"Childhood obesity, it's our tsunami, it's our Katrina." (Sanders-Butler). Childhood obesity has become a major problem in American society. More children in the United States are obese than in any other country in the world. Part of the problem is the high amount of fat and sugar in the American diet. A large part of the health problem lies in the amount of sugar ingested daily from various foods. Schools across the country are filling their vending machines with junk food full of refined white sugar. For these reasons and more, high fructose foods and refined white sugar should be removed from school meals and/or vending machines. In the United States, approximately twenty thousand vending machines are used in schools. It is estimated that more than half of these machines currently sell snacks and drinks loaded with refined white sugar. Refined white sugar is raw sugar that is treated with different acids to give it the white color that sugar is known for. Refined white sugar is almost a drug. It's addictive and in large quantities it's terrible for the human body. There are a variety of health issues to be concerned about when people consume large amounts of sugar. Obesity is one of the most significant health problems in American society, but childhood obesity is even more important. In the United States, the number of obese children has more than tripled over the past 20 years. Children consume up to 4 pounds of sugar per week. This number more than doubled from the late 1800s and into the 1900s, when the average person only ate about 5 pounds a year. This high figure is partly explained by the fact that junk food does not stop at home. This continues at school when children buy lu...... middle of paper ......19. PepsiCo is removing sugar from schools around the world. March 16, 2010. Associated Press. January 27, 2011.20. School vending machines “Waste distribution”. 2004. Center for Public Interest Science. January 24, 2011. < http://www.cspinet.org/new/200405111.html >21. School vending machines. 8 February 9, 2010. North Idaho Farmers. January 24, 2011.22. Sugar – Its effects on the body and mind. 1998-2010. Guide to macrobiotics. January 21, 2011. < http://macrobiotics.co.uk/sugar.htm >23. Effect of sugars on your health. 2007. Everyday Healing. January 21, 2011 < http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/sugar.htm>