by Jim J Jones

Created on: June 04, 2009   Last Updated: June 11, 2009

Fast food shares the fault for our nation's obesity epidemic with a host of other factors - everything from video games to Wonderbread is also to blame. As the obesity crisis spreads from America to Europe and into Asia, there is no denying that our culture, our upbringing, and modern advertising techniques are also part of a larger mix of elements that affect obesity.

Since its relatively humble beginnings in the 1950's, fast food has had the appeal that it is "comfort food", provided cheaply and (as the name suggests) quickly. People stop by McDonalds because they are on-the-go, and do not have the time to go shopping and prepare meals for themselves. Obviously, some fast food patronage also consists of Americans seeking a tasty meal, in spite of the fact that they could cook for themselves.

The fact that fast food is cheap and quick is no coincidence: cheap labor, cheap ingredients, and cheap packaging all come together to lower fast food's price, and allow the pre-cooked meals to be served with unrivaled speed. These pre-cooked meals are preserved for weeks, months and sometimes even years in (and occasionally out of) freezers, and they can survive this because they are conditioned with preservatives of every variety, including partially hydrogenated "trans" fats and sodium benzoate. The flavoring is also artificial, to ensure that it will last from the production facility to your tray. Sugars, salts, and fats are added to literally every item on the menu. Of course, the particular chemical added to each food is consciously engineered to make you crave another product that they also sell - salty french fries dry your mouth out, so a large Coke is necessary, too.

Another, far more insidious, step is also taken. The additives you find on the ingredients list are often addictive, either individually or when eaten in conjunction with one another. Sugar, which is present in every McDonalds menu item, causes a sugar-high followed by a sugar-crash, followed by cravings for more of the sugar-laden food. At the same time, any foods associated with sugar, in this case the Big Mac you ate, trigger the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain. This is the same chemical released by a cocaine high, and it causes psychological addiction. Psychological addiction is when one behavior, such as driving by a fast food establishment, is associated so strongly with another, specifically eating at said establishment, that one cannot be done without the other.

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