Fat Youth

Brutal, but true. One of our countries biggest problems is childhood obesity. Why is our youth getting so fat, so quickly? A large contributor to childhood obesity is youth-targeted advertising. Junk food companies specifically advertise their food to target the vulnerable and very gullible youth. Why? Because when they are at the grocery store with mom, they will ask for the food they saw on that cool commercial with the fun characters and bright colors. Why is this a problem? The more kids want to buy the junk food they see advertised, the more junk food they eat. The more junk food they eat, the closer they get to obesity. According to the article The Facts on Junk Food Marketing and Kids and The Journal of the American Dietetic Association,

This means that most of a child's diet is due to fast food and junk food. This shocking statistic shows us just how much junk food contributes to our obesity problem, especially in our youth. Also according to the article, "The food and beverage industry spends approximately $2 billion per year marketing to children." Food companies spend this much money on children because they are the easiest targets for purchasing their products. Although our country as a whole is becoming morbidly obese, one of our main concerns is childhood obesity because if this epidemic hits our children, then they will grow up to be obese and shape future generations for obesity as well. According to Get America Fit Foundation, "Diabetes, hypertension and other obesity-related chronic diseases that are prevalent among adults have now become more common in youngsters. The percentage of children and adolescents who are overweight and obese is now higher than ever before." The younger we become obese, the larger our chances are at getting diabetes, heart disease, and other nutrition-related health issues. Therefore, we need to control the amount of junk food advertising that targets our children, or by putting a large tax on junk food, we are making it more difficult for the mother to say "no, you can't have that".


Resources:
(2009). Obesity related statistics in america. The Get America Fit Foundation, Retrieved from     http://www.getamericafit.org/statistics-obesity-in-america.html

The facts on junk food marketing and kids.Prevention Institute , Retrieved from http://www.preventioninstitute.org/focus-areas/supporting-healthy-food-a-activity/supporting-healthy-food-and-activity-environments-advocacy/get-involved-were-not-buying-it/735-were-not-buying-it-the-facts-on-junk-food-marketing-and-kids.html