Did you know that the government has published new guidelines for healthy eating? They are called “My Food Plate.” Because of this, some people are arguing that there is no longer any room in a healthy diet for any candy. As you probably know, Hershey and Mars are two of the most famous candy companies in the United States. Despite the new food guidelines, and despite other people’s arguments that they should stop making candy altogether, this researcher thinks Hershey and Mars should keep making their candy, but with some serious changes. Can you believe that from allergic reactions to child labor the chocolate that we enjoy today may not be all sugary fun? It’s true: sugar can be terrible for your body, some candy can have peanuts which are a major cause of allergies, and, even worse, believe it or not, some chocolate comes from cocoa farms in Africa where kids are forced to work! Hershey and Mars should keep making their candy, but with some changes to marketing, manufacturing, and nutrition.
Did you know that sugar is terrible for your health? Many Americans fall victim to the fattening, addicting, you guessed it folks, ADDED SUGAR! Many people eat chocolate and get fatter and fatter due to its high sugar content. Sometimes even this fifth grader eats too much chocolate! After intensive research though, it is doubtful this fifth grader will do that anymore! He is here to tell you the unhealthy, true secrets about chocolate and added sugar. Many health experts say people should enjoy only one teaspoon of sugar per day. Unfortunately, people eat so much sugar on a daily basis, that it can more often be measured in pounds instead of teaspoons! This fifth grader believes he can turn the unhealthy reputation of chocolate around, as long as companies agree to reduce the sugar content to make their products healthier. If you think about it, sugar doesn't have one, not one of the vitamins and minerals we need. In fact, sugar is what we call empty calories. There are few health benefits to sugar! Chocolate is one example of a candy where you can find a high amount of sugar. Why not make a low-sugar or sugar-free chocolate? This change would make certain candies more nutritious. According to Jamie Oliver, host of his very own cooking show,”The sugar is coming and it ain’t stopping.” Clearly, even the experts are against having too much sugar in your diet! Another reason companies should reduce the amount of sugar in their candies is because sugar can cause cavities, which can then lead to you having to pay more money for the dentist. Who wants to go to the dentist and have to pay for that? An additional reason why these companies need to make some changes to do with nutrition is because, believe it or not, studies have shown that some types of chocolate can help the heart fight off the diseases that can attack the heart. Why not make a chocolate just for the heart? This chocolate would be able to help the heart fight off diseases that might try to attack it. Another way candy companies could improve the nutrition of their products is by eliminating the artificial food coloring such as red 40. Did you know that research has proven that artificial food dye is bad for your health? Getting rid of any artificial dyes would make candies healthier. Clearly, there is a lot of evidence to support ways for these companies to make these candies healthier and better for you.
In addition to making changes to do with nutrition, Hershey and Mars should also make some changes to the ways in which they manufacture their products. One thing for them to consider is how many people live with food allergies, such as to peanuts. Because of this, many people cannot eat Hershey and Mars products that are made in factories where peanuts are present. This is why people with food allergies think you should pay attention to the common ingredients that cause that you have in your chocolate, and other products, so that anyone who has food allergies does not feel left out when they see someone eating M&M’s or Almond Joys,etc. Did you know that roughly 40 people go into anaphylactic shock every six months just from eating chocolate? Fortunately, only 3% died, but you can get the point. This is a serious issue, and it is one that can be solved easily if these companies take some steps to change how candies are made in their factories. In addition to considering the needs of people with food allergies, Hershey and Mars should consider the rights of people, especially children, who are suffering from being forced to work on African cocoa farms. Child labor should not be used to make the chocolate that we enjoy! If people suffer to make things for other people, then why not make it so that no one suffers child labor just to make other people happy? People who might otherwise enjoy a chocolate treat, wouldn’t if they knew it was made from chocolate harvested by kids who were being forced to work.
Another way to make some improvements to do with manufacturing is to make the candy labels easier to read. Everybody's eyes are different and also everybody’s allergies are different. So if the label is easier to read, maybe parents of children with major food allergies will let them buy a candy item without worrying as much. By doing this, it saves valuable time and possibly even a life, because if you cannot read the label and don’t know if it has nuts or other things you or the person that you're buying it for may have an allergic reaction and possibly even die... Also with the label being hard to read you should put an electronic computer on the end of each aisle to state the allergies of all of the candies in the candy aisle. Maybe you can lower the price on chocolate so that it is not at a ridiculous high price and so that people who don’t have too much money can at least get some chocolate, or other types of candy. Lastly,many people do not have enough money to even get the food that you need to survive. So if you lower your prices from $6.00 to $0.99, maybe more people will buy your chocolate if it is at a good price. As some mothers say, “If it is more than (the child’s budget) they may not get it.” If the prices lower, maybe more sales can come out of it. Candy companies should also lower the prices so that anybody, including small children, (under parent or adult supervision of course) can buy it. Another reason companies should lower the price of their candies is because if the parents need to see responsibility with money, the child can buy candy and show more responsibility by saving up their money. If the child knows that the chocolate is affordable, then he/she can save up to buy it. Now if you may lower the prices on these sweet and delicious treats maybe you can make even more money than before. This shows why if you lower the prices on this chocolate maybe you will have more money than before!
People might say if you have just a little bit of sugar it won’t do any harm, but sugar is unhealthy and does do harm no matter how much you eat. But why put extra sugar in your body that you do not need when you can stay healthy by taking some of the added sugar out of the candy bars? As fifth graders we saw a lot of people get fat because of the sugar that they were eating each day. One of my friends was very skinny in 3rd grade, but then he got very fat and inactive because of the amount of chocolate and sugar that he ate. Clearly, whether it is because of the high sugar content that currently exists in many candies, or because of the irresponsible manufacturing practices, or because of the problems with marketing, Hershey and Mars need to make some changes. This fifth grade researcher is convinced, and you should be too!
No comments:
Post a Comment