Why the Government is Responsible for Curing Obesity
Obesity is an increasing problem in today’s world. This growing epidemic has the
potential of adversely affecting not only frequent health issues and increased costs of
healthcare, but it is negatively impacting the lives of our children. Ten percent of the world is
now obese, which includes 78.6 million adults in the U.S., with one in twenty suffering from
extreme obesity; extreme obesity is defined as a person having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of
more than thirty. This number has increased from 5.7 percent to 6.3 percent in less than ten
years. The blame can be pointed in many directions, but one possible solution can be found
through government regulation of junk food.
Based on a
…show more content…
One may argue that it may prove impossible for government to control unhealthy or
high sugar content foods because so many foods contain high volumes of sugar. To stop
overeating of fast food, or other candies, you would have to cut off all sources of sugar.
This is not entirely true; while food such as bread, fruit, and dairy does have a moderate
amount of sugar, we do not usually crave these foods. Scientist Deborah A. Cohen writes, “We
are hard-wired to enjoy eating, which stands to reason from an evolutionary point of view. If
we didn’t have the drive to obtain food coupled with the pleasure of eating it, the human
species would not survive.” She follows this up by explaining how the brain uses reasoning to
decide what and when to eat.
When cognitive ability is drained, people are more likely to eat unhealthy where as if
your mind is alive and alert, you choose a healthy option if provided. A study showed that when
a group is given a test, they choose chocolate cake forty-three percent of the time than when a
group is not given the test. What this means is that even though we know eating unhealthy is
wrong, we still do because it’s easier; it’s why we have grown up in a society where food