...Taxation of High Fat Foods It is no secret that foods that are high in fats, such as cakes, sodas, or any other sweets, can lead to health concerns. Obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease just to name a few, are some of the numerous health risks that could result from eating foods that are high in fats. Some suggest placing a tax on high fat foods to help raise awareness of the risks to an individual’s health, as well possibly deterring people from consuming too much of the fatty foods. Taxing foods high in fat because of the harmful risks they pose is almost as ridiculous as taxing people for taking baths because of the risk of drowning. Why not tax people when there is a thunderstorm, for the risk of being struck by lightning. People already understand the risks of eating such foods, but yet, we still live in a country that leads the world in obesity. There is already taxes on almost everything we purchase anyway, to add a separate tax on foods that are not as healthy as other foods is just another way to tap into our pockets. In 2012 New York City’s Mayor Bloomberg proposed a bill to ban the sale of sugary drinks that exceeded 16 ounces. This was an attempt by the mayor to increase awareness of the health risks of consuming too much sugary drinks and foods, as well as make the citizens of New York City healthier. After the bill was passed there was an uproar from not only the American Beverage Association, and the entire soft drink industry, but also New Yorkers far...
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...doubling since 1980” (Nestle, 2006); this is of huge concern because soft drinks provide empty calories, or calories that only bring with them a high-density of energy but not of nutrients. If 10% of your calories consistently does not provide the nutrients you need, the amount of optimum nutrients is curtailed and could eventually lead to a form of malnutrition or a vitamin deficiency. Overweight children are at an especially high risk because they tend to “consume 1200 to 2000 calories per day from soft drinks alone” (Nestle, 2006) and not only does this cause a form of malnutrition but it makes it more likely that these children end up with an excess of calories, which leads to obesity....
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...Why Should Unhealthy Foods Be Taxed Around The World? An Exploratory Essay Nicholas Jackson Goldey - Beacom College Why Should Unhealthy Foods Be Taxed Around The World? An Exploratory Essay I normally eat French toast sticks with bacon or waffles with bacon for breakfast in the morning because it is the most convenient for me - it comes in a pre-cooked package that I could throw in the microwave and be ready in the minutes – and it tastes good to me. Even though it may taste good to me and will settle for a breakfast meal for my stomach, I know it isn’t good for my body in the long run. However, after reading some of the writings of food activist Gary Sacks, I began to think more about what I should be eating healthy foods because there will begin to be taxes on unhealthy foods that are made. A prime example is in his article, “Traffic-Light' Nutrition Labeling and 'Junk-Food' Tax: a Modeled Comparison of Cost-Effectiveness for Obesity Prevention,” published in Nature Publishing Group, Sacks states junk-food' tax, price elasticity’s were used to estimate a change in energy intake in response to a 10% price increase in seven food categories. Sacks advice about the junk foods, my breakfast foods, starting to get taxed 10% makes me start thinking about what I should be eating. The waffles/French toast sticks with bacon have been pre-cooked and made so that the packaging can be heated up in a microwave oven, but on the same note, the food items look to be similar to...
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...kinds of calories are they consuming?” (“Poverty”). To prevent this, America should take action in making their country a healthier place. The country should tax unhealthy foods such as sodas for the people in order to be healthier and prevent obesity. There are many reasons to why America is the first country to have the most obese people in. Obesity rates have increased surprisingly, doubling the rate since the 1970s. This is also a very important case for children. About a quarter of 2 to 5 year olds are obese in America. Obesity is when your weight is 20% more than average weight, compared to your height. This can be called a disease. “Heart stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes and different types of cancer can all be caused by just being obese” (“Obesity”). The Site-wide Navigation states that overweight people spend more on health care than the people with other health problems. Researchers have noticed huge lifestyle changes- Americans exercising less but still maintaining the same calorie intake. All these concerns make obesity a problem in America. Another reason why Americans might be obese is because of their habits and the foods they consume. Americans especially eat a lot of unhealthy and fattening foods. The Do Something Organization states, “one out of four people consume a fast food meal at...
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...Bigger Doesn’t Mean Better When the sun comes out in the County it is a common sight to see children running around in parks, forests, beaches, and even at the plaza. But what people don’t commonly see are the cars rolling by with young eager eyes peering out of the window wanting to run around and only to be driven to the nearest McDonald’s to be stuffed full of preservatives, empty calories, and saturated fats; then taken home to be sat down in front of a television screen to keep them occupied. Within the past 30 years, the number of overweight and obese children has tripled (Lytle), not only decreasing their life span by ten to twenty years, but creating $147 billion a year in weight related medical bills nation-wide. The increasing number of obese adults, teens, and children has reached epidemic proportions and if nothing is done about this crisis then our country will be facing a very fat problem. Knowing that the rate of obesity has increased within the past 30 years it is important to realize how it became a problem in order to resolve it. One of the culprits is the new forms of entertainment being available to the youth, namely television and the internet. With these devices people can gain consistent instant gratification in a short period of time and can easily become addicted to them hindering the likelihood of voluntary exercise. Even though the internet has only been widely popular within the past ten years, the average Americans spends approximately 52 hours...
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...Argumentative Essay Name: Class: Course: Instructor Name: Date: Taxing Unhealthy Food and Drinks I feel that by putting an assessment on Unhealthy sustenance ought to be a powerful path in fighting Obesity and may even help in the bettering the dental Health of our kids and in the meantime sufficiently gathering cash to purchase some new rockets for the war on fear as well. It may appear at first look that by putting a duty on Unhealthy nourishment that the legislature has no privilege to do this. Investigate and what do you see? Corpulence is a plague in America! The administration's occupation is to lead us in a manner that is BEST for our country. Is permitting individuals to keep going down a way that will in the long run lead to a greater number of issues than Obesity OK? Our legislature permits Unhealthy nourishment to be shoddy and simple for all nationals to get. Putting an assessment on Unhealthy sustenance would at present consider natives in charge of what they put in their bodies yet would help them in settling on healthier and more astute decisions. Arguments for a Tax on Unhealthy Foods The way that the administration charge Unhealthy sustenance will ideally stop individuals eating so much additionally, the expenses can go towards the treatment for individuals with sicknesses or conditions created by Unhealthy nourishment implying that the individuals who eat Unhealthy sustenance will pay for their doctor's facility charge, that way, regardless of the fact...
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...Obesity 1 Obesity Ashley Wood GEN 499 Dan Hicks April 29, 2014 Obesity 2 Obesity is close to being one of the most significant health issues that children and adults are facing today. Obesity is defined as, " ...having too much body fat. It is different from being overweight, which means weighing too much. The weight may come from muscle, bone, fat, and/or body water. Both terms mean that a person's weight is greater than what's considered healthy for his or her weight"(Medline Plus, 2013). Being obese increases one's risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, and even some cancers. This also increases the cost in our economy. "The economic costs from the excess morbidity and mortality attributable to obesity-related diseases go beyond health-care costs alone, perhaps most notable are the consequent losses in productivity" (Wang, McPherson, Marsh, Gortmaker, & Brown, 2011). We need to be focusing on more physical activity and better eating habits. This essay will include a literature review of three scholarly sources based on obesity, explain how academic knowledge impacts social elements of local and global communities, asses how principles of active citizenship could impact the issue of obesity within the next five years, as well as share two bogs on obesity. The first literature of review on obesity is focused on guidelines and treatment for the disease. There have been numerous treatment programs but none have provided...
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... The Fast Food Epidemic On Health In today's society, fast food has become a large part of many American's lives. With the rising numbers of obese people, it is hard not to draw a correlation between the increase in fast food and obesity. Most obese people don’t want to be obese and wish they could lose weight, yet they continue to struggle with their fast food intake and obesity. This is due to the advertising done on the consumers, the highly addictive food itself, and most importantly, how advertising and addiction combine with children to form habits that are kept once they become adults. These factors are the reasons that fast food restaurants are to blame for the rising obesity and health risks across America. The government needs to step in and place regulations on these fast food restaurants so they will stop taking advantage of people's weaknesses. Before it can be gone into detail about how fast food companies are to blame for people over eating their food, it first must be proven that fast food is indeed the main problem causing today's obesity in America. It is known to many people how the number of fast food restaurants in America has increased tremendously over the past several decades, but it is difficult to calculate by how much due to the lack of historic statistics. Also, it is difficult whether or not to categorize certain restaurants as fast food. Although,...
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...become a way of life. People used to walk many places – parents walked to work, shoppers walked to the grocery store, and kids used to walk to school. Increasing crime rates and the relocation of many schools out of the local neighborhoods have made people reluctant to send their children out unescorted. With all these different contributing factors, why is the government focusing on so called junk food as the best place to do battle with this out of control epidemic? Can the state tax people healthy? The majority of people in the U.S. have ready access to food; it just isn’t always the healthiest food. In fact, cheaper fare is generally higher in fat, salt, and calorie content than more expensive foodstuffs. It only stands to reason that if junk food is cheap, then people with lower income will buy it. This seems to be backed up by statistics. Education level is an indicator of economic level as well; those who didn’t graduate from high school often make significantly less money than those who did graduate. High school graduation also impacts obesity levels; Running head: JUNK FOOD AND SNACKS there is a marked difference between graduates and non-graduates. “People with less than...
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...Outline Structure I. Introduction A. Thesis: The use of drone strike’s is morally and ethically sound based on evidence that shows drone warfare saves American lives, are just as accurate as conventional air strikes, and save tax payers millions of dollars. II. Body Paragraph 1: The use of drone strikes has enabled the United States to neutralize thousands of terrorist targets without direct threat to American lives. B. Supporting evidence: 1. Explanation: You cannot put a dollar amount on a human life, however a U.S. military pilot has millions of dollars of training invested in them and the aircraft to make combat aviation safe. Look at the F-35 program for example it is highly experimental and has costed 1.5 Trillion Dollars. The most advanced drones such as the X-47B have only cost the United States 900 million dollars to develop and deploy due to the removal of the human element from flying the aircraft. 2. So what? If you look at all the aircraft crashes over the past decade they have killed 277 Americans. If you would have had drones in those combat areas versus manned aircraft those are 277 lives that could have been saved along with hundreds of millions of dollars in death benefits, lost training, and the cost of the aircraft. III. Body Paragraph 2: Topic sentence goes here. C. Supporting evidence 3. Explanation 4. So what? D. Supporting evidence 5. Explanation ...
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...Obesity in Today’s World Robert McNiff English Composition II Dr. McFarland November 26, 2013 Many celebrities, including the First Lady Michelle Obama, have been attacking obesity as an epidemic. The definition of an epidemic says that it is a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community. Many television programs target young children who are watching their cartoon channels with sugary snacks. Should people in today’s society make someone's weight a topic of discussion, or should this be a conversation kept behind the doors of a person and their doctor and family? People should not be judging others when it comes to a topic that can be hurtful to others. Obesity is a problem that should be kept within the confines of the home or a doctor’s office. With the research provided, we will also answer the question of how obesity should be handled in today's society. Television has become a stepping stone for children who are obese. Obese children who have been bullied will sit in front of the television because they do not want to be harassed by the children they are in school with because of their weight. When you add this into the commercials being shown during...
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...and 11 percent will be critically obese or 100 pounds above the healthful weight (Marlow). With increasing numbers on obesity and diet related health problems, many citizens have called for the regulation of the American diet (Marlow). Reducing Americans’ excessive sodium consumption requires establishing new federal standards for the amount of salt that food manufacturers, restaurants, and food service companies put in their products (National Academy of Sciences). Public-health advocates attending a conference backed by representatives in the pharmaceutical industry, says that the government should classify...
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...Fat Tax in the United States Abstract The United States has one of the least healthy populations in the entire world. That seems out of skew because we are also considered one of the most powerful. In the near future we will have a universal healthcare program that will basically enforce everybody to have health insurance of some sort. You would think you would want this for a nation on route to good health. This is not the case now, but there is one way in starting the path. Fat Tax in the United States The United States of America is the most obese nation in the world. In the United States obesity is estimated to cause an excess 111,909 to 365,000 deaths per year, while 1 million (7.7%) of deaths in the European Union are attributed to excess weight. Not only is obesity taking lives, it is the cause of numerous health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Our country, as a whole, needs to start being more careful about what our bodies intake. Various ways have been introduced in doing this. The majority of them would not be enforced and are typically in the form of a dieting or a workout regimen. Yeah, like everybody wants to do that. One of the most overlooked ways in reducing health risks in America is implementing a tax on fat of all things. It seems a little far-fetched at first but many would be surprised how genuine of an argument this is. The idea of a fat tax is so obscure to many. This is probably because it has never been in effect...
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...how well the fast food industry is growing. Quick-stop food franchises like McDonalds and Burger King allow overworked moms to feed their children dinner in between soccer practice and dance lessons. While the fast food options may be a time saver, there are many downsides that can lead to an abundance of physical and mental health problems. Some of these potentially harmful problems could be early respiratory issues, depression, and acne. To avoid the negative effects of a bacon cheeseburger, it is important to find a healthy balance between junk food and healthier options. Implementing more education about healthy food choices in schools and making it readily available to overworked parents and their hungry kids could begin to end the epidemic....
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...DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS The findings of this research includes the problem, its impacts, and its causes. It will also include solutions of the problem including: educating the public, putting a tax on sugary food and drinks, and regulating the amount of sugar that can be used in a product. Problem Americans diets are too heavy in sugar, resulting in many health problems. Many Americans do not know the harmful effects sugar has on the body. The average American consumes nearly 66 pounds of added sugar each year, and about 19.5 teaspoons every day ("How Much Is Too Much?”). The problem with sugar is a large part in the obesity epidemic that America faces. Causes The reasons Americans have too much sugar in their diets because of added sugars in products, drinking soda, and due to lack of education about the dangers of sugar. Although all sugars are not bad, such as natural sugars in fruits, added sugars add calories and no nutrients to food. Food companies are not required to list the amount of added sugar on a foods...
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