The real question is how are Fast Food Restaurants having such an impact on our youth? The answer is through strategic placement of their facilities and shady marketing. Fast food restaurants are very particular to where they are positioned so that they can have the most effect on the population. The most common places, and dangerous, is for them to build around our school systems. High school and college students are easy prey for these fast food restraints because of time and convenience. Students are usually hurrying off somewhere and rarely have time to sit down and eat. These food chains allow them to grab a quick meal and be on their way in a matter of minutes. Although directly this may benefit the students because it is “easy”, it will ultimately cause and incredible amount of damage to them.
In a study hosted by Brennan Davis, “We found that students with fast-food restaurants near(within on half mile of) their schools (1) consumed fewer servings of fruits and vegetables, (2) consumed more servings of soda, and (3) were more likely to be overweight or obese than were youths whose schools were not near fast-food restaurants, after we controlled for student- and school-level characteristics” (5). I suggest that fast food restaurants should not be allowed by law to build infrastructures anywhere near (5 miles) a school or higher education center. Because of malicious practices like this more and more of our friends and families are seduced into eating these life threatening foods. Public Health states, “Exposure to poor quality food environments has important effects on adolescent eating patterns and overweight. Policy interventions limiting the proximity of fast food restaurants to schools could help reduce adolescent obesity” (Carpenter, par 7).
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