In Christopher Murray’s article he stated, “unhealthy diet contributes to approximately 678,000 deaths each year in the U.S., due to nutrition- and obesity-related diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, and type 2 diabetes.” The government and FDA have tried implementing ways to control obesity by displaying serving sizes on the back of products so the consumer can tell how much should be consumed. In school, meals that are offered meet national nutritional standards and physical education is provided. Sadly, obesity still seems to be on the rise in our country. The government should not be the answer for fighting against obesity. The fight should be a personal responsibility because the government can implement all these changes to help …show more content…
One of the government’s most common way to help with the fight of obesity is posting calories of food items on menus. The idea is to make the consumer aware of the number of calories that they are taking in, kind of like a warning. Now let’s be realistic, there a warning signs posted everywhere, for example traffic signs. Traffic signs are placed to help deter us from dangers but on average how many times are these signs ignored? According to Michael Marlow, “A recent study examined the impact of New York City’s 2008 law requiring restaurant chains to post calorie counts. While 28 percent of patrons said the information influenced their choices, researchers could not detect a change in calories purchased after the law. A different study in Seattle found similar evidence that their mandatory menu labeling did little to change fast food purchasing behavior.” Another method that the government has implemented, is taxing sugary drinks to deter consumers from the consumption of sugary items. Instead of reducing obesity, it’s been observed that the taxing of sugary drinks has benefitted more for the government. Michael Marlow stated, “few studies examined the impact of increasing sugary drinks taxes by 20 percent or more. They find that higher taxes do reduce obesity, but the effect is rather limited. Interestingly, soda taxes mostly cause people without