SUPER SIZE ME
I. Summarize the documentary “Super Size Me”.
“Super Size Me” is a documentary directed by and starting Morgan Spurlock. Spurlock embarks in a 30 day challenge in which he will only eat food from McDonalds. The purpose of this experiment is to prove that this food is extremely unhealthy and can cause serious damage to the body. Plus, how these fast food companies persuade and encourage poor nutrition for its own revenue.
II. Answer these questions specifically, state the data given in the documentary which aired in 2004 and compare that to the most current (i.e., 2012-2013) data.
a. What is the percentage of adults that are obese in America today?
• Documentary data: Nearly 100 million Americans are either overweight or obese. That is more than 60% of all U.S. adults.
• Current data: According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than one-third of adults and almost 17% of youth were obese in 2009–2010; this data was published on January 2012.
b. Since 1980, how has that number changed?
• Documentary data: Since 1980 that number has doubled with twice as many overweight children and three times as many overweight adolescents.
• Current data: According to the CDC, there was a dramatic increase in obesity in the United States from 1990 through 2010.Obesity prevalence among children and adolescents have almost tripled since 1980.
c. What is the fattest state in America?
• Documentary data: The fattest state in America is Mississippi, where 1 in 4 Americans are obese.
• Current data: According to the United Health Foundation, as of 2013 Mississippi is still the fattest state in America were 34.6% of the population is obese.
d. Why is obesity mentioned as the number 2 cause of preventable death in America? What is another cause of preventable death mentioned in the video? What other health conditions does being obese lead to?
Obesity is now the second cause of preventable death in America after smoking. More than 400,000 deaths per year associated with related illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, gall bladder disease, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, asthma, endometrial cancer, insulin resistance, impaired fertility, respiratory problems and the list keeps increasing.
e. How many joints does McDonalds operate?
• Documentary data: McDonalds operates 30,000 joints and feeds about 46,000 million people per day.
• Current data: According to the McDonalds Corporation website, as of June 2012 McDonalds has more than 34,000 restaurants around the world in 118 countries and feeds about 69 million people per day.
f. How many McDonalds are in Manhattan, where Morgan lives?
• Documentary data: there are 83 McDonalds in Manhattan, 4 per square mile.
• Current data: According to the McDonalds website there are 64 McDonald’s joints in Manhattan (New York, NY) as of 2012.
g. Has there been a change in the number of McDonalds in the U.S. today...
