The Argument for Banning Fast Food Promotion and Advertisement

This essay argues for a ban on the promotion and advertisement of fast foods due to the numerous health hazards they pose. It highlights the risks associated with the preparation of fast food, such as the release of carcinogenic compounds from high-temperature cooking oils and the potential for lung cancer from inhaling these compounds. The essay also addresses the issue of obesity and overweight resulting from the consumption of fast foods, particularly in the United States, and the accumulation of unhealthy fats leading to cardiovascular diseases. Furthermore, it discusses the problems of personal and environmental hygiene in fast food restaurants and the use of potentially harmful food additives, such as synthetic coloring agents and preservatives. Despite acknowledging the convenience and economic benefits of fast food, the essay concludes that the health risks outweigh the advantages, advocating for a ban on fast food promotion to protect public health and reduce the incidence of chronic illnesses.

Running head: PROMOTION AND ADVERTISEMENT OF FAST FOODS SHOULD BE
BANNED
Promotion and Advertisement of Fast Foods Should be Banned
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

PROMOTION AND ADVERTISEMENT OF FASR FOODS SHOULD BE BANNED 2
Promotion and Advertisement of Fast Foods Should be Banned
Fast food is food that is easily processed and prepared as a quick meal or snack. It can be
served in restaurants or packed as ‘take-away’. Fast food may be referred to as a cuisine that is
prepared by various categories of cooking joints such as restaurants, whose main aim is to cater
for speedy preparation of food, lower prices of ready-to-eat food with minute regard to nutrition
value and quality of that food. Originally, fast food was a strategy that aimed at feeding workers
and busy commuters who did not have the time to sit in public dining joints or dining halls to
take meals. Speed became a priority since a worker on a short lunch break could not sit and wait
for his or her meal to be prepared and served. This became convenient in terms of speed and with
time, more and more fast food outlets were set up, which lead to reduced food prices due to
competition among the outlets. Fast food pose health risks to humans through release of
carcinogenic compounds from use of polyunsaturated oils in high cooking temperatures,
overweight and obesity due to over-indulgence, poor personal and environmental hygiene and
use of hazardous food additives.
The promotion and advertisement of fast food should be banned because of the numerous
health hazards that come along from how it is prepared to the extent of its adoption among
healthy and ill people. First and foremost, preparation of fast food such as fried chicken, French
fries, hamburgers, hotdogs, pizza, taco, sandwich among others involves the use of oils in high
cooking temperatures. This is a call for carcinogenic compounds that arise from exposure to
these high cooking temperatures. Oils containing high amounts of polyunsaturated fats are more
prone to releasing carcinogenic compounds in high heat. When they are heated, for example
when cooking French fries, these oils form hazardous compounds such as aldehydes and lipid
peroxides that cause cancer. They also release compounds that may cause lung cancer if inhaled.

PROMOTION AND ADVERTISEMENT OF FASR FOODS SHOULD BE BANNED 3
Simply inhaling them in the kitchen or at the dining table will cause you harm. To alleviate such
risks to our health, fast foods should be banned and replaced with healthier diets.
The adoption of fast foods in both the developed and developing countries in the world
has greatly increased. This exposes consumers to rapid weight gain and cholesterol
accumulation, leading to rampant cases of obesity and overweight. The largest fast food adoption
is in the United States, where millions of workers are employed in restaurants and similar
cooking joints, including fast food joints. With these statistics, it is expected that high cases of
obesity and overweight are evident there. This is ultimately true. United States of America holds
the highest cases of obesity and overweight in the world. Most of these foods are rich in calories
and unhealthy polyunsaturated fats and trans-fats such as margarine. The problem is that people
are overlooking the risks associated with fast food consumption. Consistency in consumption of
these foods for a prolonged time period will lead to overweight and obesity. Accumulation of
these fats in the body is detrimental to a person’s health as it causes cardiovascular diseases such
as heart attack and heart failure, coronary artery disease, arrhythmia among others. Consumption
of fast foods should therefore be banned or limited.
Personal and environmental hygiene in fast food restaurants are concepts that have been
disputed on for a long time now. Imagine taking a bountiful plate of fries in your favorite fast
food restaurant, only to fall sick a couple of minutes afterwards, and the doctor diagnoses it as
food poisoning. Many fast food restaurants are giving a deaf ear to the numerous complaints on
hygiene insensitivity. Personal hygiene is the cleanliness of a food handler especially the one
who prepares the food, starting from covered hair, clean garments and aseptically dressed
wounds and cuts. Environmental hygiene is maintaining a spotless food preparation and service
area, throughout the day, at every point of food preparation. Fast food restaurants aim at using

PROMOTION AND ADVERTISEMENT OF FASR FOODS SHOULD BE BANNED 4
quick methods to prepare food that is tasty and attractive. Their main focus is speedy delivery of
sweet food, rather than food prepared in optimal hygiene conditions. Poor personal hygiene
practices such as failure to wash hands before starting to handle food, uncovered hair which may
lead to particles of hair finding themselves in food, keeping long nails which are good breeding
areas for dirt and germs, reusing gloves and aprons for a long time period among others are a
starting zone for micro-organisms in food. This leads to complications such as flu, stomach and
headaches gastro-intestinal problems such as diarrhea.
Fast foods come in varieties of shape, color, smell and form. The use of coloring agents,
spices, preservatives and other food additives in fast foods has been widely practiced. Food
colors used in foods such as ice cream, fruit juices, and beverages are of a health concern. These
synthetic colors are detrimental to human health if taken consistently for a long period of time.
For example, color red number three and red number two which are commonly used are known
to cause brain and memory retardation when consumed for a long period of time. Imagine a
small child who cries each time he or she approaches the ice-cream vendor down the street,
demanding to get a cone every day. By the time the child reaches thirty years, the synthetic
components used in the food coloring agents will have manifested a detrimental effect on the
child’s health. With all the food additives used in a particular food product, massive harm to a
person’s health would be felt with continued consumption. Sodium benzoate, used as a
preservative in fruit juices is scientifically proven to be carcinogenic and a holds a great threat to
the gastrointestinal wellbeing of children. Some spices release carcinogenic compounds when
heated. These spices are also teratogenic when consumed by expectant women. All these
negative impacts of consuming fast foods state why the promotion and advertisement of fast
foods should be banned.

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However, even with all these negative impacts that are detrimental to human health, fast
foods pose an advantageous concept, in that they help in saving time and energy. Sometimes one
is caught up in a huge tussle of activities and the glucose level in the blood has subsided a great
deal. The existence of fast food restaurants solves it all as a couple of bites on a sweet cake will
quickly boost my blood glucose levels and get me back on the road. One does not have to wait
for so long or work themselves out to achieve a life-saving bite. Indulging in fast food businesses
is also a huge uplift to the seller or restaurant owners as the business is becoming more and more
economically productive. This explains that even though fast foods are causing great harm to
human health, they are advantageous. However, the risks of fast foods out way the benefits.
In conclusion, fast foods pose a great health risk from hygiene issues, over-indulgence
leading to overweight and obesity, release of carcinogenic compounds by polyunsaturated oils
and use of risky food additives. There are numerous negative health effects associated with fast
foods. For instance, most chronic illnesses are attributed to excessive body weight. As we have
seen, fast foods increase the rates of obesity thus predisposing people to these chronic illnesses.
When compared to the potential benefits that they offer, the disadvantages outweigh the
advantages. Their promotion and advertisement should therefore be banned.