Brooks+M.+-+POSITION+PAPER

Fast food is a huge part in the global society. We crave for good tasting food at a low price that is given to their hands in a minimal amount of time. Us pitiful consumers don't understand what exactly is in this 'food', such as "azodicarbonamide, a flour-bleaching agent most commonly used in the manufacturing of foamed plastics like gym mats and the soles of shoes" (TheWeek). If every single consumer of fast food really understood what is in the food we eat, I garuntee the world would become a much more healthier world to live in, and obesity rates would drop dramatically. For example, if we knew that typical fast food meat is made up of leftovers like "pig bits like tripe, heart and scalded stomach" (TheWeek), and that these leftovers are ground up into a pink paste and then injected with "ammonia, a chemical commonly found used in glass cleaning and window cleaning products" (Adams), a huge chunk of fast food consumers would switch to a healthier route. The things that they put in our food is dangerous to the human body, and the human body wasn't designed to consume such odd ingredients. If information was leaked about what is exactly in our fast food, the revolution of fast food would be stopped, and the revolution of a healthier alternative would be started.

Fast food is a huge part of the entire human society. Millions of people rely on it for meals, but they don't know what is in it, and why it is turning their lives completely around. Fast food has been tied to a huge increase in adult, and childhood obesity, and "increased weight and obesity are risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes" (Traister). Fast food is changing the lives of millions of people as it is one of the primary reasons that causes obesity. Some ingredients, such as "ammonia, a chemical commonly found used in glass cleaning and window cleaning products" (Adams), are not easy for your body to digest, and contain an incredible amount fats and salts, which is also hard for your body to digest. Because of the problems of digestion, these fats are then stored in the body, thus making more and more people obese. Fast food also has a route to developing diabetes as seen by a report by The Office of the Surgeon General, in which they say "that a gain of just 11 to 18 pounds doubles your normal risk for type 2 diabetes." As I said earlier, fast food leads to obesity, and obesity leads to the development of diabetes. If more people are educated about what fast food can actually do to you, we could stop obesity, and lower diabetes cases all around the world.

If we could scare the people by releasing and spreading the 'hidden' ingredients in fast food products, we could show that fast food is unsafe, and show that healthier alternatives are the way to go. Some of the ingredients are unthinkable, and I wonder how exactly the people of the fast food restaurants figured out that they could work to make cheaper alternatives. For example, one main ingredient in the famous McRib is "azodicarbonamide, a flour-bleaching agent most commonly used in the manufacturing of foamed plastics like gym mats and the soles of shoes" (TheWeek). This ingredient was just released recently, and it is scaring off people already. Another ingredient is " Tertiary Butylhydroquinone, or TBHQ as it is more commonly referred to as, is in fact a chemical preservative which is a form of butane" (Botes) and it is also found in "certain brands of pet foods, as well as in cosmetic and baby skincare products, varnish, lacquers and resins" and Silly Putty. TBHQ is sprayed on the chicken nuggets found in almost every single fast food joint, and is used to keep freshness. Not only are the ingredients discusting, but so is the way they make the 'meat', as they grind up "pig bits like tripe, heart and scalded stomach" (TheWeek) and they use the unused parts, like eyeballs and tendons. Just typing that grinds my stomach, and if the people all around the world figure this out, it will for them also. as you can see, fast food is absolutely disgusting, and it needs to be changed to a more healthier route to help protect the people.

Surprisingly, fast food hasn't been around for that long. Also, fast food then, is nothing compared to fast food now. The first recorded fast food restraunt was the Automat in 1912, which was a cafeteria "where simple foods and drink are served by coin-operated and bill-operated vending machines" (Lui). These Automats where extremely popular in the 1920s and 30s, but later died out around the 1950s. Once people noticed that fast food became a hit, people started to open fast food restaraunts, such as A&W, "which opened in 1919 and began franchising in 1921" and White Castle, which sold "hamburgers for five cents apiece" (Hogan). Both these restarounts became extremely popular very quickly, and still to this day are some of the most popular fast food chains out there. Later to follow were McDonalds, Wendy's and Burger King, which all changed fast food to what we know of today.

The change in restaraunts hasn't been the only thing to change though. Diabetes, obesity, and portion sizes have all risen throughout the years. In 1900, 12 years before the first recorded fast food restraunt came to be, "1 in 150 people were obese" (Phillips). Nowadays, it is almost impossilbe to walk down the street and not see an obese person. One reason obesity has dramatically risen over the years is due to portion sizes; for example, in 1955, McDonald's "only hamburger weighed around 1.6 ounces" (Monte), and averaged around 300 calories, and the soda then was less than 100 calories. Now, some of the smallest burgers you can buy are around 500 calories, and the average soda is over 200 calories. As you can see, the increase in portion size has dramaically changed, causing more and more health problems for the people who cchoose to eat fast food.

Ever since I can remember, fast food has always been a very small part of my family's diet, normally only eating it on roadtrips or simply whenever my mom wanted a break from the kitchen. I remember one day when I was around 5 years old, my mom and I went to Burger King, and I told her that I wished that I could eat fast food for every meal of the day, every day of the year. Unfortunately, millions of people have had the same dream as me, but actually took it to action. According to CBS News, "every day, one quarter of the U.S. population eats fast food" (CBS News), which is almost 78 million people. All of the salt, fats, and sugars hidden in every item on a fast-food menu are causing people to become obese. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "more than one-third of U.S. adults (35.7%) are obese" (CDC), and "approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2—19 years are obese" (CDC), which has doubled since the 1970s. Many things come with obesity, such as diabetes, heart diseases and even death. According to Eric Schlosser, the author of //Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal,// "about 300,000 people die each year from being obese or overweight" (Schlosser), which is second next to smoking. There is an obvious chain here, a starting at fast food, leading to obesity, leading to heart condtions, diabetes, and even death, and if we knock out the first link of the chain, the rest will fall to.

In order to show what fast food does to you, we need to show that the real cost of eating fast food isn't on the menu. Education will show what obesity can do to you. At UAHS, it is mandatory to take some sort of health class, and in it we talk about obesity, but we never go into much depth about how it is developed, and what are the major consequences of developing it. Never did we talk about fast food. Never did we learn that fast food is "heavy on fat, salt and sugar, and reduced nutrient" (Nonas). Never did we learn that McRib patties contain "azodicarbonamide, a flour-bleaching agent most commonly used in the manufacturing of foamed plastics like gym mats and the soles of shoes" (TheWeek). If we had learned these facts, it would have scared the ones attending the class, and would have shown them that the healthier alternative is the way to go. There needs to be more education and teaching released to the people, as it will show them exactly what they are eating, and what it is doing to them.

The way to increase the education and teaching is through extended research. At the time, we don't know much about what exactly is in fast food, mainly because fast food companies won't release the ingredients in their foods, as they know it will scare of their customers. Only until the past 2 years have "ingredients" been released, and there hasn't been much. There is still a lot to be released and researched, as it is hard to study without knowledge of the ingredients. We need to have more knowledge in order to teach about it. For example, math has been studied ever since humans have stepped on Earth, and we are able to teach it because of the vast amount of knowledge we know. Unfortunately, teaching about fast food is the opposite. We know very little. If we got together and informed the US Government about what exactly fast food leads to, we could completely turn it around. Fast Food companies would be forced to release everything. Thus, we would have the knowledge to teach to our peers the reasons to stay away from fast food, and thus turn the world into a healthier place.

"Who would have something to argue about how fast food is not bad, or harmful?" you might ask. The answer would be the fast food corporations themselves. Corporations know exactly everything about their food, and if something comes up about how their food isn't real, they are going to object, as they know that if everything is released, their sales will drop dramatically. For example, in 2011, "Taco Bell officials rejected claims made in a lawsuit that their tacos, burritos and other products is not all beef" (Daily Gazette). The funny thing is, Taco Bell receives their beef from the same places as McDonalds, and reports have been confirmed that McDonalds beef is not 100%. Taco Bell denied this case because they want to keep everything hidden, as they know their sales will drop if everything is released.

The fast food corporations know that the public is learning more and more about their food. Notice how in the commercials they always state how their food is 'premium grade' or '100%'. They say this as a desperate act to try to persuade us consumers. According to Eric Schlosser, the author of Fast Food Nation, McDonalds says that their "french fries contain animal products and they wont say which animal" (Schlosser). They say this as a desperate act to avoid telling us their ingredients, but it leads us to wonder, "what animal?". Also according to Eric Schlosser, "about 300,000 people die each year from being obese or overweight" (Schlosser). This shows that the corporations care absolutely nothing about us consumers, and more about the money in our pockets. They know their foods contribute to obesity, and if they did care about us, they would release their ingredients to warn us about the food we are about to eat. It is easy to see they are scared, as you can easily see all of their desperate acts to hide it.

Fortunately, I'm not the only one who thinks fast food needs to change. Cathy Nonas, a dietitian at St. Lukes-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York, has done extensive research on fast food, and has exclaimed "fast food is heavy on fat, salt and sugar" (Nonas). This information needs to be released as soon as possible, as it will help show consumers that a healthier path is the way to go.

Imagine living your life from paycheck to paycheck, not being able to afford and leisure activities, and not being able eat high quality, organic food because it simply cost to much. As residents of Upper Arlington, all of us cannot even picture how people living in low-income live their lives. People living in low-income areas often rely on fast food, as "healthy food is often more expensive" (FRAC) and limited. If these fast food joints were to be lost due to people stopping eating at them due to leaked information about the foods, the people living in low-income areas would lose one of their few sources of food. According to CIA World Factbook, 15.1% of US citizens are living below the povery line, which is around 47 million people. Most of these people rely on foods that are low on nutrition value and are high in salts and fats, like fast food, so if one of their sources of food was suddenly removed, that would leave a huge portion of the US hungry. These people do not want to lose their source of food, as it will leave them hungry.

While fast food is a must for some families, there are some products that some low-income families are leaving out. As education in low-income areas isn't as prevalent that in higher-income areas, people are not aware of what is in the food they are eating. Products like Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, which, according to Kraft Foods website, contains only 290 calories and 6 grams of fat per box, which sells for around $2-3, compared to a McDonalds Quarter Pounder Burger, which, according to McDonalds website, contains 513 calores, 255 of which are from fat, and has 28 grams of fat, and sells for around $3-5 for **just** the burger. Almost everyone would obvioulsly choose the Macaroni and Cheese, as it is obviously healthier and cheaper, and with the dramatic difference in fat, obesity rates would drop everywhere. People in low-income areas do not notice the other foods that are available to them, they just have to look.

The decline of fast food will drop obesity rates left and right. Also, with dropped obesity rates, heart disease rates will decline. Low-income areas will still have food available to them, so hunger rates in the US will still stay low.

As you probably know by now, most, if not all fast food is processed. Today in the modern world, almost all of the food we eat is processed, and it is hard to find a store that sells completely organic foods. People love processed food, as the main "driving force behind food processing [is] convenience" (Weingarten). Instead of having to go to the grocery store to by every ingredient, families can rely on processed food for a quick, easy meal, that requires very little time in the kitchen. Another thing people love about processed food is the "lower prices due to the economies of scale of mass manufacturing" (Weingarten). Notice how when you visit a nice restaurant, a cheeseburger, fries and drink cost around $10-15, but at McDonalds, that same size meal can cost up to $6. Another thing people love about processed food is the "consistency in taste, texture, and mouth feel" (Weingarten). Lets face it, almost everyone loves the taste of any fast food restaurant, and the cheap cost of it is one of the driving forces that keeps bringing us back. Processed foods have been around for centuries, and with all of the benefits from them, they will be here for more centuries to come.

Unfortunately, with all of the benefits of processed food, processed foods are some of the worst things you can consume. Processed foods are made to be cheap, and have the longest shelf life time possible. During the process of processing foods, "vitamins evaporate, minerals are leached, and fiber is long forgotten" (Weingarten). Vitamins, minerals and fiber are all necessary in order to live a healthy lifestyle, and lack of these nutrients can lead to heart disease and obesity. Also, processed foods are made to have a long shelf life, and "increasing shelf life requires the use of preservatives" (Weingarten). As I have mentioned before, many preservatives are extremely unhealthy, and not to mention just plain odd! Fortunately, many people agree with me and have a negative attitude towards processed foods. In an International Food Information Council (IFIC) and Artemis Strategy Group survey of 1500 consumers in the US, "43% of consumers [had] a negative attitude towards processed foods" (IFIC). Just having a negative attitude will not do anything though, as us people need to take a step, and pledge for more information to be released about fast food and processed foods in order to show us consumers, what exactly we are eating.

Although fast food and processed foods have major benefits, they just aren't worth it in the long run. They don't have the nutrients needed to live a healthy lifestyle, and they have a lot of fats, salts and sugars. Also, they contain a lot of 'hidden' or 'mysterious' ingredients to give them the tastes they have. With all of these horrible stuff in them, they lead to many diseases, such as multiple heart diseases and obesity. It is extremely hard for your body to consume all of these salts, sugars, fats, chemicals and preservatives. In the movie Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock says, "My body...officially hates me". Do yourself a favor, make healthier food choices, and make your body love you for life.

__ Annotated Bibliography __

Adams, Mike. “Window cleaning chemical injected into fast food hamburger meat.” //Natural News//. N.p., 5 Jan. 2010. Web. 15 May 2012. < [|http://www.naturalnews.com] >. Mike Adams is the chief editor of The Natural News. He has written many successful books about nutrition. This is a webarticle that talks about what meat processing plants put into fast food meat. This article is a web article as Mike Adams was not physically present.

Monte, Liz. “Portion Size, Then vs. Now.” //Divine Calorie//. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2012. < [] >. Liz Monte is a writer for Divine Calorie. This web article talks about the difference in portion sizes over the years. This is a secondary source as Liz Monte is talking about the difference in portion sizes.

Phillip, John. “Obesity rate surges - Mediterranean diet essential to natural weight loss efforts .” //Natural News//. N.p., 29 Dec. 2010. Web. 15 May 2012. < [] >. The Natural News is a popular and reliable news website that focuses on nutrition and health. This is a web article that talks about obesity. This is a secondary source as John Philip was not physically present.

Schlosser, Eric, and Kathy Nonas. “Americans Are Obsessed with Fast Food: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal.” //CBS News//. N.p., 11 Feb. 2009. Web. 15 May 2012. < [] ‌Kathy >. Kathy Nonas and Eric Schlosser did not directly write this article, but they contributed credible information. This article is a web article that talks about fast food and why it is bad. This is a primary source as Eric Schlosser and Kathy Nonas are the ones directly giving the information.

Traister, Jeffrey. “Effects Of Fast Food Restaurants on Diabetes.” //LiveStrong//. N.p., 30 July 2011. Web. 15 May 2012. < [|http://www.livestrong.com] >. Jeffrey Traister is a writer and filmmaker. He was written about nutrition for over 25 years, and has Masters Degree at Columbia University. This is a web article, that talks about the effects that fast food has on diabetes. This is a secondary source as Traister was not physically present.

Weingarten, Hemi. “The Cons and Pros of Food Processing.” //Huffington Post// 31 Mar. 2010: n. pag. //Huffington Post//. Web. 15 May 2012. < [] >. Hemi Weingarten is a writer for The Huffington Post. This is a newspaper article that talks about the pros and cons of food processing. It is a secondary source as Weingarten is simply talking about the the pros and cons and did not take part in the studies.