Fast Food

I've been reading about fast food this week, and it has made me think about the whole concept of fast food from a variety of different views. When I think of fast food, usually the first thing that comes to mind is the health issues surrounding the food items they serve. However, as I thought about it in more depth, I realized that there are many other obvious issues about eating fast food (and the fast food companies themselves). 

According to The World is Fat, more than half the money Americans spend on food goes toward food that is not eaten at home. I was thinking about how that type of "on-the-go" lifestyle could affect one's life and family. I grew up without the typical fast food (like McDonald's, Burger King, etc...), and most of my meals were at home. My mom and I (it was just the two of us) would get food to go at a restaurant in town if we didn't feel like cooking that night, but for the most part we prepared our own meals and ate at home. Even my school's hot lunch program was all made as a home-cooked meal, and it was prepared by students. I think there is something particularly special about being involved in making your own food, even if it's not on a regular basis... A little is always better! 

As a family especially, I find it very important to spend quality time cooking and eating together. It seems like people's schedules just keep getting busier, and it's hard to find time when everyone is together. Think about how much more relaxing and genuine it is to sit down to a meal at home in comparison to picking up some food from a drive-through and eating it on the go? Plus, if all the kids grow up eating fast food, that is just going to create a cycle of fast-food eaters. By watching and helping their parents cook, a child learns the basics of cooking as well, but if they aren't exposed to that, then they won't have the skills to pass on to their kids (and the cycle will go on...). 

These reasons are on top of the health concerns as well. Anything homemade is going to be much healthier and nutritious than fast food! In addition to the health concerns, the lack of family time, and not being involved in making your own food, a few more issues surfaced as I was reading:

• Where does the food at fast food restaurants come from? You hear all these horror stories of factory farms, people finding feathers and bones in their food, and getting food poisoning... How much of that is true? How is the meat really being processed? What are the living conditions of the animals before they are slaughtered, and how does that affect the quality of the food? 
• How are the workers paid and treated? What are the working conditions like?
• How do fast food restaurants affect the towns that they are in? Are they located near schools and neighborhoods where kids would have easy access to them?
• What impact do they have on the environment? (Factory farms, transportation of food, pesticides, mass production.

The Evolution of our Diets

I've been reading a great book titled The World is Fat: The Fads, Trends, Policies, and Products that are Fattening the Human Race by Barry Popkin. Popkin is a Professor of Global Nutrition at the University of North Carolina (UNC) and the director of the UNC Interdisciplinary Obesity Center. The World is Fat is a very informative book that I have found very useful while trying to understand the implications that surround the world's obesity problems. Popkin gives a brief background explanation about how our diets have evolved, starting thousands of years ago, and I think he brings up many interesting points. 

People have been tracing the patterns in the human diet back thousands of years to the Upper Paleolithic period (which began about forty thousand years ago) when stone tools were made and used. Paleolithic humans were nomadic hunter-gatherers, and the average diet consisted of seeds, nuts, roots, fish, and aquatic mammals. With a diet that relies heavily on seeds, nuts, and roots, the body ends up getting large amounts of fiber to aid in digestion. The food available back then depended entirely on the seasons, so the Paleolithic humans ended up with a varied diet. Among the people who lived long enough to grow old, chronic diseases (such as diabetes, obesity, were not a known or relevant problem. 

The agricultural developments and advancements that took place around 10,000 to 11,000 BC changed people's eating habits drastically. People were able to base their diets around a few specific crops, sometimes fewer, and farming created the ability to have a surplus of foods. Barley, wheat, corn, rice and millet became the chief crops throughout the world. 

I think the development of farming is an event that needs to be examined from many aspects when studying world hunger and obesity. From one aspect, I think our newer farming techniques could be somewhat responsible for our world food problems for a couple different reasons. Firstly, the methods of farming we use now make us very disconnected from our food. For the most part, no one really knows what goes on to get their food to the store so they can purchase it. Secondly, we farm on such a large scale that machinery has taken over manual labor. If we all had to do our own farming, I'd imagine that we would all be getting a lot more physical exercise on a daily basis! And thirdly, enough food is produced to feed the entire world, yet a good portion of the world's population goes unfed.

All of these aspects and problems surrounding the evolution of the human diet are important to consider when thinking about the world's malnourished and obese population. I think Popkin brings up a lot of other interesting things as well, so if you'd like to read more I highly recommend the book, or you can check out his website: www.theworldisfat.com

Malnutrition and Fetal Programming

While researching malnutrition, I decided to take a closer look at the effects maternal malnutrition can have on fetal development in utero. I have had a chance to research this topic in the past, but there is so much to consider when it comes to fetal programming.

The Dutch Famine was one of the main historical events that spurred many studies on the trans-generational consequences of hunger. It happened in the winter of 1944 in the German-occupied part of the Netherlands. A German blockade had stopped any food and fuel from reaching the population in the Netherlands, and by the time the blockade was lifted, the canals where frozen. The fact that it was a particularly cold winter was one cause of the famine, but that area of the Netherlands had also become one of the main western battlefields which ended up damaging a significant amount of agricultural land. 

So, from 1944 to 1955, a good portion of the population lived off of only 1,000 calories a day (often from things like tulip bulbs and other plants that weren't normally eaten). The normal caloric intake is around 2,000 calories a day, give or take some depending on one's level of activity. Because people in the Netherlands suffered from chronic hunger, their immune systems were compromised and they became more susceptible to diseases associated with malnutrition.

This period of time in the Netherlands became known as the Dutch Hunger Winter. There were many things that made the Dutch Hunger Winter very unique, and it was particularly interesting to scientists for a few different reasons: (1) the famine was enclosed within known boundaries; (2) the conditions were relatively constant throughout the populations of the rich and poor; (3) food rations were well-documented, and this allowed scientists to know what and how much everyone was eating; (4) scientists were able to follow up on individuals who survived the Dutch Hunger Winter so the longterm effects of hunger could be studied throughout multiple generations. Because the Dutch Hunger Winter was so well-documented, it spurred many studies on the trans-generational consequences of hunger.

Scientists used the information from the Dutch Hunger Winter to study something called fetal programming or prenatal programming. These studies examined the relationship between maternal malnutrition and the health of the fetus, specifically looking at the connections between maternal malnutrition, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. 

In a healthy pregnancy, the fetus is supplied with adequate nutrients from the mother to encourage fetal growth and development. (Many nutrients are needed, and most can come from a varied and balanced diet, but some examples are calcium, vitamin D, folate, iron, and many more.) If the mother is healthy and all goes well during pregnancy, the baby will likely be born on time and with a normal birth weight. However, if the mother is malnourished, essential nutrients are compromised and normal fetal development is altered. Because less nutrients are available to the fetus, it must adapt to survive under current conditions. Some of the studies done on the trans-generational effects of maternal malnutrition show that these adaptions make the fetus more prone to diseases later in life.


A researcher, David Barker, developed the Barker hypothesis which examines fetal growth and development. Barker states that fetal growth and development takes place during critical periods of development when rapid cell growth is occurring. When the fetus is lacking adequate amounts of essential nutrients, the rate of cell division decreases and leads to limited growth. Barker called this 'limited growth potential' or 'intrauterine growth restriction'. In addition to maternal malnutrition, intrauterine growth restriction is more likely to occur when the mother has a cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, or problems with alcohol and drug abuse. 


There are two type of intrauterine growth restrictions, symmetrical and asymmetrical. Symmetrical growth restrictions happen earlier on in development, but I ended up reading more about asymmetrical growth restrictions which affect the small abdomen and the organs in the abdomen. As a result of nutrients beings compromised, more energy goes into developing the brain and other important organs (like the heart, liver, and intestines) are neglected. Fetuses that have experienced asymmetric intrauterine growth restrictions  are more likely to develop risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Developing risk factors is not the same as experiencing cardiovascular disease. Instead, it means that one may get type II diabetes or hypertension, which in turn makes them more susceptible to cardiovascular disease.


Problems during fetal development because of maternal malnutrition almost always result in low birth weight. A baby born with a significantly low birth weight could either have fetal growth problems or be born preterm (both would make the baby weigh much less at birth). If the baby is born preterm, more developmental problems can occur because the baby often has to 'play catch-up'. Playing catch-up forces the baby to develop faster and incompletely. Like the problems I mentioned previously, many aspects of development are compromised to certain body parts and functions. I found it particularly interesting to think about how the adaptations the fetus makes to survive in utero could work well in that specific environment, but they may not be beneficial after being born. For example, the metabolic system might be compromised in order to fully develop the brain, but obesity could become a dangerous problem later in life.


This last point is specifically important to my project because it shows how malnutrition and obesity can easily be linked together. Fetal programming is such a huge topic to cover because of how many factors there are to consider in development, but hopefully this gives some insight on some of the studies being done on the connection between maternal malnutrition and the chance of the fetus developing chronic diseases later in life.

If you find this topic interesting, there are more studies done that go a step further and try to connect chronic diseases and maternal malnutrition to stress levels (also quite interesting!).

Overview of Project

This term I am doing an independent study on malnutrition and obesity. I will be studying the implications surrounding these two issues while learning about the many underlying causes that lead to both conditions. I find malnutrition and obesity to be interesting topics because there are so many ways to look at each problem, and one individual case could be linked to something completely different than another case. I'm going to start my independent study by doing a broad overview of malnutrition and obesity by looking into the physical problems, as well as the social and cultural problems, associated with these health conditions. 


As I continue my research, I would like to chose a particular topic to delve into and examine more thoroughly. The topic I chose will also be the basis for my final project, which I will design as the term progresses. I think being able to share information with others is a key component to learning, so this blog and my final project will be my method of passing on the interesting things I find throughout the term.


I have a teacher who feels very strongly about reading the news and keeping up on current issues (whether they are local or international), so last term I made a deal with myself to check out the New York Times a couple times a week. I've always found the news hard to read and understand, but I discovered that once I found the right subjects to look at, the news became much more interesting! So, from time to time, I'll be using this blog to post links to current events I've found while skimming through the New York Times. (They might not be directly related to malnutrition and obesity, but if you think about an issue long enough, I believe everything can be connected.)


I hope this blog turns out to be a great way to share information, and even start discussions! Feel free to leave comments expressing your ideas, concerns, etc... I'll keep new posts coming as I continue studying malnutrition and obesity from different aspects and on different levels.


Thanks for reading!