After a discussion in Science 200 Lecture about the dangers of smoking and the history of smoking in America I began to wonder, what would I have done if I was living in the 1960’s and it was unclear if it was unhealthy to smoke or not? Following this train of thought, I pondered if there was anything similar to smoking in my generation that may soon be linked to serious health concerns. The first thing that came to mind was fast food.
Today in America, 17.8% of adults smoke which is as low as the smoking rates have ever been. This number pales in comparison to the 45% of adults who smoked in 1955 according to a Gallup poll. Now, compare the proportion of Americans who smoke to the proportion of Americans that eat fast food. 25% of Americans eat fast food daily, 50% of Americans eat fast food weekly and 80% of Americans eat fast food at least once a month. Having said this, is it possible that fast food is the “smoking” of my generation and is it just going to take a few years to see how bad fast food is for our bodies?
It is obvious that if somebody eats a Big Mac they will not automatically keel over and die, so how can fast food kill. Similar to how a smoker has a much greater chance of getting lung cancer later in life, a person who frequently eats fast food has a much higher chance of having heart disease later in life. Which is the leading cause of death in America with nearly 596,577 deaths each year. Three of the main causes of heart disease are high amounts of fat and cholesterol in the blood, high blood pressure, and high amounts of sugar in the blood. How does fast food contribute to these causes of heart disease?
First, it is understood that fast food contains a lot of fat but just how much is a lot. Let’s take a look at the popular fast food restaurant Wendy’s. If some hungry customer were to go in and order a triple whopper, a large order of french fries, and a frosty, they would consume 121 grams of fat. This is double the recommended fat consumption for one day in one meal. Second, let’s look at how fast food can lead to high blood pressure. According to a study published in “The Journal of Nutrition” in April 2007, even one high fat meal at a fast food restaurant can have negative effects on a person’s blood pressure. The study consisted of all healthy adults who were broken up into two groups. One group was given a fast food meal containing 42 grams of fat on two different occasions and the other group was given two low fat, non fast food meals on two different occasions. It was discovered that the group given fast food experienced increased blood pressure and increased heart rates after just one meal. Third, sugar. According to the American Heart Association, the maximum amount of added sugar that you should have in a day is 7 grams. However, a 64 ounce soda which equates to a large size at many fast food restaurants can contain as much as 200 grams of sugar. Based on these facts, it is evident that the consumption of fast food can play a role in many of the causes of heart disease
In conclusion, 158,040 Americans are expected to die from lung cancer in 2012, which is just a small fraction of those who will die from heart disease. Furthermore, a report done by Dailymail.com reports that eating fatty foods often combined with sedentary lifestyle will take 12 years off a person’s life. This being two years more than the estimated ten years that smoking takes off a person’s life. Having said this, I can conclude that eating fast food often is more dangerous to a person’s health than smoking.
Work Cited
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/adult_data/cig_smoking/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/06/fast-food-poll_n_3714988.html
http://blog.partnersforyourhealth.com/Blog/bid/85971/Shocking-Fast-Food-Statistics-You-Should-Know
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/hdw/causes
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0922553.html
https://www.wendys.com/en-us/frosty
http://www.livestrong.com/article/362680-does-fast-food-give-you-high-blood-pressure/
http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/shocking-fast-food-1673.html
This topic is so good. Fast food and smoking both do damages to the humans’ bodies, but however, those damages are hard to evaluate. In my opinion, smoking do more damages to throat and heart, and fast food do more damages to stomach and digestive system, so I think these two things are hard to compare together.
I really like the topic of your article. I normally wouldn’t compare smoking and fast food. I never really thought about the long term effects of going to the drive through. I think since its so cheap and taste so good people are easily addicted.
I really like the topic of your article. I normally wouldn’t compare smoking and fast food. I never really thought about the long term effects of going to the drive through. I think since its so cheap and taste so good people are easily addicted.
I haven’t had fast food for 10 years, so I could totally see where your coming from. But honestly when I first read the title to your blog, I was like there is no way this person is trying to make a connection like this. As I read what you had to say and all the relations you made to smoking and fast food. I liked when you said fast food is the “smoking” of my generation and is it just going to take a few years to see how bad fast food is for our bodies?t is obvious that if somebody eats a Big Mac they will not automatically keel over and die, so how can fast food kill. Similar to how a smoker has a much greater chance of getting lung cancer later in life, a person who frequently eats fast food has a much higher chance of having heart disease later in life.” After reading this, I don’t 100% agree with you, I just think that maybe smoking and mcdonalds might be just as bad.
As a child, I use to eat at fast food restaurants very often. It was very clear the effect they had on me and from a really age I began to have weight issues. As i became more active, i found that these foods really did not fit well into the equation of an athlete. I stop eating out as much and began exercising more. Once down to a healthy weight, I tried to eat a burger from McDonalds just to try it and it made me sick.