Graham Opie 12/24/11 Super Size Me AP Biology SUPER SIZE ME!

Every single day twenty five percent of Americans visit a fast food place, mainly McDonalds, which owns forty three percent of the fast food industry. In order to bring attention to the growing issue of obesity in America, Morgan Spurlock, a healthy NewYorker challenged himself, a challenge that would endanger his life. In light of the recent suing of fast food companies for selling items that are detrimental to a persons health, Morgan decided to see what it would be like eating at a fast food restaurant every day for a month. Being in peak physical condition for his age, Morgan felt that he would have no problem eating there, but just in case he consulted three different doctors, a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist and a general practitioner, as well as a diet instructor. The registered doctors did not expect anything to rise too much above normal in Morgans body except cholesterol and body fat, however they were so to be mistaken. After only fifteen days of eating at McDonalds, Morgan doubled is body fat, his liver functions were poor, his sodium, cholesterol and fat intake were off the charts and his body was not reacting well to the food. While this was happening, essential vitamins and minerals were being depleted, he was not taking in nearly fifty percent of most of the vitamins the body needs. The surprised doctors warned him, saying that he should stop his diet immediately. Taking this under advisement, Morgan wanted to finish, but did not want anything irreversible or dangerous to happen to him. Through various expert interviews, Morgan was able to enlighten the public about how serious todays fast food nation is to ones health. The issue is not only that society is unaware of

this, but it is also the fact that there is very little that can be done to change the industry. The corporations make cheap food, that will fill up a customer for a long time, a win win situation, the company and the customer are happy, so they do not want to make any changes at all. Customers are usually people who are too busy to cook a meal for themselves, and do not have enough money to buy organic food. Although our society has deemed fast food as acceptable to eat, the heart of the problem is actually the human body. Morgan said that, even though the food was filling and bloating, he would feel himself craving the fatty, salty food only hours later. This is due to both the genetic makeup of humans as well as evolution. Fat and salt, are rarer in nature, and necessary for the human body, so our bodies tell us we like foods high in theses substances. However, when taking in excess amounts, bodies compensate, storing the resources in case there are days when there is little to eat. This is known as overnourishment a type of caloric imbalance, which can have detrimental effects on the body if it is sustained over long periods of time. The opposite of this is undernourishment, which is when an organism does not get enough food and glucose stores are used up, until the body starts to break itself down in order to fulfill basic functions. The evolutionary adaption of hoarding surplus food is beneficial, but it has been abused by society because fatty food are regularly available. An animals diet must supply carbon skeletons and essential nutrients, without these, the body becomes malnourished. The digestive system for humans contains four separate steps. Humans, like most other animals are bulk eaters, meaning they take large amounts of food in and break it down. The first step is ingestion, physically taking in the food through some form of an orifice. Then from the orifice, the food travels down so it can be digested through hydrolysis, which technically begins at the mouth, where salivary enzymes amylase start to break down simple polymers. Next the

food goes towards the stomach, pushed by peristalsis. Sphincters at each end of the stomach keep the food in place until it is digested. Gastric juices as well as the enzyme pepsin, stored in the inactive form pepsinogen, begin to secrete, breaking up the food even more with the help of the churning walls of the stomach. The third step in consuming food is the most important; absorption, when all the necessary elements are broken down, they can be absorbed by the small intestine, which stretches on average twenty five feet, in order to maximize the nutrients absorbed as the food passes through. It is then transferred to the large intestine through the cecum. The large intestine draws in all of the water from the left over waste. Once the waste goes through the large intestine the forth and last step begins; the elimination process. The waste enters the colon, and exits the body. When there is excess nutrients stores of glucose and lipids form, causing what we would call fat. If too much is stored it can become greatly influential on the organisms success, causing inimical effects. Although simple, the digestive system was a necessary system for humans to evolve to where they are today. Without obtaining all the vital nutrients the human body requires, the results can be horrific. Multitudes of disease are directly linked to malnourishment, mostly from a poor diet. However in America, the fast food corporations have added another level of diseases from overnourishment, particularly in lipids and glucose. In Super Size Me, a list of diseases are directly related to the epidemic of obesity. Obesity may cause: Hypertension, Coronary Heart Disease, Adult Onset Diabetes, Stroke, Gall Bladder Disease, Osteoarthritis, Sleep Apnea, Respiratory Problems, Endometrial, Breast, Prostate and Colon Cancers, Dyslipidemia, steatohepatitis, insulin resistance, breathlessness, Asthma, Hyperuricaemia, reproductive hormone abnormalities, polycystic ovarian syndrome, impaired fertility and lower back pain.

One in twenty people in America have a form of diabetes. Our bodies are not meant to compensate so much glucose intake that is found in every fast food meal. With this direct effect on digestion, there are other deleterious consequences that may ensue. Any form of respiratory and/or heart problems are extremely serious. The heart for obvious reasons is an extremely vital organ. It pumps the circulatory system which transports oxygen and other nutrients to all the cells in the body and carries carbon dioxide and waste away. Blood moving through the blood vessels exerts pressure against the vessel walls. This is the blood pressure, which is highest at the aorta and decreases as the blood moves through the arterioles, capillaries, vesicles and veins. This is caused when the heart contracts, the elastic arteries expand and recoil, which can be felt through the skin and is our pulse. Humans have a closed circulatory system, meaning the blood in the blood vessels make a complete circuit before they return to the heart. Even further into the classification, humans have a four chamber heart, which means there is no mixing of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood, increasing the optimal usage of the oxygen in the blood, not wasting any energy. This heart has two atriums and two ventricles, pumping blood to the lungs, through the capillaries and back into the heart and then through the rest of the body, sending oxygen to all of the cells. The number one heart disease in America is coronary heart disease, which affects the coronary artery. It is when lipids and other fats make plaque, which build up on the walls of the artery itself. This narrows the artery allowing less blood to flow through, causing the heart to slow down or even stop. The coronary arterys function is to carry oxygen as well as various nutrients directly to the myocardium, or the muscular tissue in the heart. This is a critical role in the cardiovascular system. But what causes this? The short answer is a poor diet, accompanied by little exercise. Because the average American only walks five thousand feet per day, and usually do not find time to go to the gym,

there is minuscule amounts of actual exercise done by a large percentage of the population. What contributes to coronary heart disease is high blood pressure and diabetes, as well as being overweight. These are all issues tied to the fast food industry, as Morgan points out in his documentary. The overly fatty foods are the number one source of high blood pressure and causes for obesity. What comes out of this is the fact that people should not be eating at fast food places more than once a month, if ever. Obesity is recognized as a global epidemic by the World Health Organization. As Morgan proved, eating from McDonalds constantly can have grievous effects on a bodys health.