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Consumption of fast foods is an issue that is increasingly attracting the attention of healthcare professionals across the world. In the current research, a consideration is given to the factors that account for this increased consumption in Saudi Arabia.
Myriads of factors may contribute to the rising consumption of junk food across the world. These factors may range from ease of availability of the foods (Rydell 2008, p.2066), marketing, low prices of food (Castillo & Romo 2006, p.1236), and the absence of formal preparation structure (Mikkilä et al. 2007, p.223) amongst others. The research targets people aged between 11 to 25 years since existing literature suggests that the consumption of fast foods is more common among children and adolescents coupled with adults. The age gap considered in this research covers the last two groups of people since they can be interviewed as one of the ways of gathering data for research. The results of the research are significant for laying out policies that may enhance the campaign against consumption of junk foods besides being useful in the advancement of the existing body of knowledge on foods consumption patterns in Saudi Arabia. This is necessary since junk food is associated with Type 1 and type 2 Diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart problems (Bin Zaal et al. 2009, p.438: Abalkhail et al. 2002, p.519). Reducing the consumption of junk food can thus result to saving of the money utilised in both treatment and campaigning against these health problems.
This research aims to determine the factors that have resulted in the increased consumption of fast foods in Saudi Arabia among people aged 11 to 25 years. In this endeavor, one of the fundamental questions answered by the research is why the trend of consumption of fast foods in Saudi Arabia is changing. The other question is whether this trend is affecting people aged 11 to 25 years more than other age groups. If this is the case, the research postulates the reasons as to why it is so. The main objective of seeking answers to these two questions is to make viable recommendations that may help change the increasing trend of consumption of fast foods in Saudi Arabia and hence the negative health impacts associated with the consumption of the fast foods.
Existing literature has found that consumption of fast foods entangles one of the dominant dietary features of children and youth in America and across the world. This group of people is being continuously exposed to unhealthy habits of eating that often truncate into overweight and exposure to increased risk of acquiring chronic diseases (Paeratakul et al. 2003, p. 1335). In America, the increased pattern of consumption of fast foods is associated with the convenience provided by the foods since they are ready to eat (Huang et al. 2003, p.85). The growth and hiked popularity that is enhanced by the media on the fast food industry has also contributed to the increase in the consumption of fast foods in America (Block et al. 2004, p.211). A similar phenomenon in Saudi Arabia is also reported by Rasheed et al. (1994) when he claims that 30.6 percent of all healthy Saudi Arabian female college students were either obese or overweight (p.289). Consumption of fast foods has also grown tremendously within the last 20 years with adolescents, children, and young adults having the highest preference rates to fast foods (Pereira et al. 2005, p.36). However, little research has focused on the factors that lead to the increased consumption of fast foods in Saudi Arabia among these groups of people.
Conclusively, Saudi Arabia has embarked on intensive health promotion measures to orient her people into consumption of healthier foods as opposed to junk food. Therefore, my research will investigate the factors that contribute to the consumption of fast foods amongst people aged between 11 to 25 years in Saudi Arabia.
References
Abalkhail, B & Shawky, S 2002, ‘Prevalence of daily breakfast intake, iron deficiency anaemia and awareness of being anaemic among Saudi school students,’ International Journal of Food Science Nutrition, vol. 53 no.3, pp. 519-528.
Bin Zaal, A, Musaiger, O, & D’Souza, R 2009, ‘Dietary habits associated with obesity among adolescents in Dubai, United Arab Emirates,’ Nutr Hosp, vol. 24 no.4, pp. 437- 444.
Block, J, Scribner, R, & DeSalvo, K 2004, ‘Fast correlation between university study level and the food, race, ethnicity and income: A geographic knowledge in explaining why fast food is unhealthy; as analysis,’ American Journal of Preventive Medicine, vol. 27 no.11, pp. 211-217.
Castillo, J & Romo M 2006, ‘Junk food consumption and child nutrition: Nutritional anthropological analysis,’ Public Medicine, vol. 132 no.10, pp. 1235-1242.
Huang, T, Harris, K, Lee, R, Nazir, N, Born W, & Kaur, H 2003, ‘Assessing overweight, obesity, diet and physical activity in college students,’ Journal of American College Health, vol. 52 no.7, pp. 83-86.
Mikkilä, V, Räsänen, L., Raitakari, T, Marniemi, J, Pietinen, P., Rönnemaa, T, & Viikari, J 2007, ‘Major dietary patterns and cardiovascular risk factors from childhood to adulthood: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study,’ British Journal of Nutrition, vol.98 no. 5, pp. 218-225.
Paeratakul, S, Ferdinand, D, Champagne, C, Ryan, D, & Bray, G 2003, ‘Fast food consumption among U.S adult and children: Dietary and nutrient intake profile,’ Journal of American Dietary Association, vol. 103 no.9, pp. 1332-1338.
Pereira, M, Kartashov, I, Ebbeling, B, Van Horn L, Slattery, M, Jacobs, M, & Ludwing, S 2005, ‘Fast food habits, weight gain and insulin resistance (the CARDIA study): 15 year prospective analysis,’ The Lancet, vol. 365 no.3, pp. 36-42.
Rasheed, P, Abou-Hozaifa B, & Khan, A 1994, ‘Obesity among young Saudi female adults: A prevalence study on medical and nursing student,’ Public Health, vol.108 no.1, pp. 289-294.
Rydell, A 2008, ‘Why Eat at Fast-Food Restaurants: Reported Reasons among Frequent Consumers,’ Journal of American Diet Association, vol. 108 no.12, pp. 2066-2070.
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