Obesity crisis in America is at breaking point - "Fed Up" filmmaker

Los Angeles (AFP) - A documentary film features the unhealthy eating habits of the Americans, and the United States food industry's responsibility in fighting the rising obesity levels.

"Fed Up" filmmaker shows the reason why obesity in the US is increasing (2 out of 3 Americans are overweight), despite of increasing gym membership and shoppers buying more healthy and low-fat alternatives on supermarket.

Stephanie Soechtig the director of the film said, "Obesity has been a problem for the last 30 years and I think we are reaching the breaking point." "At the end of the day, I think it comes down to money, I thinks there's a lot of money in the food industry and it influences politics, unfortunately."

"Fed Up" was opened on limited release in cinemas across the US last Friday, May 9. It exposed how the food industry has able to

The film, which opened on limited release in US cinemas Friday, shows how the food industry has managed to influence the US Government to recommend that 25% of calories come from sugar. This figure was negated by the World Health Organization which stated that the figure should be 2.5 times less.

"I think we can say that the US government is right now more interested in making money than taking care of its society," Soechtig added.

The Obesity problem is not just in the United States, WHO also warned Jordan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Venezuela which has more than 30% of its population are obese or overweight.

The movie shows 3 kids battling obesity to no avail despite of giving efforts to diet and exercise. They still continue to gain weight because of the temptation of sugar-rich foods that are easily available in the country.

Cafeteria at schools offers unhealthy food for kids, like hamburgers, pizzas, nachos and hot dogs.

The movie also said that back in 2006, 80% of high schools had contracts with soft drink companies and in 2012, half of all schools served fast food.

Back in 1980, there were no cases of type 2 diabetes in children and teens aged 8 to 19 in the United States. After just 2 decades, there are now 57,638 cases recorded.