Don’t Forget the Fries
McDonald’s has never been a staple of my diet. Sure, when I was a kid we would go there for parties and for special treats, and as a teenager we would go after a day at the beach, but never with any kind of regularity. Growing up in an Italian family, it would be blasphemy to consider a meal prepared in a few minutes and usually eaten in even less. However, I can understand its appeal to people and especially to parents of young children: it’s fast, cheap, and convenient.
Of course, the downside to the speed at which you get your meal is the wide variety of junk that’s present in it. As Morgan Spurlock demonstrated in his documentary film, “Super Size Me,” switching to an exclusive McDonald’s diet and Super Sizing his meals whenever he was asked resulted in significant health issues that were even deemed life-threatening by the doctors that were monitoring him. Though I find his experiment a bit extreme, it does point out the shortcomings of making your life easier through fast food.
In addition, eating regularly at such establishments may result in higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease, a new Swedish study found. According to papers published by the Karolinska Institutet and reported on Boston.com, mice showed signs of developing the abnormal brain tangles strongly associated with Alzheimer’s disease when fed a diet mimicking the nutritional content of fast food, rich in fat, sugar and cholesterol over the course of nine months. The study focused on a particular gene variant called apoE4, which is involved in the transport of cholesterol in the body and a known predictor for risk of Alzheimer’s. It can be found in 15 to 20 percent of people.
Mice were genetically engineered to mimic the gene variant and then fed their fast food concoction. They showed chemical changes including a build-up of the protein tau, which is one of the components responsible for stabilizing the structure of neurons, and reduced levels of the protein Arc, involved in memory storage.
Though the results seemed to make a pretty clear link between the consumption of foods high in saturated fats, cholesterol and sugars and a higher risk for Alzheimer’s, the researchers cautioned that the information was only a preliminary finding and more research was needed before any advice could be given.
McDonald’s is an easy target for criticism because it’s so big. With millions of customers served daily, it isn’t a surprise that people can try to capitalize on the wealth. One man even tried to sue the chain when he lost his cell phone there, which contained nude pictures of his wife. He asked for $3 million, claiming that McDonald’s had failed to maintain the security of his phone and that he had to move from his existing house due to embarrasment and suffering.
My question is, why are we trying to take advantage of corporate success? Certainly, McDonald’s shares some blame in its use of less-than-healthy ingredients in its food, but don’t we all kind of know that when we step into their restaurants, we’re not exactly getting home cooking? As I’ve mentioned on this blog before, I consider myself a food addict, yet I still seem to have the presence of mind to be able to make smart choices when I’m out, even at a McDonald’s. And McDonald’s is certainly not the only offender, or even, I’d venture to say, the worst. But they are the biggest, and that’s what makes it so easy to paint a bullseye on them.
We seem to have a propensity in this country to point the finger squarely in another direction when we do something wrong, so as not to highlight the flaws in our nature. I know that I have a tendency to do this, especially when faced with the prospect of having to deal with the difficult consequences. Eventually, however, we must face our imperfections and stop laying blame on everyone but ourselves. I know McDonald’s isn’t the healthiest choice, and when documentaries or studies appear affirming that understanding, it reinforces my decision not to make it part of my daily routine. But when I decide to eat there, it’s a choice, and if I decide to make a bad choice with the food I pick from their menu, I do so fully aware of the consequences to my waist and to my health if I were to make it a regular choice. There would be no one to blame but myself.
What are your thoughts? Would you blame a fast food chain for health problems? Do you think it’s the responsibility of the consumer to make healthy choices?
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