Truly a film of epic proportions, both literal and moral, Super Size Me is a documentary cum experiment cum daily diary that drives our attention to one of the most important topics of the modern world. Fast food and – health.
The obesity pandemic has affected the developed world on a large scale where nations are spending billions of dollars in healthcare costs and yet, the pandemic still keeps putting pressure on the system. UK in 2007 spent £4 billion in medical costs related to obesity which is expected to spend £9.7 billion by 2050. The US on the other hand paid $160 billion (double of what it paid in the last decade) and the amount is expected to double by 2018.
Every modern citizen in the US has fast food at least a few times a month and most of them do this without being aware of the consequences of eating that food frequently or without understanding the contents of that food. In the past years, several cases have been filed against McDonald’s alleging that the company is knowingly selling unhealthy food. However, some of the verdicts by courts have mentioned that the plaintiffs would have a case only if they could prove that a complete McDonald’s food’s diet is dangerous.
Documentarian Morgan Spurlock steps out to prove just that by performing an unscientific experiment where he puts himself as the guinea pig. He plans to eat and drink only McDonald’s products (including bottled water) for a period of thirty days where in that time span he will eat all the items on the McDonalds menu at least once. Also the criteria includes that he can ‘super size’ his meal only if asked by the clerk. Spurlock also has to walk on an average 5000 steps a day.
When Spurlock is to begin the ‘McDonald’s’ diet, he is checked by three doctors, a gastroenterologist, a general practitioner and a cardiologist who attest to him being in excellent physical condition. They further monitor him over the course of the experiment.
As days pass on Spurlock’s McDonald’s diet, he begins to gain weight and one of his doctors pronounce that he has a ‘fatty lever’ due to the diet and advices him to discontinue it. Over the course, all of his physicians ask him to discontinue the diet as it begins to take a heavy toll on his overall health. He gained 24.5 pounds at the end of his diet.
The documentary is not only an experiment, but also addresses a grave concern about the US becoming ‘Super Size’ by the passing day. Obesity has become one of the top health concerns in the country and nothing seems to be placing a barrier on it. In such conditions, even though the documentary and the experiment therein has some loopholes (as mentioned by McDonald’s and critics) the end message is clear that having fast food much often can jeopardize one’s health. Spurlock himself went from a healthy person to an overweight one wherein his internal organs were hard hit by the diet and his mental state and sex drive also suffered. He became lazy by the day and his food cravings not only increased but gave him headaches as well.
Many a critics and McDonald’s point out that there were several loopholes in Spurlock’s experiment and subsequent diet. However I personally feel that even though the experiment does not fit into a scientific mold, it should not be forgotten that at the end of the day, Spurlock is a common human being who can very well represent all of us because no two people have the same habits and preferences. His unprecedented weigh gain and the harm caused to his internal may not be so severe to someone eating fast food twice a week; it is nonetheless dangerous to the organs.
Hence, though the scientific criteria behind the experiment and its execution may be a bit shaky, it does, in reality, address the grave concern of fast food consumption and the connected obesity in the country as well as the globe.