These firms are now multinationals with strong presence in almost every major country of the world. The consumption of this food can only be limited by individual action where each person decided to resort to healthier food and thus avoid this kind of non-nutritional meals. The frightening side of fast food consumption has created awareness in some sections of the society and people are making an effort to resort to healthier eating. However it will be some time before we can see a serious reversal in the trend. It will only be then that we can expect a complete change in our diet and health.
Fast food is closely linked to our perception of Americanization as well. It is our trademark diet for the rest of the world and that has given rise to political and social problems as well. These have been identified by Schlosser in his book. However fast food may not always be bad if consumed occasionally. But when it becomes an essential part of our diet, it certainly turns into a serious problem. We have seen that many young businessmen and employees would have their breakfast at some fast food because of their timinigs or the fact that they have no one at home to make breakfast for them. It may not be that harmful to their health because breakfast contains some good items as well including egg muffins and pancakes. These things have some nutritional value and are usually what an average family would have for breakfast. However cause of serious concern...
In many families and especially in the ones where one person is already obese, the consumption of fast food is a higher than more health conscious families.
People are seriously complaining about offering fast food to young children. In one recent report, this has been equated with child abuse since a child doesn't know what is good for him and when he allowed having meals with high fat content and no nutritional value, it violates his right to healthy food. For this reason, parents have come under severe criticism. Sadly and unfortunately though, these children usually belong to mothers who reside in public houses indicating their low income. Many of them are working two jobs to make ends meet and this means they can spend very few hours at home. Thus they have no time to prepare meals and children thus have to resort to fast food, which as already discusses, leads to obesity.
We need to wait and see how recent protests and awareness would bring about a change but change is what we need and must desperately demand.
References
Eric Schlosser. Fast Food Nation. The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Perennial. 2003.
Effects of Fast-Food Consumption on Energy Intake and Diet Quality Among Children in a National Household Survey," Volume 4, Number 12 Feb 2004 http://www.healthinschools.org/ejournal/2004/feb4.htm
