Over the past twenty years or so, people’s desire for fast food has grown into an unhealthy habit. American adults have become more and more attached to the industry’s greasy hamburgers, fries and other foods. Meanwhile, their children have become a big part of the success of fast-food restaurants.

The children of America are drawn to the cute-looking commercials that fast-food giants air on TV. In fact, the Prevention Institute, a research organization, found that fast-food restaurants spend 5 million dollars a day, advertising their product, and much of this promotes unhealthy foods to kids. The colorful cartoons in ads draw them to the restaurants and lead to children begging their parents to eat there. Children, though, are ignorant of the risks involved with eating these foods regularly, so they must be limited in their fast-food consumption by their most important advocates: parents.

An article by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) states that childhood obesity in the U.S. has more than doubled in children in the past 30 years. It also states that in 2010 more than 1/3 of American children were obese. This is a problem of utmost urgency, and it needs to stop. If we are to stop this epidemic of obesity in America’s children, then it must begin at the source: home. Parents all too often simply give in to their child’s tearful demands of eating sweets or fatty foods. Parents need to take responsibility and lower the dependency on the unhealthy foods their children eat.

The other place where food health and quality needs improvement is at school. Many kids eat the school lunch and agree that it is rather horrid. By putting more money into school- lunch budgets, we could improve the health and quality and, perhaps in the long run, put a dent in these obesity statistics. In regard to fast food restaurants, the food they serve is only hurting Americans and needs to be restricted. Experts agree that these restaurants need to be regulated in some way, and that idea could soon become a reality. These regulations could include calorie limits and also limits on sugar and salt content. Combined, all these little changes could become the key to stopping obesity in its tracks.