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Fast Food And Its Effect On Obesity

Decent Essays

Khalid Alebraheem
ENG 101
November 25, 2014
Fast Food and Its Effect on Obesity
Today, the names of fast food and obesity are synonymous worldwide. Since the 1970s, the number of fast food restaurants in the US has doubled, corresponding to approximately 300,000 new chains (Egger and Boyd 23). Equally, there has been an exponential increase in the number of obese people over the same period, turning obesity into a public health problem in the US and most developed nations (Egger and Boyd 25). Hence, there is a strong correlation between fast food and the prevalence of obesity. Arguably, there are numerous reasons for the obesity epidemic; nonetheless, poor nutrition, large portions, and a high fat and caloric content typical of fast food make it a great precursor to obesity. Conversely, studies have proved that people, including Americans, can become obese without consuming fast food, and that there is a strong genetic factor that is linked to obesity.
Fast foods are highly processed and full of calories, sodium, and fat. To effectively put in context the contents of fast food, consider some typical fast food menu pieces. There are 29 grams (g) of fat and 540 calories in the Big Mac of McDonalds, 40g of fat and 670 calories in Burger King’s Whopper, and 24g of fat and 770 calories in the Nachos Bell Grande of Taco Bell. Looking into the sides, there are 19g of fat and 380 calories are in McDonalds Medium fries, and 16g of fat and 360 calories in Dairy Queen’s Onion rings. In

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