Obesity In America Essay

Every child in America can rattle off ten or fifteen different sugary snacks that they like with no problem, but not nearly as many can name the same number of fruits or vegetables that they enjoy. Junk food marketed towards children is a real threat to their overall health as they are too young to recognize that it isn’t healthy or good for them, they only see a brightly colored package and something that they think tastes good. Children in America are more obese than ever before due to the accessibility of junk foods, by letting children eat these foods adults are doing them a great disservice. Junk foods contain unhealthy or even cancer-causing chemicals that get added into the body, it can destroy mental health, and is the leading cause of obesity in America. Most junk foods like snack cakes, cookies, chips, and anything canned or frozen contain preservatives. Processed meats contain sodium nitrates and sodium nitrites which have been linked to colon cancer and diabetes, another harmful preservative is butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) which is an endocrine disruptor and effects hormone output. BHA is found in hundreds of processed foods and is called many different things which makes it hard to completely eliminate from a diet that still

Because hormones get blocked the brain associates the junk food with feeling good and begins to release what dopamine it has stored before the food was eaten, since the endocrine system has been disrupted it then doesn’t produce more dopamine, so when the person exercises they don’t get the necessary release of dopamine which in turn, discourages the person from exercising. A lack of dopamine can lead to depression and anxiety, which can cause a person to eat more junk food as a form of coping leading to more mental health