Big Business And Obesity

All over the developed world the obesity problem is becoming worse and worse. The United States is leading the way with ever increasing levels of fatness and Austrialia and Europe are not far behind. Reports from America say that even children are getting fat very early and child car seat designers have been forced to modify the designs of them so that obese children can fit safely into them. Other health experts say that todays children will not live to the same age as their parents generation due to health complications brought on by obesity.

In Australia, children are being classified as obese at the rate of one per cent every year, that is an extra forty thousand Australian kids falling into the overweight and obese category annually. The long term health implications for all nations of the developed world are huge. The health care bills for all these obese citizens are going to be immense and the state will certainly have to pick up the bills. It seems that obesity could be a financial time bomb for many countries and that the situation demands that action is taken now to stop the future problems.

Much has been done to raise awareness of the problem with conferences and campaigns on healthy eating worldwide by individual governments but it is clear that these campaigns seem only to widen the divide between those people who eat properly and those who don't.

Experts argue that the real problem is the way in which we live our lives and the changes that have made falling into the trap of obesity so easy. For example today, kids are not encouraged to play outside nearly as much as they were in days gone by. Computer games, television and play stations have taken over as leading forms of entertainment and outside activity is considered to be dangerous especially in big cities with high crime rates.

Adults also are more reliant on machines at work and at home and so they do less physical exertion during the day. People frown at the idea of a 20 minute walk preferring to take the car. With the drop in manual labour and so many adults sitting behind computer screens the rates of obesity and fitness have been affected. Today gym memberships are far more popular than they were, as some people take into account the need to exercise. However the effort of having to work out to stay trim often proves too much for some people and they learn to live with their obesity.

Making everything easier for people with modern technology has also had an impact on how and what we eat. It is so easy to eat at fast food restaurants and so dangerous to your health too. Fast food is high in calories, fat and salt but it is so readily available and instantly tasty that people consume it in vast quantities. Fruit and vegetables which are good for you are non-existent at these restaurants.

The way we live today is catered to by big businesses. If they can find a way to make things easier for us, market forces will make certain that it is available as soon as possible. The downside to all of this is that easier doesn't always mean healthier and while we can try to blame big business for our obesity problem, the root of the problem is in our lifestyles and our desire to live without hassles and without too much physical activity.

From the food perspective, it is a vicious circle with more the more fast food consumed, the more fast food restaurants open to tempt us into easy high calorie meals. The huge amount of cash that is made from fast food makes the process difficult to stop. The big fast food chains have all made token efforts to introduce salads and healthy food but until they are actually boycotted and they start to lose money these places are here to stay.

Possibly the way forward is a much more severe set of actions to stop this vicious circle. For example a concerted effort and legislation are required in different areas if law makers and politicians are serious about helping nations get healthy again. Stricter rules on the quality of food served in fast food restaurants, a ban on promotion of unhealthy food, no misleading claims to be made on packaging of food items, warnings on food items of unhealthy contents (like with cigarette packets), the taxing of unhealthy products and the subsidising of nutritious food and the education of children at schools on healthy living,exercise and diet.

Other initiatives that could really help would be the pedestrianising of large parts of cities to encourage people to leave their cars at home and subsiding the use of bicycles. This would have a environmental impact too and enhance air quality in big cities.

The problem with all these ideas is that go against the immediate commercial interests of big business. It needs brave and dedicated politicians to stand up and put forward these proposals and even the unhealthy people might not welcome them, because very often they are unaware of what is actually good for them. In the meantime the rich countries get fatter and more unhealthy and the fast food manufacturers get richer and promote their food more effectively. When will it stop?