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Noah Gartside
Mr. Davis
Gov. 4th

Mock Congress Research Paper

Obesity has become an accepted disease by America, and no one is trying to

reduce the amount of affected people. Obesity is a deadly disease that is difficult to
control when most everything to eat or drink around you is packed with sugar and other
unhealthy fillers. Most of the foods and drinks offered in most Americans everyday life
contain ridiculous amounts of sugar which is a leading cause of obesity in America today
and this is because the cheaper more affordable products are filled with sugar because its
cheap and fills people up fast along with its addictive qualities causing people to
unconsciously crave the more sugar filled drink or snack rather than water or something.
Sugar content in America needs to monitored and there needs to be a limit of sugar
content in specific amounts of any consumers item. Sugar content in food is excessive
and unhealthy for every day diets, sugar is a leading cause of obesity today and obesity is
a deadly disease which is spreading vastly across America and no ones fighting it, future
generations are being exposed and advertised to these unhealthy sugar packed foods at as
soon as elementary school and most dont have much choice in choosing the healthy
food.
One of the many leading causes to obesity is the ridiculous amount of sugar
consumed by Americans everyday. Sugar has been abused by so many businesses

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because of its extremely profitable variable; sugar is really cheap and is used as filler in
most everyday foods. . Increased consumption of added sugars, which are sweeteners
added to processed and prepared foods, has been linked to a decrease in intake of
essential micronutrients and an increase in body weight. (Consumption of Added
Sugars Among U.S. Adults, 2005-2010 cdc.gov. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, May 2013. ) According to the center for disease control and prevention sugar
is actually taking the place of essential nutrients people need to stay healthy and this is
causing people to gain weight, which can easily turn into obesity if those nutrients
continue to be replaced with sugar. Sugar is cheaper to buy and fill up companys
products so they can make more money off their products. Over the past century,
Americans have increased their fructose consumption from 15 grams per day to 75 grams
per day or more. (Jeffrey Norris. Sugar Is a Poison, Says UCSF Obesity Expert.
ucsf.edu. UCSF News Center, June 25, 2009.) The consumption of sugar has
skyrocketed in the past century because nobody is limiting or monitoring the use of sugar
or sugar content in foods and drinks. The FDA needs to take control of the use of sugar
and its levels in foods and drinks.
Sugar is in just about everything we eat. As Americans we eat more food than
most and since our food is packed with sugar we consume more than the average healthy
amount of sugar. Consumption of fast food, trans fatty acids (TFAs), and fructose
combined with increasing portion sizes and decreased physical activityhas been
implicated as a potential contributing factor in the obesity crisis. (Ryan Hurt. The
Obesity Epidemic. ncbi.nim.nih.gov. Gastroenterology Hepatol, December 6, 2010).
Fructose is a hexose sugar that is found in most sodas or flavored drinks and most foods

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even. People consume excessive amounts of sugar and it leads to gain weight because
they dont get enough exercise. Americans are exposed to huge food portions in
restaurants, fast food places, gas stations, movie theaters, supermarkets, and even at
home. (What Causes Overweight and Obesity? nhlbi.nih.gov. National Heart, Lung,
and Blood Institute. July 13, 2012.) Food portions in America are not only large in
quantity but just the amount of fillers in the food is why we eat so much because we dont
acquire the right nutrients in our food. Fast food lacks nutrients so it doesnt fulfill our
chemical balances inside our bodies so we tend to eat more food, over eating tends to
lead to obesity if exercise is absent.
Obesity is a widespread disease across the world but America has become an easy
target for the disease. The people of America dont have much choice as to what is in the
food they eat but they do have a choice of what they eat, and most of the time the cheaper
the cost the more unhealthy the food is and being on a budget can lead to an unhealthy
lifestyle. Two out of three adults and one out of three children in the United States are
overweight or obese. (Sugary Drinks and Obesity Fact Sheet. hsph.harvard.edu. The
Nutrition Source.) Two out of every three adults in America is overweight, which is sixty
six percent of American adult, more than half are unable to maintain a healthy weight or
level of body fat. Some people are born with slower metabolisms and struggle with
obesity no matter how healthy or much they exercise but a lot of obese people are just a
result of consuming every day food and drink products that wasnt even known to
increase the risk of obesity. About one-third of children and adolescents ages 6 to 19 are
considered to be overweight or obese, more than 1 in 6 children and adolescents ages 6 to
19 are considered to be obese. (Overweight and Obesity Statistics. Niddk.nih.gov.

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National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. October 2012.) The
rate of obesity is ridiculous even in children and something needs to be done about it.
Obesity cant be ignored because it is a slow moving stoppable disease that has been next
to ignored. Being obese increases your risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, arthritis,
and some cancers. (Obesity. Nlm.nih.gov. National Institute of Diabetes and
Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Oct. 1, 2014.) Obesity is a life threatening disease and
needs to be prevented.
One could argue, its simple, obesity is completely avoidable by buying items with
lower sugar content or eating healthier but the problem with this solution is that sugar is
such a cheap filler in food that the product is sold at low prices and larger quantities.
When someone is struggling financially they cant afford to buy the more expensive,
healthier choices especially if they are also trying to feed a family its easier to buy
cheaper bulk foods which are usually packed with fillers and unnatural ingredients.
Unhealthy food has become Americas regular everyday nutrition, Fast food is now so
commonplace that it has acquired an air of inevitability, as though it were somehow
unavoidable, a fact of modern life. (Eric Schlosser. Fast Food Nation NY Houghton
Mifflin 2002.) Fast food is everywhere in most cities of America and has become people
go to if they are hungry and its cheap and fills you up, but with artificial fillers and
sugars. One could also say that its the persons attitude and exercise that gives them the
obesity, not the food, which is a significant factor when it comes to causes of obesity.
The percentage of obesity in our nation is getting out of control and the Federal
Drug Administration needs to get involved. One main leading cause to obesity is sugar, it
is packed into everyday food and drinks consumed by Americans and are causing them

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to gain weight leading to obesity. Sugar is such a cheap filler that the sugar filled foods
are the cheaper option over the healthier foods and options which leads to the lower
classes being stuck with the unhealthy foods cause thats all they can afford. Obesity is a
controllable disease the FDA just needs to take control of companies loading their foods
with fillers and sugars.