Introduction
Obesity epidemic
The issues of obesity in United States have become the issues of the public debate due to the high number of the death associated with it. Obesity comes up with other healthy complications such as diabetes. The main cause of the obesity is the consumption of the unhealthy foods. Unhealthy foods are easily accessible to the public in United States than healthy foods. This issue has generated public debate on the best actions which can be taken to ensure obesity is prevented or minimized to low levels which are insignificant. For instance according to (R.Frieden, 2009) drinks such as soda which is unhealthy food sugar is more affordable in unites states than the fresh fruits and vegetables which are healthier to consume. Examples of the unhealthy foods which are considered to be increasing the rates of obesity in the county are sugar sweetened beverages. Sugar sweeter beverages include: soda which is sweetened with sugar and corns’ syrup. Others are the carbonated and uncarbonated drinks. Sugar sweetened beverages contains high levels of the calories which increases the risk of becoming obese. For example according to (R.Frieden, 2009) the consumption of the calories has increased significantly since 1990s. According to (R.Frieden, 2009) one glass of the sugar sweetened beverages today contains 10 to 15 percent sugar sweetened related substances which translate to 60 percent chance of becoming obese among the children and the adolescent groups. The situation is worse because young people are consuming more sugar sweetened beverages products than milk. Eating of the animal have also contributed to increased cases of the chronic illness in United States. The animal meat contains high content of the cholesterol and fats which blocking the arteries and blood vessels. Consumption of the animal products cause chronic illness, high blood pressure heart attack associated complications. The countries with high number of the animal consumption have recorded the high number of the deaths as results of healthy complications according to the United Nations statistics. For example in United States the amount of the energy used in production of the animal’s calories is higher ten times than producing the grains. The cleared forest is occupied by the animals which are used to feed growing population.
Solutions to obesity epidemic
Due to the high number high number of the death associated with the obesity and other related chronic illness decisions makers in the government have come up with possible solutions to solve the epidemic. To ensure we deal with this obesity epidemic in United States the national government and the public health sector has come up with the solutions. Increasing the taxes on the sugar sweetened beverages is the cost effective method of controlling the consumption of these unhealthy foods. It will reduce the amount of the money the Medicare and Medicaid are spending financing there cases of the health complications associated with the sugar sweetened beverages. Americans will reduce the average amount of money they are spending in treatment of the obesity and also the have more active life than even before. It will also reduce the amount time wasted by the employees who are seeking the medical attention because of the obesity. Its cost efficient way of reducing the cost of the human resources since the cases to compensating sick employees will reduce. Increasing the taxes of the unhealthy foods it’s not time consuming method of controlling the obesity since the effects of the high prices are felt immediately and the citizens will changing the consumption enhancing their diet. The increase of taxes on obesity related unhealthy foods such as the sugar sweetened beverages. These taxes should be imposed at national and the state levels for it to be effective. Increasing of the taxes will reduce the consumption rates of these unhealthy foods because they will become more expensive for the many people to afford. This is effective method of controlling consumption of sugar sweetened beverages. Since the manufacturers and the retailers will pass extra cost to the final consumer hence discouraging buying of these products. Once the demand for these unhealthy foods goes down the manufactures will adjust to supply less in the market. a good example is provide by (R.Frieden, 2009) is that when the prices of soda increases due to increase of taxes by 12 percent it will translate to 14.6 percent sales decrease. This is a clear indication that the industries producing these products have to reduce volumes of production or completely stop producing since they are no longer making profits due to increased taxation. In addition to that the revenues generated from imposed taxes will be ploughed back to the government to run campaigns on social media to educate the public about the dangers of consuming unhealthy foods. Though this method we will get more Americans consuming healthy foods like fruits and vegetable which are not associated with obesity. (R.Frieden, 2009). The cost of producing the plant diet is lowers therefore it’s easy to be vegan and avoid consumption of animal products. Making plant diet cheaper through lowering the taxes is critical since it will be cheap for the all Americans to afford health foods. Plant based diet is composed of the low levels of the calories which healthy for consumption. Plant diet ensure there are not cased of the constipation and accumulation of the cholesterols in the blood vessels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6YhUBNu2Vk&feature=youtu.be. It also reduces the depressions of the people suffering from chronic illness such as the high blood pressure, heart attacks among others. It increases minerals in the body such as the calcium, iron, which play critical role in ensuring the body systems. Regular exercise is also vital since it reduces the risks of getting obese as well as other related diseases like cancer. For the old people living with cancer are able to live for more years. Examples of the body exercise include: running. Swimming and cycling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9LMezWH5DA&feature=youtu.be
Increasing taxes as the way of controlling the consumption of sugar sweetened beverage has faced the objections from the industrialists. According them the government should not intervene in the market. The free forces of the demand and supply of these unhealthy foods should be controlled by healthy eating behavior of the citizens. Increasing of the taxes will increase the cost doing business in United States securing away potential investors in the affected food industries. A good example is when the taxes on the alcohol and tobacco was increased the industries have to lay off substantial number of the stuff as well as losing of the live hood of Americans citizens. The healthy eating habit should be the key element which lowers the rate of the sugar sweetened beverage consumption and not the government policy on taxations. In addition to that the industrialists’ argue that the taxation of on these products hurt the economy of the country. The aim of the government to increase the taxes on the sugar sweetened beverage are not to control the consumption but to increase the revenues especially when the taxes increased in in small proportion which does not lower the demand significantly. Questions have been raised on how the government will utilize the revenues which will be generated from increased taxation. Also increasing the taxes will not solve the challenges of obesity because the selection of the type of food to impose tax is unfair. The poor needs food for the survival and such kind of the actions will result in acute shortages of the food across United States of America. A good example is that the poor are the most affected people by the sugar sweetened beverages.
Increasing the taxes on sugar sweetened beverages is do-able to have healthy nation since it will completely discourage people from consumption unhealthy products. The industries producing the sugar sweetened beverages will also again from this actions because they will increase their investments on the plant diet. This is because the cost of the producing grains is less than producing the sugar sweetened beverages and the meat products. In addition to that these industries will have more productive labor force because there are few cases of the employees being obese. The cases of the job absenteeism will be significantly reduced in all work places.
Works Cited
R.Frieden, k. D. (2009). Ounces of prevention -The public policy Case for Taxes on Sugarared Beverages. New England Journal of Medicline .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9LMezWH5DA&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6YhUBNu2Vk&feature=youtu.be
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