U.S. Cuts Back on Fast Food Intake, but Kids are Still Obese!

On February 22, 2013, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), conducted a research study that shows adults have more recently cut back on fast food consumption but the obesity rates in children have stayed the same. Although, fast food intake has been slowly decreasing, people still do not realize that all of the greasy food made at home such as french fries, pizza, and cookies do not decrease the fat intake. Studies still show that people who are already obese are consuming more calories, salt, and higher fat diets.

Today with great technology of being able to fry foods and tasty new combinations of foods high in fat, salt, and sugars the calorie amounts have increased since the days of using simple ingredients. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that children are consuming fewer calories but more saturated fats. Saturated fats are fats that are solid at room temperature and produce one of the greatest risks of clogged arteries an example of a saturated fat is butter.

As the nation slowly starts to become more health conscious many food processing companies are altering their foods to the new tastes of consumers. This also includes food and beverages bought by fast food companies; corporations like McDonalds have already taken into consideration the health conscious consumer and provide the calories on food labels and menus. Mostly with adults portion increase has taken place and therefore causes calorie consumption to also increase, which highly affects weight gain. The major concerns that come with obesity are heart disease, diabetes, heart attacks, and many other illnesses associated with being over weight.

In situations like this dealing with obesity, many Americans want to point their fingers at the food industry and blame them for making them the way they are. People have the choice to consume the foods they do, however, many people choose to ignore the Nutrition Facts panel on almost every food product. This panel gives the serving size and servings per container; it also gives calorie intake and calories from fat per serving. The Nutrition Facts panel also gives a list of nutrients; percent of daily values and most panels include daily values at the bottom of the panel based on a 2,000 calorie and 2,500 calorie diets.

However, since many people prefer to disregard these panels, this situation is forced on the food scientists. In this scenario it becomes the food scientists' duty to understand what is the main cause of obesity is in food products and how to reduce it or eliminate it from products. An example of this would be reducing sodium and sucrose levels while increasing fiber; all while keeping the flavor the same, if one could imagine this is a tricky process. A product that has been developed to be healthier for the consumer is so called "butter," examples are brands like Smart Balance and I can't believe it's not Butter! Both products contain no trans fat or saturated fat and are made from either vegetable oil or extra virgin olive oil. These products are great examples of what a food scientist can do, by keeping the flavor of butter yet cutting out the fats.




http://www.ift.org/food-technology/daily-news/2013/february/22/adults-cut-back-fast-food-but-us-kids-still-eat-too-much-fat.aspx

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db114.htm