Brownell once stated, “The American landscape has been altered in profound ways. Cheese-burgers and French fries, drive-in windows and supersizes, soft drinks and candy, potato chips and cheese curls, once unusual, are as much our background as trees, grass, and clouds.” One of the recent growing problems in America is the health of its citizens. The United States has the stereotype of being the “fat country,” and one of the biggest contributors to the rising health problems is fast food. With more Americans eating out at fast food restaurants, and less eating healthy home cooked meals, many Americans are falling into terrible eating habits that will have a lasting effect on their health.  A lot about living a healthy lifestyle is working out and physical exercise, but what many people overlook is the importance of a balanced, nutritious diet. A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrition: fluid, adequate essential amino acids from protein, essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, and adequate calories (Fox). A nutritious diet supports energy needs and provides for human nutrition without exposure to toxicity or excessive weight gain from consuming excessive amounts (fox). If more people knew exactly what they were eating, where it came from, how it was prepared, and what exactly it was, a lot more people would be eating less fast food and eating healthier alternatives. Everybody knows that “fast food makes you fat,” but that is not the only consequence to a person’s health. Relying on fast food as a major portion of a person’s diet can lead to numerous health problems such as diabetes, heart disease, foodborne illness and many others. Eating a healthier diet can have positive effects emotionally, mentally, and physically. The growth of the fast food industry has completely transformed the standard American diet, and has furthermore negatively affected the health of all Americans, leading to an increase in health problems impacting all of the United States. 

The first McDonald’s restaurant opened in San Bernardino, California, in 1945. This restaurant was the first attempt to streamline the process of preparing food and reduce the costs of food production. The new restaurant model eliminated the need for waitresses, and decreased overall costs of food service. Little did anyone know, that this new model of food service would change the diet of all Americans for years to come. By 1960, there were 100 McDonald’s franchises operating across the country (Pirello). By 1990 fast food had taken over the American restaurant industry with 11,800 McDonald’s, 6,298 Burger Kings and 3,721 Wendy’s (Pirello). Today, popular fast food chains can be found everywhere: airports, college campuses, and even hospitals. There are currently more than 160,000 fast-food restaurants that feed more than 50 million Americans every day, generating sales of more than $110 billion dollars annually (Pirello). McDonald’s, being the leader of the fast food industry, opens new restaurants at a rate of 2,000 per year and employs more people than any other organization in the world (Pirello). Roughly 12% of all American workers have worked at McDonald's (Staff). McDonald’s is the largest purchaser of beef, pork, and potatoes and owns the most retail property in the world (Pirello). Just as there has been a rapid growth in the fast food industry, there is a correlating growth in health problems effecting the United States, most of which can be explained by the unhealthy transformation of the average American diet.

Fast food has completely changed the way Americans eat, with American spending on fast food increasing eightfold since 1970 (Brownell). Fast food is high in fat, calories, and sugar; low in fiber; and nearly lacking nutritious fruits and vegetables. One-fourth of all vegetables consumed in the Unites States are French fries (Brownell). The trend in most American households is that people are eating out more, and less frequently eating healthy home cooked meals. More than 40% of adults eat out at a restaurant on a typical day (Brownell). The frequency of visits to fast food restaurants is related to an increased intake of soft drinks, cheeseburgers, French fries, total fat and calories, with a decreased intake of fruit, vegetables, and milk. One major culprit behind large calorie intake is the massive portion sizes now being served at fast food restaurants. These outlandish portion sizes promote eating high calorie foods in high quantities, which is a dangerous combination in terms of health. Brownell gives many examples of popular, large portion menu items such as the Big Mac and the Whopper. A serving of French fries can provide a third of a day’s total calories, and 47% of the daily allowance of fat (Brownell). The average hamburger in 1957 weighed about 1 ounce and had 210 calories, whereas the hamburgers of today average 6 ounces and 618 calories One example of an outlandish portion size is the Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburger form Jack in the Box. This single cheeseburger has 1,120 calories and 75 grams of fat, more than 10 grams of fat above the total recommended for an entire day (Brownell).

Obesity is medically defined as having a body mass index, a measure of height to weight, that is greater than 30. People are considered overweight when their BMI reaches 25, and they are obese when it gets to 30 (Fox). The alarming statistics behind obesity in the United States are revealed by Christina Pirello: such as 34% of men and women over the age of 20 in America are obese (Pirello). Pirello also reveals predictions of the future if the United States continues this trend: such as in less than 10 years 75% of adult Americans will be overweight (Pirello). As reported in his book Food Fight, Brownell states that obesity now contributes more to chronic illness and health care costs than smoking does (Brownell). Obesity has both physical and psychological effects. A study by Gallup and Healthways shows that obese adults are 29% more likely to say they lack purpose in life and nearly 34% more likely to suffer financially than non-obese adults (Fox). One of the major physical effects of the rising obesity in the United States is a rise in diabetes rates. Nationwide, diabetes rates have nearly doubled in the past 20 years, from 5.5% in 1994 to 9.3% in 2012 (Segal). More than 29 million American adults have diabetes and the CDC projects that one-in-three adults could have diabetes by 2050 (Segal). Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for around $245 billion in medical costs each year (Segal). Research has shown links between obesity and over 30 medical conditions including heart disorders, stroke, cancer, birth defects, and even infertility (Brownell). With these rising health problems resulting from obesity, some researchers believe that American children may be the first generation in modern history to live shorter lives than their parents (Brownell). 

The obesity epidemic in the United States, and many of the recent health problems can be connected to the recent rise of the fast food industry. With the amount of people eating fast food on a daily basis being so high, the process in which the food is prepared has changed greatly. The food that is served may not be exactly what it seems, and there are lots of secrets behind most fast food corporations. Eric Schlosser is an investigative journalist who published Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, a book about all of the aspects of fast food most of the public is unaware of. In his book, he reveals many alarming facts about fast food, how it is prepared, and where exactly it comes from. Obviously, a major aspect of every fast food meal is the meat, and with such an increase in fast food sales, there must be a more efficient way to get all of this meat to the different restaurants. McDonald's is now the nation's largest purchaser of beef, pork, and potatoes, and also the second-largest purchaser of chicken (Staff). Meat production has become very confined and centralized. Hundreds of local slaughterhouses used to supply the nation’s beef, whereas now 13 large slaughterhouses supply almost all the nation’s beef (Staff). A typical fast food hamburger of today can contain meat from dozens, maybe even hundreds of different individual cattle. With that comes many problems, such as a greater increase of there being pathogens such as E.coli  in served meat. 

Many items on a fast food menu are not exactly what they may seem. Chicken nuggets are a great example of this. Even though they are called chicken nuggets, chicken only makes up about half of a nugget, no matter which fast food chain it comes from. According to a study by The American Journal of Medicine, chicken nuggets are usually composed of mostly fat from a list of about 40 other ingredients. Besides the obvious ingredient: chicken, chicken nuggets are said to also contain “incidental ingredients” such as: cartilage, bone fragments, intestinal tissue, and blood vessels (Mueller). Aside from the spices and the incidentals, nuggets also contain components including chemicals such as xanthin gum, tertiary butylhydroquinone, dimethylpolysiloxane, monocalcium phosphate, dextrose, and hydrogenated soybean oil (Mueller). Not only are there many ingredients most people are unaware of, the chicken in each nugget has a great chance of being contaminated. According to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, "fecal contamination is surprisingly common in chicken products in grocery store" (Mueller). Because fast food is so highly processed much of the flavor is lost, so the taste of most fast food is from chemicals manufactured at a series of special chemical plants creating artificial flavoring. French fries even contain “animal products” for extra flavor (Mueller). Even the grill marks on a burger are fake most of the time. These marks are usually either cooked on before the patty is frozen, or completely fake, typically produced with food dye. 

A major factor in the obesity epidemic is the focus of fast food advertising on children. American children ages five to fourteen spend $20 billion each year and influence the spending of about $200-$500 billion annually (Brownell). The average American child sees 10,000 food advertisements each year, and that is just on television (Brownell). With so many easily influenced children, most companies see children as an entirely separate group in which to focus advertising on. Because children are such a huge market of advertising, 40% of McDonalds advertising directly targets children. With advertising focused directly children with menu items such as the “Happy Meal,” big corporations are able to influence children to favor going out to a fast food restaurant over a home cooked meal. Advertisers know that if they can influence the minds of children into favoring fast food, the next time the child is driving down the road with their parents and sees a fast food restaurant, that is what the child is going to want to eat (Morrissey). By influencing the minds of children, businesses are completely influencing the eating of the entire family. Although from a business standpoint focusing advertising campaigns directly on children makes complete sense, there are many negative impacts. Children are often unaware of the fact that commercials and ads are in place to influence customers to buy products (Morrissey). Because of this lack of understanding, children are easily influenced and with so much advertising being thrown at them, often have many misconceptions about the fast food industry. A study of children ages six through eight found that 70% believed that fast foods were healthier than foods from home (Brownell). This can be contributed to the advertising of major fast food companies targeting children, and presenting their food as a healthy and fresh product. In another study, it was found that children often recognize the McDonald's logo even before they recognize their own name! In a study by the CDC, it was found that 17% of children and teens are obese and 5.8% are extremely obese (Fox). These numbers are only getting worse, and part of this increase in childhood obesity can be contributed to fast food advertising focusing so hard on children. In order to reverse these trends, there needs to be greater effort to teach children good eating habits, and give them a good eating foundation, rather than starting them on the path of a fast food diet. 

Some may argue that eating out is a safer bet when it comes to the quality food. This argument is summarized in an article posted by Caitlin Dewey, a writer for The Washington Post. The main argument of the article was the health benefits of eating at a trusted fast food chain. The argument was that with fast food, the consumer knows what they are getting. The large fast food corporations have much tighter health laws, whereas local, non-chain, restaurants are a much more “risky” option (Dewey). The main part of the fast food industry that makes it so reliable is the suppliers. Most fast food chains buy out all their supplier’s product, giving them a greater control on the health regulations of their products. Another argument is that the large fast food chains have basically perfected the process in which they prepare their food, as said in a quote by Donald Schaffner “They’ve engineered human frailty out of the system.” These claims support the fast food industry from a health standpoint. Although these are some valid claims, as said before there are many examples of where the food coming from a fast food chain is not what it may seem. There are many health hazards within a fast food restaurant that many people are unaware of. In 2013, the Dr Oz Show claimed that soda fountains are the dirtiest places in fast food joints. This was validated by Dr Sean O’Keefe who agreed that bacteria, germs, and mold grow in environments rich in sugar, ice, and air. This makes the “hard-to-clean” soda fountains veritable breeding grounds for food poisoning (Brownell). Also, there are many cases of where people got extremely ill or even died as the result from a foodborne illness from fast food. One example is in 1993 when four people in Washington and California died from eating contaminated meat from Jack in the Box and hundreds of other customers also fell ill (Team). Another example is from 2006, when an E. coli outbreak affected 71 customers of Taco Bell across five states. Eight people developed kidney failure, and 53 people were hospitalized because of contaminated lettuce (Team). These examples, along with the studies finding many of the health hazards within fast food restaurants show that the quality of food is not what it may seem. 

The daily diet of the average American has completely evolved in recent years. Americans are now eating out more, relying on fast food to support their diet, resulting in an increase of many health problems. The new “American Diet” is high in fat, calories, and sugar, and very much lacking nutritious fruits and vegetables, and that can be credited to the prevalence of fast food. By allowing American children to start eating this unbalanced diet at a young age is setting a dangerous foundation, which will completely effect the entire generation. With the obesity rates increasing at the pace they are currently, many health problems are following and affecting more and more people. The only way to reverse this negative health trend is to try to transform the “American diet” from relying on fast food and eating out to more nutritious, home cooked meals. 
