The Connection Between Childhood Obesity and Fast Food

Is there really a connection between childhood obesity and fast food? The answer will vary depending upon whom you ask. Obviously the fast food industry would like to deny such a connection, but parents do well to consider the facts. Obesity is not just a problem of how a child looks, but also means many dangerous and even deadly health conditions. Being overweight is linked to asthma, arthritis, joint damage, heart disease, diabetes, certain types of cancer, gout, sleep apnea, respiratory distress, and chronic pain. So considering whether or not childhood obesity and fast food are connected can mean preserving a child's health. Let's look at this subject a bit closer.

One reason to think that there is a connection between childhood obesity and fast food is that obesity is a modern-day problem and doctors have never seen as many cases of it in the past as they do today. It seems as if it's no coincidence that we also have more fast food restaurants today than ever before! These restaurants are on just about every street corner in the U.S. and are even inside of other businesses such as retail stores, libraries, office buildings, and even schools. But the number of restaurants and the number of cases of children being overweight doesn't itself prove that there's a connection between childhood obesity and fast food.

However you would do well to consider the types of foods served at fast food restaurants, and then the connection between childhood obesity and fast food may be more obvious. Most items on a fast food menu are very calorie-dense, meaning they have a lot of calories for the amount of food you're getting. Most medium sized hamburgers have about 500 or more calories; compare that to a turkey sandwich on wheat bread which might have around 200 calories. And of course along with the hamburger comes fries and a soda, and maybe even a milkshake or dessert. The connection between childhood obesity and fast food becomes obvious when you think about how often children eat these types of meals. Just one fast food meal can contain an entire day's worth of calories, and a child that eats these meals several times per week or more than one per day can mean they're literally eating thousands of extra calories per week.

The number of calories that a person will typically consume at a fast food restaurant is an obvious connection between childhood obesity and fast food. If a child is active enough to burn the extra calories it might not be a problem but many children today live very sedentary lives, sitting in front of the television screen during their spare time rather than being outside playing. While the connection between childhood obesity and fast food is obvious, fast food isn't the only culprit or cause to the problem. A parent would do well to get their child up and active in order to preserve his or her health.