempts at voluntary education had allowed, some might suggest a “nudge” strategy should be better used to such ends (AlTamimi et al., 2022). Laudable though the aspects are, the deadly impacts of fast food consumption prompt a more careful and persistent course. That balances personal freedoms against the urgent necessity of limiting health crises with measures known to work, such as prohibitions and prioritizing public wellbeing in a community. The established link between fast foods and severe health issues makes it paramount to deal with the issue explicitly rather than in the form of a voluntary education that may not work, or the schools on their own may not succeed in mitigating the profound and far-reaching consequences of excessive consumption of junk food. Proffering preventive policies that restrict or prohibit access to fast foods would make the governmentality on the wellbeing of citizens, with even a tolerable overriding to several individual preferences in the interest of public health and welfare.
In conclusion, fast food should be banned in all of the United States to see obesity, heart disease, and diabetes curbed as much as humanly possible amongst the American adult population. The health risks of fast foods are just too vague and enormous to be wished away. Drastic action and unprecedented measures are all that are staring us in the face in a bid to champion healthier eating habits and general lifestyles. Banning fast food should be a significant step towards this cause among all Americans.
References
AlTamimi, J. Z., Alshwaiyat, N. M., Alkhalidy, H., AlFaris, N. A., AlKehayez, N. M., Alsemari, M. A., & Alagal, R. I. (2022). Prevalence of Fast Food Intake among a Multi-Ethnic Population of Young Men and Its Connection with Sociodemographic Determinants and Obesity. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(22), 14933.https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/22/14933
Fryar, C. D., Carroll, M. D., & Ogden, C. L. (2018). Prevalence of overweight, obesity, and severe obesity among children and adolescents aged 2–19 years: United States, 1963–1965 through 2015–2016. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/obesity-adult-17-18/overweight-obesity-adults-H.pdf
Fuhrman, J. (2018). The hidden dangers of fast and processed food. American journal of lifestyle medicine, 12(5), 375-381. https://doi.org/10.1177/1559827618766483
Ntarladima, A. M., Karssenberg, D., Poelman, M., Grobbee, D. E., Lu, M., Schmitz, O., … & Vaartjes, I. (2022). Associations between the fast-food environment and diabetes prevalence in the Netherlands: a cross-sectional study. The Lancet Planetary Health, 6(1), e29-e39. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(21)00298-9/fulltext
Sobhani, S. R., Mortazavi, M., Kazemifar, M., & Azadbakht, L. (2021). The association between fast-food consumption with cardiovascular diseases risk factors and kidney function in patients with diabetic nephropathy. Journal of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Research, 13(3), 241. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8493224/
Tapia-Segura, S. G., Bastidas-Aráuz, M. B. B., Inga-Aguagallo, C. F., Zambrano-Loor, W. S., & Medina-García, H. F. (2023). FRANCHISE SYSTEM FOR FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS. Journal of Namibian Studies: History Politics Culture, 33, 2267-2288. https://namibian-studies.com/index.php/JNS/article/view/843/671
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