Analysis of "The Trouble with Fries"
Analysis of “The Trouble with Fries”
Malcolm Gladwell’s article “The Trouble with Fries” is about a very invasive topic. Fast Food is killing us. Can it be fixed? Although his thesis statement isn’t exactly clear, he effectively uses evidence to convince his audience that a nutrition movement is needed especially for fast food. By discussing many factors with supporting evidence that is factual he shows why fast food is struggling to have a nutrition movement.
Malcolm Gladwell uses some very shocking facts about French fries and how unhealthy they are for the body. He states the average American eats about thirty pounds of French fries a year. In 1990, health concerns arose about using animal-based cooking oil to deep fry them. This caused major fast-food houses to switch to deep frying in vegetable oil.
Gladwell then proves this change to be even unhealthier. Switching to vegetable oil means going from saturated fat to trans-fat, this makes the body’s ability to regulate cholesterol uncontrollable. Vegetable oil becomes a trans-fat because it has to go through hydrogenation to become suitable for deep frying.
According to a study Gladwell uses, for every 5% increase in the amount of saturated fats that a woman consumes, her risk of heart disease increases by 17%. But only a 2% increase in trans-fat will increase her heart disease risk by 93%. This study was designed by Walter Willett who also states that the consumption of trans-fat in the United States probably causes about 30,000 premature deaths each year. This evidence used by Gladwell is very persuasive in the matter that an actual nutrition movement is needed. Gladwell discusses an alternative healthier way to deep fry French fries which shows great strength in his argument.
The much healthier way of deep-frying French fries is by using Olestra, Malcolm Gladwell discusses. Olestra is a fat substitute that cannot be absorbed by the body. Frito-Lay’s no-fat Wow! chips are made with a version of
Malcolm Gladwell’s article “The Trouble with Fries” is about a very invasive topic. Fast Food is killing us. Can it be fixed? Although his thesis statement isn’t exactly clear, he effectively uses evidence to convince his audience that a nutrition movement is needed especially for fast food. By discussing many factors with supporting evidence that is factual he shows why fast food is struggling to have a nutrition movement.
Malcolm Gladwell uses some very shocking facts about French fries and how unhealthy they are for the body. He states the average American eats about thirty pounds of French fries a year. In 1990, health concerns arose about using animal-based cooking oil to deep fry them. This caused major fast-food houses to switch to deep frying in vegetable oil.
Gladwell then proves this change to be even unhealthier. Switching to vegetable oil means going from saturated fat to trans-fat, this makes the body’s ability to regulate cholesterol uncontrollable. Vegetable oil becomes a trans-fat because it has to go through hydrogenation to become suitable for deep frying.
According to a study Gladwell uses, for every 5% increase in the amount of saturated fats that a woman consumes, her risk of heart disease increases by 17%. But only a 2% increase in trans-fat will increase her heart disease risk by 93%. This study was designed by Walter Willett who also states that the consumption of trans-fat in the United States probably causes about 30,000 premature deaths each year. This evidence used by Gladwell is very persuasive in the matter that an actual nutrition movement is needed. Gladwell discusses an alternative healthier way to deep fry French fries which shows great strength in his argument.
The much healthier way of deep-frying French fries is by using Olestra, Malcolm Gladwell discusses. Olestra is a fat substitute that cannot be absorbed by the body. Frito-Lay’s no-fat Wow! chips are made with a version of
Cited: Gladwell, Malcolm. "The Trouble with Fries." The New Yorker 5 Mar. 2001. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.