Muffaddal Burhani
Obesity in America: How Should the United States
Government Change Policies in Order to Fight Obesity:
An Annotated Bibliography
Today many people in America are affected by obesity. Millions of people end up getting
heart disease and/or diabetes because of their obesity. I read a few articles talking about what the
government should do to fight obesity. I found this compelling because at first I thought the
government should do something, but many other consequences come out of setting up programs
to fight obesity. It takes money away from other programs and can lead to an increase in taxes. I
was wondering how and should the government fight obesity. This is an important topic that
affects everyone in America. This is because if the government gets involved it means that your
tax dollars are going to be used. As a citizen of the United States you should care where your
taxes dollars are being used. I know the government has a few plans already set up in order to
reduce obesity in kids like Let’s Move, but some argue that more needs to be done. Some people
argue that the government should heavily tax unhealthy food. However, some people argue that
this would be bad for the economy and other government programs. I do not know much else
about the topic, but am excited to learn more.
My research plan is to find arguments from both sides so I can pick a side and then use a
rebuttal in order to make my argument stronger. I think it is important to find a variety of sources
from health journals to government policies to economics. I think having well-rounded sources
makes your writing more credible resulting in a better argument better. I will use the online
databases and the library’s system to find a wide variety of sources. Key terms that will be
helpful are health, obesity, America, government policy, children, and economy.
This research will be difficult because obesity is a popular topic causing people to write a
lot about it. It will take a long time to sift through all of the articles to find the useful ones. Some
Commented [MB1]: Used different word. I think this
sounds better.
of these articles might be hard to read because I am not an expert and the vocabulary used might
be difficult to understand. I will overcome these challenges by asking others for help that know
more about research than me (librarian and Professor Mary), and will read carefully and look up
information on a basic search engine to make the references easier to understand.
Working Thesis:
The United States government should not do any more than they are currently doing in the fight
Commented [MB2]: Rewrote this entire paragraph in
order to make it more concise, and sound better.
Commented [MB3]: Fixed basic grammar mistakes.
against obesity because the obesity rates in children are decreasing
Annotated Bibliography
Source 1
Childhood obesity : beginning the dialogue on reversing the epidemic : hearing
before the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, United
States Senate, One Hundred Eleventh Congress, second session, on examining
childhood obesity, focusing on reversing the epidemic, March 4, 2010.
Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 2012. Print.
This publication is a hearing of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
in the United States Congress. The hearing’s main focus is on plans for the government to start
Commented [MB4]: Fixing grammar mistake.
programs to help fight childhood obesity. The article supports the fight against childhood obesity
and gives background on the problem and suggest problems to fix this. They support this by
having doctors show the negative effects on obesity and give suggestions on how to fight this
disease. This hearing also talks about the plan Let’s Move which was launched later that year.
This hearing is reliable because it is a hearing of the United States Senate which is a
source that definitely brings in credible doctors and advisors. This source is direct copy from the
United States Senate hearings archives. This hearing was taken place in 2010 and published in
2012 so this can be deemed relevant. This book is a primary source and a secondary source
because the hearing uses speaker making it a secondary source, and is a direct copy of the Senate
meeting so it is also a primary source. This is also a book published by the United States
Commented [MB5]: Added more information about
the source.
government and was found in the University of Illinois main library adding more credibility to
the source. This source can be used in my paper as background and show what the government
has already done in the fight against obesity.
Source 2
Eng, Monica. "Chef working wonders in the school kitchen: Paul Boundas and his
staff are creating healthy meals from scratch for less than $3 per lunch -and kids even like the food." Chicago Tribune [Chicago] 18 Mar. 2011: n.
pag. Chicago Tribune Historical Archive. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.
This article shows a public high school cafeteria chef who makes healthy meals for Holy
Trinity High School using only $3 per lunch. The main point of this article is to show readers
that healthy meals do not need to be expensive and that public schools can make healthy lunches.
The article supports this claim by talking with Chef Paul Boundas and he explains that healthy
meals do not cost that much more than unhealthy ones. He says the healthy options just take a
little more time to prepare.
This article is a reliable source because it was written by the Chicago Tribune, a world
renowned newspaper. This is not a scholarly journal and is not peer reviewed. This article also
Commented [MB6]: Fixing grammar mistake.
met up and interviewed the people who were doing the work first hand so there is no middle man
in this article. Also detailed description of the process of making the food is given to show
extensive research was done. This article is written recently and therefore relevant. This article
can help me in my research paper by showing that the government does not need to do any more
than they are already doing because what they are doing right now is working.
Source 3
Lobelo, Felipe, Isabel Quevedo, and Christina Holub. "School-Based Programs Aimed at the
Prevention and Treatment of Obesity: Evidence-Based Interventions for Youth in Latin
America." Journal of School Health 83.9 (2013): 668-77. EBSCO. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.
This article shows a government program that is already running that is working really
well to prevent more kids from becoming obese. This author’s purpose is to show a program that
Commented [MB7]: Fixing grammar mistake.
is really working to reduce the obesity rate in kids throughout America. The author supports this
claim using numbers to show the effect of the program over the past few years decreasing the
rate of obesity in certain schools.
This is a scholarly journal article that is peer reviewed. This is also found in the EBSCO
database adding credibility. This article is written by a doctor who is conducting the research
first hand with his team making it a primary source. This article gives detailed description on
how the program works. This article was written in 2013 making it relevant. This source could
be used in my own research paper as an example of a program that the government is currently
doing to prevent an increase in obesity.
Source 4
Mertens, Karel, and Morten O. Ravn. "The Dynamic Effects of Personal and
Corporate Income Tax Changes in the United States." The American Economic
Review 103.4 (2013): n. pag. ProQuest. Web. 30 Sept. 2015.
The Article explains the effects of taxes on the economy of the United States. The paper
says how the increase of taxes negatively affects the economy as a whole. The authors states that
in in times where the income tax increase spending by consumers decreases as a whole resulting
in less yield for the market. The author does this by showing a graph as the percent of income tax
increase spending as a whole decreases.
This journal shows that as taxes increase the economy as a whole suffers. This goes on to
explain how an increase in taxes can really hurt the economy. This is a scholarly journal that is
peer reviewed. This is a primary research article done by a professor of economics. The author
also uses numbers to back up his argument, and numbers do not lie. Also this article was
published in 2013 which is recent making it relevant. This source can be used in my research
paper showing the effects of taxing on the economy, but might be a stretch on why the
Commented [MB8]: Changed word because I think it
sounds better in this paragraph
government not do any more than it is already doing to fight obesity because it would raise taxes,
and have negative effects on the economy.
Source 5
"Obesity in America: What’s driving the epidemic?" Harvard Men's Health Watch
Feb. 2012: 5-7. EBSCO. Web. 29 Sept. 2015.
The main point of this article says that obesity among adults is increasing in the United
States. The author shows this to be true by using statistics showing the increase in average
weight among male adults from 1960s to 2012. Because adults have jobs that require less manual
labor, the obesity rate in adults has increased. The article uses even more statistics to show that
males in the workforce tend to loss less calories at work compared to 50 years ago.
This paper gives the other side of the story of obesity which is obesity in adults. This
article explains how adult obesity is increasing meaning the government should do something
about this epidemic. This is a scholarly journal that is peer reviewed. This is primary research
completed by the Harvard Medical School. The research seems to be reliable considering
Harvard Medical School is one of the best medical schools in the country and has many patients
to test giving their study many data points. This article was published in 2012 which makes it
still pretty relevant. This article can be used as a rebuttal in my research paper.
Source 6
Patel, Alpa V., Janet S. Hildebrand, and Susan M. Gapstur. "Body Mass Index and
All-Cause Mortality in a Large Prospective Cohort of White and Black U.S.
Adults." PLOS one 9.10 (2014): n. pag. EBSCO. Web. 30 Sept. 2015.
This journal article shows that people in obese BMI range do not have that much higher
mortality rate than people in the normal BMI range. The author of this article supports his claim
by collecting data that shows the mortality rate of obese compared to normal people is not that
different. The author shows that the mortality rate of people in the obese BMI range compared to
the normal BMI range is 0.69% higher which is basically nothing.
Commented [MB9]: Restructured this sentence so it
sounds better
This article helps show that obesity actually does not cause that many more deaths. This
paper is from an academic science journal that is peer reviewed. This article was also published
only one year ago so the article has current data making it relevant. This article can support the
topic that no more needs to be done by the government because obesity as a disease is not even
deadly.
Source 7
Pomeranz, Jennifer L., and Kelly D. Brownell. "Advancing Public Health Obesity
Policy through State Attorneys General." American Journal of Public Health
101.3 (2011): n. pag. ProQuest. Web. 30 Sept. 2015.
This article is arguing for the attorney general to make policies fighting obesity even
more. This article is arguing for more government intervention in the fight against obesity. This
author focuses on the data that says obesity in adults has not decreased, and how the child
obesity rate has only decreased in the short run, but will eventually go up again if the
government does not get further involved.
This article gives a chance for a good counter argument. In any research paper one should
look at both sides of the argument. This article is also peer reviewed and a scholarly article. This
helps us see the other side's argument and helps us adjust our argument. Also this article was
written pretty recently and is still relevant to this topic. This article can be used in my paper as a
rebuttal.
Source 8
"Progress on Childhood Obesity." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, 06 Aug. 2013. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
This is a map of obesity rates of children are decreasing, increasing, or no change in each
state from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention website. Their purpose is to show that
the obesity rates in most states have decreased in the past few years. They show statistics of the
Commented [MB10]: Fixing grammar mistake.
states on a map and show about half or more are decreasing in obesity rates. They also show
which states have not changed and the three states that have increased in obesity rate.
This is a good source because it gives all of the data. This data can show that nothing
more needs to be done to fight childhood obesity or more needs to be done because the obesity
rate in some states have increased or have not changed. This source is credible because it was
published by the Center of Disease Control and Prevention. This is a government run operation
so the data and information can be deemed reliable. This is not a scholarly source and is not peer
reviewed. This source was published in 2013 so it is pretty current. This source may have a bias
because the government wants to look like they are doing a good job so they post statistics that
show they are. This can be used in my paper to support my thesis showing majority of the states
have decreasing obesity rates.
Source 9
Tuckson, Reed V. "America’s Childhood Obesity Crisis and the Role of Schools." Journal of
School Health 83.3 (2013): 137-38. EBSCO. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.
This article talks about how public schools should do more than they are doing to prevent
more kids from becoming obese. The author’s stance is clear that the government needs to set up
more programs in schools to prevent the obesity rate to increase again. The author supports his
claim by showing examples of a program added to six districts and how the obesity rate has
decreased in the students. The author says as more programs are added the obesity rate will keep
going down.
This is primary research conducted by a scientist and his group. This is a scholarly
journal article that is peer reviewed. This article gives detailed description on how these schools
have adopted the new program and how it has benefitted the students. This article was published
in 2013 making it still relevant. This article can be used in my research paper as a rebuttal. I can
argue that even though this helps decrease the obesity rate the rate of at which the obesity rate is
Commented [MB11]: Added new source and analysis
of the source to make it easier to use in research
paper. Also this gives readers more information
dropping is also decreasing so more money or work will need to be spent in order to decrease the
obesity rate even more.
Source 10
Vinall, Phil. "Obesity among Children and Adolescents in America." MD Conf
Express 13.21 (2014): 21-23. EBSCO. Web. 30 Sept. 2015.
In this journal article the author says obesity in children is decreasing in the United
States. The author shows this by giving a map of the United States and showing the decreasing
rates of obesity in kids in the United States by individual states. Then the author shows the
decreasing numbers in obesity of children throughout the entire United States.
This article helps support my thesis giving reasons why we are already winning the fight
against obesity and do not need to do anything else. This journal article is a peer reviewed
academic article found in a database. This paper is reliable because it is found in a well-known
database and is peer reviewed. This article was also published recently making the data and the
statements in the article reliable.
Source 11
"WOMAN of ACTION-Beth Mueller." A Celebration of Women. N.p., 2 May 2012. Web. 25
Oct. 2015.
This is a graph that shows that childhood obesity has decreased in the last five years. This
source was published by the Celebration of Women, an organization that recognizes women’s
contributions to society. This graph also shows what the predicted decrease of the childhood
obesity rates is in the next 20 years. The purpose of this article is to that the obesity rates in
children are decreasing. They support this by showing the data of the obesity rates of the last 30
years and predict the next 30 years and show in the last five years the childhood obesity rates
have declined.
This source is a good source because it gives data starting from 1970 which shows that
the childhood obesity rates increased a lot in the past 30 years, but in the last five they have
decreased, but not nearly as low as the obesity rates were in the 1970s. This is an organization
that does not do research on obesity, but they do cite all of their sources making the information
reliable. This source is not scholarly or peer reviewed. This source is pretty current it was
published in 2012. This source can be used in my paper to show that childhood obesity rates in
recent years have decreased supporting my thesis. However, this could also be used to show
more need to be done so that childhood obesity rates go back down to as low as they were in the
1970s.
Commented [MB12]: Added this source and analysis
in order to give more information to readers and help
me write my research paper.