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What are the biopsychosocial effects of the challenge on Spurlock in the documentary Super Size Me?Discuss and compare the predictions the...

The biopsychosocial effects of the challenge on Spurlock:


Before the fast food challenge, Spurlock was a relatively healthy man; standing at 6 feet 2, he weighed about 180 pounds. According to the challenge, he had to consume exclusively McDonald's food for a month (30 days). He was allowed three meals a day, and he had to accept super-sized portions if he was offered the choice to do so. Spurlock also had to ingest each item on the McDonald's menu at least once during his challenge.


After about five days, Spurlock had gained ten pounds. Not long after, he found himself suffering from persistent lethargy, headaches, and depressive episodes. After twenty-one days, Spurlock experienced heart palpitations; throughout the challenge, Spurlock found his sex drive severely diminished and his energy levels horribly depleted. Additionally, his liver was very damaged by his month-long experiment. As the challenge wore on, he became irritable but found himself craving McDonald's food on a consistent basis. In all, the negative biopsychosocial effects on Spurlock were substantial.


The predictions the doctors made regarding Spurlock's physical health:


Before the challenge, Spurlock's three doctors (a general practitioner, a cardiologist, and a gastroenterologist) predicted that Spurlock would experience few drastic changes in his health. They stated that the effect of the McDonald's diet might prove disastrous in the short run but would not ruin his overall health in the long run.


Dr. Gandjhu (the gastroenterologist) stated that the worst case scenario would see Spurlock increasing his triglyceride and cholesterol levels and possibly putting himself at risk for heart disease. Dr. Siegel (the cardiologist) concurred with Dr. Gandjhu's assessment, but assured Spurlock that his kidneys and liver would be able to withstand the onslaught of salt and fat into his diet. At the same time, Dr. Isaacs voiced ambivalence about what eating only McDonald's could do to Spurlock's mental health.


After the challenge, however, all the doctors concluded that eating exclusively McDonald's was absolutely disastrous to health and that fast food should be severely restricted in the typical American diet. 


A larger public health issue (besides obesity) in the documentary:


A larger public health issue raised by the documentary is the sedentary lifestyle of most Americans. This sedentary lifestyle is detrimental to consumer health and well-being. During the challenge, Spurlock walked only as much as the typical American citizen (about 5,000 steps a day). The combination of a junk-food diet and a lack of exercise contributed to his immense weight gain and his subsequent health problems. One of the doctors warned that Spurlock had so damaged his heart that he could be in danger of future heart attacks. So, a larger public health issue is the typically sedentary American lifestyle. As the documentary shows, this lifestyle contributes to lower levels of well-being and leads to an increased susceptibility to various ailments.

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