The Vending Machine: The Epidemic Of Childhood Obesity

Beaverton School District Administrators,

For a long time, we have been aware of the disastrous extent caused by the obesity epidemic; over 13 million children this year will face the health and emotional harm of obesity every day. What has become more even more apparent is the influence of fast food organizations, who cleverly market foods that contain dangerous toxins and agents towards our children.

We encourage our children to exercise and stay active, without really placing an extensive focus on what they eat. From what I have seen in our schools, children are purchasing items from their vending machines and student stores that contain unfathomable amounts of added sugars, caffeine and refined grains, which collectively cause calcium

In the early 1800s, vending machines were implemented into the commercial world, where they were used to dispense postcards in London. In the late 1880’s, the gumball machine was introduced and became immensely popular. They started to appear in all parts of the world, and made significant profits.

Vending machines boomed, and began to sell specialty items like insurance policies, fragrances and birth control. But the world was taken by storm in the early 1900’s, were the first automat restaurant was introduced, which allowed you to order simple foods through vending machines. These became very popular, and just a few years later, Coca-Cola began to sell their drinks in vending machines only dedicated to them. It was only until the 1950’s when food and drink were offered in vending machines. Today, there are millions of vending machines throughout the United States, and the entire vending industry has reported revenues of 7 billion dollars a year.

What I saw did not surprise me. Students were choosing chips and cookies that were at the top of the vending machine, usually with bright, reflective packaging. These items contained large amounts of sodium, added sugar and fats, and were most often chosen, due to their location in the vending machine. I also noticed that as students were browsing the vending machine for a snack, they did not look at any rows of the vending machine that were below eye level, where some of the healthier alternatives for snacks were