Spurlock Supersize Me a Bit Research Paper

obesity rates were 5% higher among the ninth graders whose schools were within one-tenth of a mile of a pizza, burger or other popular fast-food outlet, compared with students attending schools farther away from fast-food stores" (Rabin 2009).

This indicates that proximity increases weight over time -- again, incrementally, through exposure, not necessarily in a self-imposed binge. By using a wide range of test subjects, the reliability of the results has greater controls than either Spurlock's experiment, or even the experiments by the European Space Agency and the Swedish "Supersize me" study. Its validity is also enhanced by using actual fast food consumers, without trying to replicate 'average' fast food behavior, by stuffing normal weight subjects and forcing them to exercise. Even if one believes that a large proportion of the test subjects have a propensity to be overweight because of genetic factors not controlled by the experiment, the study indicates that a proportion of the population is sufficiently large enough to be hyper-sensitive to the supersizing effects of fast food. The impact of Spurlock's findings, that fast food is toxic, might be questionable given his study, but the idea that individuals may become more predisposed to obesity because of enhanced environmental incentives to promote fast food consumption seems indicated by this more scientifically valid study.Works Cited

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