Fast Food Addiction

Why Fast-food successful:

physically addiction, psychological dependence, advertisement.

In recent years, the fast food industry has grown exponentially. From its first debut in the 1950’s, fast food has revolutionized our life style and habits. Although fast-foods are responsible for illnesses such as obesity and diabetes, this powerful monopoly is successful because of nutritional dependence, psychological addiction and a strong campaign of advertisement of their products. These cholesterol rich products that fast foods are proposing to the alimentary market have the advantage of being affordable and popular to the eyes of customers. However, it is increasing the number of people suffering from obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, and reducing the life expectancy of many of its customers.

Indeed, the fast food industry is developing mass-produced food that encourages clients to purchase more through manipulative advertisement. At the same time, fast-food success, is attributed to both physiological and psychological addiction, which are interdependent among one another. In fact, fast food companies are compelling their clients by selling ‘’ non-healthy-but-tasty’’ products through tempting broadcast, cheap rapidity, and stimulating products. Whereas, the immense and exaggerated use of sugar, salt, and fat is provoking a physical dependence to fast foods; which in turn causes the psychological dependence through a reword system that encourages the human brain to acquire the product. Therefore, the main scope of the fast food industry is to sell as much as possible, promoting quantity over quality, throughout an addictive system of marketing. As reported in "Obesity Action Coalition: Fast Food – Is It the Enemy?" since the first appearance of fast foods, the quick service restaurants doubled their business, and establishing 300.000 entities in the United States. At the same time, 33.8% of the adult population and 19% of the children and teenagers are affected by obesity.

Muntel, Sarah, RD. "Obesity Action Coalition » Fast Food – Is It the Enemy?" Obesity Action Coalition Fast Food Is It the Enemy Comments. © 2016 Obesity Action Coalition.  Web. 10 Oct. 2016.

These evident statistics are proving that the spread of junk-food is directly linked to the spread of illnesses such as obesity, therefore fast foods are becoming a real threat in our society. However, despite the industry has now reached a global fame at the productive and economic level, it continues to poison consumers without considering the curse that it is casting on society.

Fat foods are becoming an accelerator of illnesses such as obesity and diabetes. In fact, as reported in the table of ‘’ The relationship between fast foods and obesity’’ shows that 24.30% of the obese population of the United States of American is cause by fast foods.  Marlow, Michael L., and Alden F. Shiers. "The Relationship Between Fast Food And Obesity." Applied Economics Letters 19.16 (2012): 1633. Publisher Provided Full Text Searching File. Web. 9 Oct. 2016.

However, the most evident and granted reason for which fast foods are still successful is because of the ingredients with which they create dependence. Indeed, in order to produces foods at a very low price, their main components must be cheap, therefore of a low quality. As a matter of fact, fast foods products are made of salts, fats, and sugars, which have the capability to give a tasty flavor to the products. Although, the excess amount of this substances are responsible for the obstruction of blood vessels, renal dehydration, and the wrong function of metabolism, they create dependence. As a result, from a physical addiction, the human body, will rapidly sufferer the consequences. Indeed, at a long-term use the human body will slowly suffer from heart problems, because of the great amount of salts and wrong blood circulation; kidney stones or diabetes due to excess sugars; and the beginning of obesity due to excessive fats and metabolic dysfunction.