A small thought over the problem of fast food addiction
McDonald's, Subway, Domino’s...what’s common among all these names? Firstly, they all are well known household names and have earned it by selling unhealthy food and more importantly selling it in tonnes everyday. Over the time, fast food chains have evolved as corporate majors with market cap worth billions of dollars and employing millions across the globe. But what has made these chains about all that fuzz?
With the growing income and aspiration to live a better lifestyle, people are spending less time to cook themselves. Instead, they consider fast food chains as an ideal place to spend their time and money with family especially on weekends. They aren't much worried about the death trap they could fall into by addicting themselves to such foods. They don't realize that fast foods are much more addictive than smoking, drinking and doping and spending on fast foods is like paying to suffer.
Indifference on part of school authorities is adding to the problem. Schools are increasingly encouraging and inviting fast food giants to set up shop in their campus to increase revenues which exposes children to fast foods from much smaller age. Many schools defend this by saying that they teach students about such health risks, but what's the point in teaching when during intervals they experience no immediate health problem after having these unhealthy foods. After all, fast foods leads to diseases that build up over the time like High BP, Diabetes etc.
Considering the pace with which the fast food chains are expanding their operations, coupled with decreasing levels of physical work and exercises among people, the quantum of damage that fast food chains could do to people’s health would not be a daunting task. Already, obesity levels among children are at highest levels ever in history and if it continues as such for a decade or two, it would not be surprising if majority of the world’s population gets affected by obesity related diseases.
So what could be done to prevent such a scenario? Given the number of people they employ, closing them can’t be a viable solution. However, policy makers could impose some additional taxes and restrictions on them. Importantly, Fast food chains should be barred from setting up shops in schools and colleges. Also, they may be told to put up pictorial warnings on their products, similar to those on tobacco product packets. YES!!! I mean tobacco products because they both posses same degree of danger to human body......
But the question is....IS THIS GOING TO HAPPEN? I have a negative view on that because such decisions require farsightedness and as of now we lack it. However the process seems to have started with ban on sale of fast food at Delhi University....but where are the schools, after all they are the most vulnerable ones.
McDonald's, Subway, Domino’s...what’s common among all these names? Firstly, they all are well known household names and have earned it by selling unhealthy food and more importantly selling it in tonnes everyday. Over the time, fast food chains have evolved as corporate majors with market cap worth billions of dollars and employing millions across the globe. But what has made these chains about all that fuzz?
With the growing income and aspiration to live a better lifestyle, people are spending less time to cook themselves. Instead, they consider fast food chains as an ideal place to spend their time and money with family especially on weekends. They aren't much worried about the death trap they could fall into by addicting themselves to such foods. They don't realize that fast foods are much more addictive than smoking, drinking and doping and spending on fast foods is like paying to suffer.
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| DON'T GOBBLE IT UP |
Considering the pace with which the fast food chains are expanding their operations, coupled with decreasing levels of physical work and exercises among people, the quantum of damage that fast food chains could do to people’s health would not be a daunting task. Already, obesity levels among children are at highest levels ever in history and if it continues as such for a decade or two, it would not be surprising if majority of the world’s population gets affected by obesity related diseases.
So what could be done to prevent such a scenario? Given the number of people they employ, closing them can’t be a viable solution. However, policy makers could impose some additional taxes and restrictions on them. Importantly, Fast food chains should be barred from setting up shops in schools and colleges. Also, they may be told to put up pictorial warnings on their products, similar to those on tobacco product packets. YES!!! I mean tobacco products because they both posses same degree of danger to human body......
But the question is....IS THIS GOING TO HAPPEN? I have a negative view on that because such decisions require farsightedness and as of now we lack it. However the process seems to have started with ban on sale of fast food at Delhi University....but where are the schools, after all they are the most vulnerable ones.
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