In recent decades, American society seems to have become aware of the importance of nutrition and the negative effects of malnourishment to the body can cause. An example of this include President Barack Obama establishing the affordable care act in march of two thousand and ten and his the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act being implemented into law do to consistent campaigning by first lady Michelle. It is believed that a clear indication of whether someone is malnourished or not can be seen through a correlation between their diet and their productivity levels. Those who have lower productivity levels typically have having unhealthy eating habits and lack the proper balance in their diet. This can be caused by low self-esteem and lack of energy. The issue does not lie in the size or weight of the person but the excessive amount of fat percentage compared to muscle in the human body which causes these problems. The excess consumption of cholesterol and fats in everyday meals prevents the body from receiving the nutrients it needs to produce energy. This along with social and political aspects greatly contribute to the levels of productivity that people show while trying to accomplish a task. The government plays an important role in the way Americans’ diets are affected and how they react emotionally towards these implementations which ultimately affects their productivity. 

An article published by Harvard university states that diets consisting of high sugar and sodium is the leading cause of “oxidative stress” which limits the brains ability to process oxygen going into the body in turn causing the brain to work harder when trying to accomplish tasks such as memorizing things or being aware of your surroundings. This can also cause inflammation in the brain which can lead to disorders such as depression. In recent years scientists have started to see a correlation between someone’s mood and the foods they consume on a daily basis. “Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that helps regulate sleep and appetite, mediate moods, and inhibit pain.” This neurotransmitter is produced primarily in your digestive system which is why someone can be so greatly affected by the food they consume which depicts the mood they are feeling. The consumption of probiotics which are supplements containing bacteria that is beneficial to the human body can lead to lower risks of depression and anxiety. Compared to those who do not take probiotics the people that do are or average fifty six percent less anxious and show less signs of mood disorders and unhappiness. Scientists have also concluded that people who maintain diets based on traditional methods or western methods have a higher productivity rate than those who do. This is because the diets that are constructed in the traditional sense contain high numbers of fruit, vegetable, and grain intake rather than a high intake percentage of fatty foods. Foods that have a high vitamin content such as certain types of milk are excluded from most diets due to their content percentage of fats which can benefit adolescent and child muscle growth but impede mental health. 

Not only is food consumption relevant to brain development in adults, even before birth research shows that a child’s preference for certain foods can be affected by the foods their mother chooses to consume while in the womb. The society for neuroscience published that research conducted on the birth of monkeys showed that those monkeys whose mothers consumed low sodium and low sugar diets were not only more inclined to eat healthy foods after birth but often preferred these healthy foods over high fat containing foods throughout their adolescent years. This was measured by observing the levels of dopamine in the various monkeys. Dopamine is a component in the body that express the feeling of pleasure and excitement which was present in the monkeys when their favorite foods were given to them. This is beneficial for the monkeys who developed healthy eating habits because the body will attempt to consume more food in order to increase dopamine levels, eventually increasing the amount of food that they must eat to get the same effect as before. As for the monkeys that did not develop healthy eating habits, they were consuming vast amounts of unhealthy foods and becoming malnourished over time. Trials conducted on these monkeys showed that those who consumed healthier foods over the course of their adolescent years became more cognitively efficient and began to retain information faster than the monkeys that had not consumed the high in nutrient foods. This research is the key to seeing the correlation between what people consume and the way it affects their brain.

In order to fight childhood obesity, first lady Michelle Obama began campaigning for a healthier America and proposed various ideas to the U.S government involving regulations on food distributed by government funded organizations. The program advocated a healthier America and changed the food that schools were serving all across America. Its effects included an overall decrease in childhood obesity by 37%. In two thousand and ten the government implemented the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, which drastically revamped the way schools across America provide food to their students. It did so by mandating that schools serve healthier options to students for breakfast and lunch while also implementing strict regulations on what schools were able to have in secondary forms of funding such as vending machines. Over time, it could be seen that the act did an outstanding job of decreasing childhood obesity rates throughout the county; however, not all students reacted the way the government had intended. Some students showed improvements in their productivity due to regulations in their diets which helped increase energy levels, but other students’ work ethics were hindered from the inability to choose what they wanted to eat for breakfast and or lunch. Many school funding produced by the purchase of food programs decreased as students no longer wanted to purchase the healthy alternatives that were present in cafeterias across the nation. Aside from these issues, the act increased productivity in America as a whole by boosting the involvement of the agricultural industry, causing a rapid economic growth for consumable crop producing companies. 

It is reasonable to assume that with every possible advantage of eating healthy foods there would be no incentive to eat unhealthy foods. Eating healthy benefits the body by taking in vitamins and nutrients the body needs to survive without the excess consumption of fat and sodium provided by alternative foods. However, the assumption that this leads someone into a better lifestyle and causes a greater mental wellness is flawed by the underlying positive effects eating unhealthy has on a person. A research survey conducted by a neurological research company showed that in adolescent people their importance to eat unhealthier food is far greater than some might think. This is due to the fact that aside from the nutritional role of foods consumed, they are also a variable in determining the quality of social and cultural aspects of someone’s life. The survey data explained that there is a direct correlation between food and its association with a person’s interpretation of pleasure relaxation and friendship within society. Due to the impressionability of adolescent people, it becomes obvious why unhealthy foods are so popular within the younger communities. Healthy food companies tend to lack the advertising and social impact with younger age groups which cause the foods to become less desirable. Eliminating the nutritional aspect to the unhealthy foods causes young individuals to be easily manipulated by unhealthy food producers through social influence. The producers of these foods associate their products with entertainment and are structured around a social aspect while healthy nutritionally rich foods focus more on older age groups that are more susceptible to advertising focused on the improvement of quality of life. The great influence unhealthy food producers have on adolescent people through their ability to relate their food with a sense of belonging ultimately causes an increase in productivity by developing a physiological sense of satisfaction and motivation to accomplish being part of a bigger picture. Some think that this created an argument as to why fast food options and unhealthy food are beneficial to people and their mental development. In order to see this one must determine if physical health outweighs mental heal or if mental health must be prioritized over physical health. This decision making process is commonly found within parents and small children. On one hand they would prefer their children to be happy by not denying them foods that taste good and are full of fats and preservatives, but on the other hand parents would rather their children practice healthy eating habits at an early age. This issue primarily caused the large numbers in childhood obesity America holds till this day in age.

Nutrition affects adults slightly differently. Since adult brains are fully developed they are less susceptible to the advertisements of unhealthy food distributers and know what foods are harmful to consume. Scientists have also concluded that as someone grows older their metabolism decreases in efficiency ultimately causing their bodies to process certain foods more slowly. This also causes the body to work harder in order to burn fat and build muscle. Research reviewed and approved by the Surgeon General’s office on various businesses across America involving the comparative productivity between obese employees and workers that are not considered obese shows that there is a clear distinction I efficiency between both groups. Through a series of surveys and examinations, the research concluded that those who have consistently consumed unhealthy foods did not perform as well on physical and mental examinations that tested their ability to remain attentive and their ability to remember things via short terms and long terms. Soon after the trials were conducted, the participants were asked if they felt less or more productive, the majority of those who were considered to be obese felt less productive. It is evident that those who have a more balanced diet are more inclined to perform better on everyday tasks because their bodies have received the nutrients from the foods they eat in order to do so. This is due because the consumption of foods with high vitamin and mineral levels diminishes the occurrence and risk of memory loss while also causing an increase in alertness.  

In addition, studies have found that it typically takes more energy for an obese person to accomplish the same task as someone who is physically fit and maintains a healthy balanced diet. Another case of how the workforce is affected by variations in nutrition can be seen by observing a research survey conducted in September of two thousand and eleven. This research consisted of a company that was able to influence worker productivity by implementing wellness programs into their jobs. These wellness programs consisted of maintaining frequent consumption of healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables in their deists as well as daily physical activity in order to burn fat and empty calories consumed. The study was conducted over the span of several years in order to monitor how the employees’ productivity was affected as they lost weight by eating healthier and exercising. The research concluded that sixty eight percent of employees both felt more productive and performed better on tasks that they had initially done prior to the experiment. This was due to chemicals being created by the digestion of food in the stomach traveling to the brain and effecting the employees mood. This shows that there is a direct correlation between physical health and productivity. In a television broadcast SABC News covered a segment on if productivity in the workplace was in fact affected by the nutrition and physical activity of employees. They found that although the employees were not directed to follow a certain diet or exercise plan, employees that were eating balanced diets were more motivated to get work done and felt less exhausted after the work day was complete. It is commonly present in people of older ages that being surrounded by other people of a healthy status can increase morale and productivity while those that are not physically fit and do not eat healthy feel more discouraged and dissatisfied while around those who do leading to a lower rate of productivity.

Similar data have been collected by other companies studying how variations in physical activity and nutrition affect rates of how often employees show up to work while enduring some type of sickness or injury, in other words “presenteeism”. Although someone might face consequences for not showing up to work the people participating in this survey data were informed that there would be no penalty if they were to miss work days while being sick in order to have a fair and more balanced data set. It was found that fifty seven percent of employees who practiced healthy eating and exercised moderately were more inclined to show up to work while injured or sick than those who did not. The energy provided through nutrients by the healthy food that they consumed throughout the experiment caused them to be more willing to show up to work while sick while those who did not practice healthy eating habits saw it harder to leave their homes do to the superiority of the sickness. This is to say that although someone might be enduring a type of sickness, depending on the food they eat and the amount of exercise they do, it could be enough to get them though an average work day. Out of those that showed up to work while being sick or injured, those who practiced a healthy eating lifestyle claimed that they felt just as productive as if they were to not be sick while those who did not exercise consistently throughout the experiment claimed that their work ethic and performance was hindered by the fact that they were sick.

It has been seen in various cases that there is in fact a distinction between the productivity of someone who maintains their nutrition and someone who does not and in some cases become obese. These distinctions are so widely accepted that government programs have been established to lessen these variations in order to increase productivity. Starting as early as 2011 studies have been conducted examining various subject groups including students in schools, healthy and obese employees in various companies, and employees that are ill yet remain at work. A common trend in the results of these studies include those who maintained regulated diets and participated in physical activity were much more productive when it came to work related activities. Some of the studies conducted focused on specific companies which were interested in increasing productivity in the workplace. Although these companies conducted the studies out of personal interest many of them have been approved and examined by government agencies and the data conducted appears to be credible. The presenteeism of workers that were sick was examined and those employees who had shown consistencies in their diets nutritionally and showed reoccurrences in physical activities out performed many employees that were sick and also considered morbidly obese. In conclusion, through the observing and analysis of various subject groups all with distinct differences in nutritional maintenance and levels of physical activities, it can be seen that, when it comes to productivity in regards to work ethic, those with higher levels of physical activity and those who maintain a more consistent and healthy based diet are found to be more productive than those who are not active and do not maintain a healthy balanced diet.
