Finding The Link Between Processed Foods And The Causes Of...

LaKisha Brown English 120 Research Paper Spring 2016 Finding the Link between processed foods and the causes of Adult and Childhood Obesity Many families today face a pandemic as the prevalence of childhood obesity has more than doubled since the 1970s. There is a growing number of healthcare professionals who believe this increase is due to the lack of physical activity, energy dense and additive rich foods and over-consumption. Food is essential to what we need to live. The nutrients we get from food keeps us alive and well. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that over 25 million people in America have been diagnosed with diabetes. Of that number, 215,000 are children and 69% are overweight and obese.†¦show more content†¦We begin to feel guilty as we now see this epidemic is now effecting or has spread to pre-school aged children. No ethic group has been spared. All races, socioeconomic strata are seeing a rise in obesity numbers. This is a true public health emergency. To start, let’s define the term â€Å"obesity†. The most obvious definition is â€Å"excessive body fat†. Author J. Clinton states in, Understanding Childhood Obesity, the ideal method of defining obesity from a medical perspective would be to match a child’s or young adult’s weight with the undesirable outcomes-such as heart attacks-experienced by the person later on in life (Clinton 118). Some scientist say the number of health problems due to obesity are relatively small when compared to other chronic conditions such as asthma (Clinton 24). There are many that would argue that it is not a small problem and it should not be devalued especially when study after study shows that the obesity numbers in adults and youth steadily are rising year over year. In fact, those numbers have tripled in adolescents in the past 30yrs and many are concerned about the effects of processed food on a child’s overall health. Why does there seem to be a connection between processed foods and the obesity epidemic? We know that the human body uses food to produce energy and uses the types of food we consume to determine how the energy gets used. When you consume foods like