A serious concern nowadays is how our eating habits can affect our health. In particular, it has been demonstrated that eating too much junk food can lead to health issues later in life. One sensible suggestion for dealing with this is to improve the level of health education so that we eat better and live longer. My belief though is that this would not completely solve the problem.
One reason why focussing on health education is an appropriate measure is that it addresses one underlying cause of the problem. It is clear that there is a connection between what people know about nutrition and their eating habits. For example, children who have learned in school about the need to have a varied diet with plenty of vitamins tend to eat more healthily. In contrast, people who have not had this education still eat too much junk food and as a result suffer from diabetes and other diseases.
Better health education, however, is not a complete answer as it ignores the wider social factors that cause people to eat unhealthily. For instance, many people eat fast food because they have a lifestyle that means they do not have time to sit down to a proper meal. Again, other people might eat burgers and pizzas because they are seen to be cool and they want to impress their peers.
There would not appear to be any simple way to deal with these social factors. A difficulty is that it is very hard for governments to make a difference to the individual choices people make. It might help, however, to ban advertisements for unhealthy foods on television and to require companies to provide proper meal facilities for their employees.
My conclusion is that the government certainly ought to introduce measures to improve the level of health education. However, this probably would not be a perfect solution as it would also be necessary to deal with the other social factors that cause unhealthy eating.
A serious concern nowadays is how our
eating
habits can affect our
health
.
In particular
, it has
been demonstrated
that
eating
too much junk
food
can lead to
health
issues later in life. One sensible suggestion for dealing with this is to
improve
the level of
health
education
so
that we
eat
better and
live
longer. My belief though is that this would not completely solve the problem.
One reason why focussing on
health
education
is an appropriate measure is that it addresses one underlying cause of the problem. It is
clear
that there is a
connection between
what
people
know about nutrition and their
eating
habits.
For example
, children who have learned in school about the need to have a varied diet with
plenty
of vitamins tend to
eat
more
healthily
.
In contrast
,
people
who have not had this
education
still
eat
too much junk
food
and
as a result
suffer from diabetes and other diseases.
Better
health
education
,
however
, is not a complete answer as it
ignores
the wider social factors that cause
people
to
eat
unhealthily
.
For instance
,
many
people
eat
fast
food
because
they have a lifestyle that means they do not have time to sit down to a proper meal. Again, other
people
might
eat
burgers and pizzas
because
they are
seen
to be
cool and
they want to impress their peers.
There would not appear to be any simple way to deal with these social factors. A difficulty is that it is
very
hard
for
governments
to
make
a difference to the individual choices
people
make
. It might
help
,
however
, to ban advertisements for unhealthy
foods
on television and to require
companies
to provide proper meal facilities for their employees.
My conclusion is that the
government
certainly
ought to introduce measures to
improve
the level of
health
education
.
However
, this
probably
would not be a perfect solution as it would
also
be necessary to deal with the other social factors that cause unhealthy
eating
.