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People today are becoming addicted to fast food without realizing the effects. Anywhere you go today, you’ll find McDonald’s fast food near you, which is harming American children more than anything else. A typical child today lives and grows up on fast food just because parents don’t have enough time to cook.
Often, the sodium level is grossly excessive. A significant portion of the population is sodium sensitive in that high sodium levels result in high blood pressure.

The use of high-fructose corn syrup in numerous products delays the onset of satiety (a feeling of fullness) and encourages people to eat more of the product. Fast food can also become very addicting like a drug where you tend to crave the salt or sweetness of the food. This can lead to eating disorders. Such as overeating.

You might also want to mention the carbon-footprint issues of fast-food chains processing their ingredients in a central location and then trucking them to the individual stores. If they were required to buy at least their produce locally (and, one hopes, from organic farms), much less carbon would be spewed into the atmosphere.

Also, don't look at eating healthier just as *avoiding* diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Making simple choices such as whole-grain bread instead of the more processed white bread or whole-grain pasta instead of white-flour pasta will have positive effects on the human body by providing more nutrients, micronutrients, and fiber.

P.S. After some thought, I realize that probably the most important answers to these questions are these:

The people most likely to eat at fast food restaurants are low-income individuals and families with small children and limited time. Children are targeted specifically with advertising. And children should be eating healthful food, not the cheaply produced, additive-chocked, low-cost product currently available from fast-food restaurants, where even the salads are "enhanced" with additives that keep the...