Synthesis Essay On Food Deserts

Synthesis Essay Rough Draft Obesity can be seen as the epidemic of the twenty-first century as it poses a threat to a large percent of the current population, and like all epidemics, there is a suspected cause, “Food deserts.” This term is a technical term used by the CDC to describe an area that lacks access to foods high in nutrients, such as specific areas without grocery stores nearby. The idea of “food deserts” is paradoxical and can be seen as holding back people who want to eat healthy food, but it also has little impact on those who do not already want to eat healthily. For the past decade, researchers and professionals have done surveys and studies on the possibility of “food deserts” being the cause of obesity and yielding different results. However, there is also the complication that obesity is an epidemic caused by a dynamic group of factors and cannot be pinned

The idea that “food deserts” are the leading cause of obesity is broad, complicated and somewhat paradoxical. For example, “food deserts can occur in a community when available and accessible stores fail to offer healthy, affordable food” (Source A). With the idea that food deserts are the leading cause of obesity, this broad idea states that obesity can be cured by throwing down more grocery stores and problem solved. However, as stated in source C, “We have stressed throughout the course of our work that simply plopping down a grocery store doesn't mean that these problems are instantly solved” (Source C). This counters the idea provided in source A because it opens up the idea that there are other causes to the epidemic. Then comes the paradoxical part to this idea. Knowing that throwing down grocery stores won’t instantly solve the obesity problem, however, “all the knowledge and willpower in the world won't allow food-desert residents to choose healthy foods unless they also have access” (Source C). There