Nutrition in America, Where Did We Go Wrong?
It is no surprise that nutrition in America is atrocious, from fast food restaurants at every street
corner like McDonalds whose one burger constitutes for ½ of an individual’s daily calories. Sugar packed
drinks are in every vending machine and are easily accessible which give Americans access to health
hazardous foods 24/7. An average can of coke has 39 grams of sugar which is equivalent to 1.38 ounces
of sugar (Junod). The healthy amount of sugar that is recommended by the FDA is 10 teaspoons or 40
grams. So as one can see one can of soda has an individual’s daily intake of sugar. Now to most people
these recommendations such as sugar or calorie intake by the FDA aren’t followed and it results in many
problems among people. Adolescents and adults pack their diets with poor nutrition and most don’t
even realize. Most adolescent kids these days have school lunches, now school lunches have even
poorer nutrition then prison food. The ingredients which include Thiamine mononitrate (a synthetic
version of vitamin B1), disodium inosinate (a chemically formulated salt) and pyridoxine hydrochloride
(synthetic version of vitamin B6) are astonishing and should be reviewed immediately. The amount of
processed foods that are in a school lunch are incredible. According to Webmd 20,000 heart attacks
occur each year due to Trans Fat from prepackaged food like chips, which is often offered as a side item
with school lunches. The daily calorie intake for a human being is 2500 calories a day (Coleman). Most
people intake over the necessary amount which is another major problem not only in the U.S. but across
the world. This calorie intake comes from that poor nutrition, while other problems arise from horrible
ingredients.
Problems that can arise from certain types of “overeating” as health websites call it include
diabetes, obesity, cardio vascular problems and much more. Diabetes is one of the most common type
of illnesses in America today there are two types of diabetes type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Diabetes, or in
the professional field diabetes mellitus is a cluster of metabolic diseases in which the person has high
blood sugar either because insulin production is not enough, or because the body's cells do not respond
properly to insulin. Obesity is another disease that can result from poor nutrition, Obesity is defined as
having an excessive amounts of body fat. Obesity is more than just a look that people have. It increases
your risk of diseases and health problems such as heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure
("Mayo Clinic"). Cardiovascular health can also affect a person’s well-being greatly this includes arteries
closing up, decreases in blood flow which can lead to heart attacks. Eating food with poor nutrition can
cause many problems including those mentioned above. As of right now the obesity rate is slightly over
18% for adolescents while the obesity rate for adults is 35% that’s 1 in 3 Americans.
All these horrible diseases stem from one factor being poor nutrition. The average American
usually does not take lunch to work but instead they always eat out. One Big Mac burger is roughly 540
calories, this Big Mac will take about 167 minutes to burn off or 2 hours and 47 minutes (Scanlone).
Considering that 80% of Americans don’t even get any exercise all day (Jaslow) where is all that food
going. For starters it is being stored as fat in the body, this fat translates to then being stored in the
arteries of the heart in turn which causes cardiovascular problems. Adolescents are not learning good
eating habits at their young ages like they should be. When a burger is $0.99 cents at Burger King and a
salad is $4.99 there are many issues that can be looked at for concern. Why should something that is not
healthy be cheaper? Adolescents obviously don’t have much money and if they can get more food they
will, without thinking twice about their health. This type of pricing teaches adolescents at young age
that it is acceptable to eat junk food, due to its pricing. This bad habit later on develops into an adult
that does not care what they put into their systems.
All these facts are quite disheartening, but what can the country as a whole do to better this
epidemic. A simple FDA restriction of a sugar limit on sodas can cut sugar consumption drastically.
Sugar is known as the number one cause for diabetes and obesity. A restriction is the first step to
slowing down the amount of people getting diseases. Fast food restaurants put the worst ingredients in
their food. McDonalds is the number one culprit for this stating their ingredients are 100% real. Though
just two of the numerous ingredients they use include ammonium chloride a commonly used additive in
fireworks. McDonalds also puts ammonium sulfate in their burgers which is a fertilizer (“McDonalds
Hamburger”). On top of the ingredient’s a McDonald’s burger can sit out for 30 days and still be edible,
so there is obviously an extreme amount of preservatives in it ("Fancy a bite?"). Another stomach
turning fact is that McDonalds soaks their meat in bleach to clean it before cooking. There should be no
need for a fast food company to do this, millions of people eat McDonalds every day and are placing
these ingredients in their body. This being stated, the FDA should implement areas where McDonalds
are allowed to buy their ingredients from. These ingredient’s McDonalds uses should be fresh. These
fresh ingredients will cause prices to go up, but adolescents at a young age as mentioned before will not
have access to cheap junk food.
Nutrition in America is extremely poor and there doesn’t seem to be any action towards a better
and more fulfilling nutrition plan amongst Americans. When prison lunches are more nutritious then an
average adolescent’s school lunch there is a major problem. The amount of sugar a person consumes
one day is equivalent to what a healthy person should consume in three days. Last but not least having
grimy fast food restaurants around every corner has not helped the progression towards a healthy
America. All this and more play major roles on the disease rate and problems Americans have. If
Americans were to continue on this route of eating junk food and having poor nutrition problems will
only increase.
Works Cited
Coleman , Erin. "The Average Calorie Intake by a Human Per Day Versus the
Recommendation." SF Gate. N.p.. Web. 11 Nov 2013. <http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/average-calorieintake-human-per-day-versus-recommendation-1867.html>.
Junod, Suzanne. "Sugar: A Cautionary Tale." FDA. N.p.. Web. 11 Nov 2013.
<http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/History/ProductRegulation/SelectionsFromFDLIUpdateSeri
esonFDAHistory/ucm091680.htm>.
Scanlone, Jess. "It Takes HOW Long to Burn Off That Big Mac?." The Active Times. N.p.. Web. 12
Nov 2013. <http://www.theactivetimes.com/your-burger-how-many-minutes-walking>.
"Mayo Clinic." Obesity. N.p.. Web. 12 Nov 2013.
<http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/obesity/DS00314>.
N.p., 21 Sep 2012. Web. 25 Nov 2013. <http://www.thankyourbody.com/mcdonaldshamburger/>.
"Fancy a bite? McDonald's burger bought in Utah in 1999 looks exactly the same as the day it
was first flipped (even after it spent two years in a COAT POCKET)." Mail Online. N.p., 22 Apr 2013. Web.
25 Nov 2013. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2313276/Man-keeps-McDonalds-burger-14years-looks-exactly-the-day-flipped-Utah.htmlhamburger/>.
Jaslow, Ryan. "CDC: 80 percent of American adults don't get recommended exercise." CBS News.
N.p., 3 May 2013. Web. 25 Nov 2013. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2313276/Man-keepsMcDonalds-burger-14-years-looks-exactly-the-day-flipped-Utah.htmlhamburger/>.