Fast
Food: Not Our Friend!
Despite what the fast food industry wants you to believe, the majority of
the food served in fast food restaurants are high in the things that are not good for our bodies and low in
quality nutrition. Decide to be an
informed consumer, make good food choices and you can bring health into your
life.
The following article is just further evidence on what is happening, not
just in the United States, but all around the world. To use an election year slogan, “vote with
your dollars.” We at Health Coach
Resource, encourage you to take a stand and do what is right for you and your
family.
Are
Global Market Forces Linked to Obesity Epidemic?
By Robert Preidt
Thursday,
December 29, 2011ages
THURSDAY, Dec. 29
(HealthDay News) -- Nations with open trade policies have greater densities of
fast food restaurants and higher rates of obesity than those with more trade
controls, a new study has found.
"It's not by
chance that countries with the highest obesity rates and fast food restaurants
are those in the forefront of market liberalization, such as the United States,
the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, versus countries like
Japan and Norway, with more regulated and restrictive trade policies,"
lead researcher Roberto De Vogli, an associate professor in the University of
Michigan School of Public Health, said in a university news release.
For example, the
analysis of data from 26 wealthy nations showed that the United States has 7.5
fast food restaurants per 100,000 people, and the density in Canada is 7.4 per
100,000. Obesity rates in the United States are 31 percent for men and 33
percent for women, and obesity rates in Canada are about 23 percent for men and
women.
In comparison, Japan
has 0.13 fast food restaurants per 100,000 people and Norway has 0.19 per
100,000 people. Obesity rates in Japan are 2.9 percent for men and 3.3 percent
for women. Obesity rates in Norway are 6.4 percent for men and 5.9 percent for
women, according to the study published in the December issue of the journal Critical Public Health.
The effect that market
forces have on obesity is largely overlooked, according to De Vogli.
"In my opinion,
the public debate is too much focused on individual genetics and other
individual factors, and overlooks the global forces in society that are shaping
behaviors worldwide. If you look at trends over time for obesity, it's
shocking," he said in the news release.
"Since the 1980s,
since the advent of trade liberalization policies that have indirectly . . .
promoted transnational food companies . . . we see rates that have tripled or
quadrupled. There is no biological, genetic, psychological or community level
factor that can explain this. Only a global type of change can explain
this," De Vogli stated.
SOURCE: University of
Michigan, news release, December 2011
HealthDay
Copyright (c) 2011 HealthDay.
All rights reserved.