How Is Fast Food Affecting America?

Food is something that drives the lives of many individuals across the nation. From the little girl sitting down to dinner for the first time in a while to the starving college student, to the overworked businesswoman on her 30 minute lunch break. The choice whether to eat healthily or not is a question that many Americans are faced with every day. Sadly, the common answer to the dilemma has become stopping by the Mcdonald’s drive-thru or quickly going through the assembly line at Subway. While these establishments may offer a convenient solution to daily hunger, the effects that may result from the consumption of fast food may not be worth the existence of fast food chains any longer. Fast food has a negative impact on America in regards to

In regards to the youth of America, “Nearly one-third of American children ages four to nineteen eat fast food every day, resulting in a weight gain of about 6 extra pounds (2.72kg) per year for each child” (Currie-McGhee). While it is needed that children grow and develop at steady pace, the extra weight that is put on with the help of fast food will impede on the health of these young individuals. Eating this food will satisfy their current state of hunger, but it will most likely create unwanted health issues later in life. One example being the manifestation of the overconsumption of salt due to eating fast food. “the frequent consumption of certain fast foods by young teenagers may be associated with an increased preference for salt taste” (Kim). The possible ramifications of this were pointed out by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in their article The Nutrition Source, “Increased blood volume means more work for the heart and more pressure on blood vessels. Over time, the extra work and pressure can stiffen blood vessels, leading to high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke” (Health Risks). Fast food can be directly credited for some of the health issues exhibited in those who consume

In his article, The Impact of Fast Food on Local Community, Peter Suter states, “Not only has it contributed to the significant growth in the food waste that our country has experienced, they also are driving other industries that strip our land of its natural resources, such as grain and cattle processing and transportation” (Suter). The production of fast food is a wasteful endeavor that results in the addition of unneeded garbage to landfills across the country. It can also directly be linked to practices such as deforestation and others that are effective in their destruction of the earth. “The amount of food waste generated in the last 25 years has increased by 1.2 million tons, greatly due to the fast food expansion and popularity (Davies and Konisky)” (Suter). This excessive food waste has grown over time with the expansion of fast food, which presents the possibility of the wasteful behavior with fast food will not end, but rather become an even bigger problem, one that can not be fixed. Fast food is effective in its addition to the various troubles that plague the