The Issues it Causes
The current food regulations are not up to par. This is a major issue and some cities are already trying to change industry guidelines. The Health Affairs Blog highlights the costs of obesity as well as the uptick in adult-onset diabetes. Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey expresses “more than one-third of adults and 17 percent of youth were classified as obese in 2009 and 2010.” This is not going to be beneficial for the future of society if our children now are struggling with their health at such an early age. Yet as unfortunate as this sounds, it does not stop there. The study furthermore elucidates “the medical community is sounding the alarm over the dramatic increase in type 2 adult-onset diabetes in obese children.” This shows that it is clear, America has a vast problem with obese children. Lastly, that problematic topic will not disappear until government raises the rules for procedures of food production.
The American Bar Association discusses the role of the FDA and FSIS in food safety nutrition; as a whole, the article advocates for the increasing role of government intervention due to its already pertinent role in public health. Lucero states “Estimates indicate that about twenty percent of the food supply is under the FSIS’s jurisdiction and about eighty percent is under the FDA’s.” But food safety is only one facet of the FDA and FSIS’s regulatory authorities; regulating nutrition is just as important. Data shows that “one in three American adults is obese, a condition that increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer.” Many of these people suffer from health issues due to what they are at times unknowingly consuming.
This graph shows that In 2009–2010, 35.7% of U.S. adults were obese.
Medical cost are not cheap either as Lucero explains in her texts “The annual medical costs associated with obesity are $150 billion, and those associated with heart disease are $503 billion.” Due to the high cost to human quality of life and the threat to life itself, food safety and nutrition are of great importance to the nation, and subsequently, should be of utmost importance to the FDA and FISIS reflected through their allocated budget.
There are many harmful substances that are used in the fast food industry and foods found in your local grocery store to make cheap processed edible substances tasty for consumers. In De Vogli’s article, analyzes the correlation between an increase in food transactions per capita to the increase in the BMI’s of individuals. De Vogli articulates, “It’s not by chance that countries with the highest average BMIs and fast food purchases are those in the forefront of market liberalization”. Essentially, findings show that fast food purchases were responsible for the increases in the average body mass index in the United States. De Vogli again articulates, “Whereas countries with lower average BMIs and fewer fast food transactions have some of the tightest controls on food economies.”
What this means is that if the government does not take steps to regulate their economies the ‘invisible hand of the market’ will continue to promote obesity worldwide with disastrous consequences for future public health. Because fast food is generally high in animal fats, which have been linked to unhealthy weight, future research should focus on categorizing food items according to levels of processing instead of fat and calories.
