The Harmful Impact of Fast Food and the Need for Urgent Action

Running head: HEALTHCARE
Healthcare
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1HEALTHCARE
The harmful impact of Fast food needs to be stopped in an emergency basis in order to
prevent epidemic
April 28th, 2019
By (Student Name)
27.9 percent of the total population of Australia is found to be suffering from obesity
related issues. The chief reason behind this is excessive consumption of fast food. The term “fast
food” can be defined as processed foods that are higher in calories and lower in nutrients and are
advertised as a quick as well as easy way for satisfying hunger. Today, in majority of the
developed as well as developing countries, individuals are obtaining half their calories from
processed fast foods. The health risks associated with fast foods are shocking and with time, it is
getting worse (Niebylski et al., 2015).

2HEALTHCARE
In spite of that there are several growing healthier fast food options, majority of the fast
food items can still be classified as “junk food”. Consumption of fast foods possess direct
linkage with higher risk of health issues like obesity, digestive issues, heart diseases, stroke, type
2 diabetes cancer and even mental illnesses like depression. Fast food manufacturing
organizations like KFC, McDonalds and Nestle are aggressively expanding their market in
almost all the developed as well as developing nations like Australia, USA, China, Brazil, Ghana
and India, where obesity as well as other health issues are becoming epidemic (Monteiro et al.,
2018). The purpose of this Op-Ed is to enhance the awareness of individuals about the various
harmful effects of Fast food consumption in order to ensure common good.
According to researchers, consumption of fast food more than once in a week is directly
linked with the risk of obesity. Moreover, consumption of the same more than twice a week is