Popularity of Fast-Food: Its Causes and Effects Essay Example

been convenient, they have slowly affected the pocket and the family resources. Imagine a family of four taking food from one of the restaurant three times a week with a budget of approximately $10 a meal? This comes to $40 once and $120 a week showing how expensive they may become though very convenient.

Commercialization is the second reasons why Fast foods are popular today. This is the most ignored reason by many of the citizens. While sitting anywhere taking something while watching a favorite show, the Television will bring several commercials. There are approximately a total of twelve commercials in Television within two hours of watching which the common eye will not notice. This has been the trend and has made the Fast food corporations to earn a lot of money although they lead to cases of obesity (St-Onge, et al 1070). Commercials have continued to affect people in simple ways. One of the main ways which is most imaginable would include kiddie toys. When children are watching television and comes across a Burger King containing a new toy from a new movie, the immediate act would be to buy food from them in order to gift the child.

This has an effect in the health conditions of the child. There has been a looming case of childhood obesity due to such effects and generally high rate of consuming food from Fast food restaurants. With the pressure from children to their parents claiming the need for the advertised items coming together with food from the restaurants, cases of unhealthy children has increased. Commercialization has also been the reason behind the latest craze about healthy food that

has captured the minds of almost each and every citizen. Although they know about the consequences as a result of using much of these products, many people are adamant to continue using the same food for convenience reasons (Schlosser, 146). This explains the reason as to why Fast food restaurants and corporations continue to be popular despite their effects to the general public.

The third reason as to why Fast food has become very popular is their taste. One of the products that make many people love dining and buying from these joints due to its taste is Cheese burrito and also Taco Bells. These among many others have acted as good reasons as to why many people have crowded in their locations in order to make sure that they treat their taste. Many people argue that there must be something extra in their foods a reason why many of them have become addicted to the food from their joints (Caroli, et al S106). Some of the characteristics in the food from their joints include being high on fat, added preservatives and low protein levels due to the reason that it has been forced to grow in a fast pace. This in return has attracted a high rate of following from many of the residents basing their arguments on taste.

Many of the adverts in the media today have been designed in such a way that they promote the notion that fast food makes us overweight and also sickly. This has however been taken as a mere propaganda as countering adverts have shown why fast food is better as compared to cooking from home or offices. Many

have argued that eating food from the restaurants is not the only cause of such complications and diseases (Smith,36). There are many other causes of obesity as opposed to primarily basing the argument on the use of fast food. Genetics has also been linked with the increased rate of cases of obesity. There are therefore many cases of obesity resulting from other causes other than food from fast foods.

Conclusion

There are many reasons as to why fast food has remained popular in the modern days. This has come in hand with different effects and causes which have remained out of sight of the common man. The popularity of the said fast food corporations may end when the people learn on the effects the food will cause in their bodies. Many people have the knowhow of the effects but have ended up unconcerned while others do not have any knowledge of the same. There are different reasons as to how food from these fast food joints can affect the common citizen. This includes obesity in children and adults as well as addiction to the food from the corporations. In the long-run, the popularity of these fast food joints can lead to high cholesterol level, blood pressure, obesity and also diabetes. The consequences of these include regular visits to the doctors, buying of medical supplies and also the possibility of death. The investment by the government to curb cases of obesity may as well be used for development of other important and critical areas. Our lives and that of our families will highly depend on avoiding addiction from the fast food restaurants or face the consequences of continued

use.

Work Cited

1. Binkley, James K., James Eales, and Mark Jekanowski. "The relation between dietary change and rising US obesity." International journal of obesity 24.8 (2000): 1032-1039.
2. Bowman, Shanthy A., et al. "Effects of fast-food consumption on energy intake and diet quality among children in a national household survey."Pediatrics 113.1 (2004): 112-118.
3. Caroli, M., et al. "Role of television in childhood obesity prevention."International Journal of Obesity 28 (2004): S104-S108.
4. Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print.
5. Smith, Andrew F. Fast Food and Junk Food: An Encyclopedia of What We Love to Eat. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood, 2012. Print.
6. St-Onge, Marie-Pierre, Kathleen L. Keller, and Steven B. Heymsfield. "Changes in childhood food consumption patterns: a cause for concern in light of increasing body weights." The American journal of clinical nutrition78.6 (2003): 1068-1073.