Effects Of Obesity On The Low Income Population Of Mississippi

On Dec 12, 2013 there were high rates of obesity and diabetes in a majority of Mississippi’s cities and counties which continues to make Mississippi the unhealthiest state in the country. This may be attributed to Mississippi’s a high poverty rate because poor people tend to eat less healthy. A lot of people in Mississippi has lack of physical activity so that could be another reason. Obesity in adults and children is a top health concern in Mississippi. In 2012 Mississippi had the highest obesity rate in the country. In 2011 it was reported that 44% of Mississippi’s kids were overweight or obese and 70% of the adults were and that it is most prevalent in the Mississippi Delta. Along with obesity go a slew of other health problems including diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. Another cause of obesity in the Delta is the lack available fresh produce in places. In one store in the Mississippi Delta, bananas were starting to turn black in their only grocery store. If you really want quality fresh produce food or fruit you must drive 30 to 45 minutes to find a good grocery store.

The situation that will be evaluated in this analysis will be; is there a region of the United States in which childhood obesity tends to be more prominent? This will be done to show areas in which the Government, insurance companies and healthcare institutions should focus campaigns for healthy living to reduce future healthcare cost. The data that will be utilized to answer this business question will be the percent of children ages ten to seventeen that are overweight or obese in each of the fifty states. The states will then be categorized into their respective regions of East, South, Midwest, and West. It is important to look into the regions to see if there is a trend of obesity within a region, as this

Over the last thirty years, there has been an increase in the widespread presence of childhood obesity, as reported by the American Obesity Association (AOA) in Eliadis’ (2006) commentary article. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), childhood obesity “is now considered the number one nutritional public health concern of children and adolescents in the United States” (Sealy, Y., & Farmer, G., 2011). Individuals living in high-poverty neighborhoods; along with multiple other risk factors; have an increased rate of overall physical health disparities and inequalities (Komro, K.A., Flay, B.R. Bigland, A., 2011). This paper examines eight peer reviewed articles of research, studies and statistical data on childhood obesity in high-poverty neighborhoods and highlights the social worker’s role in the epidemic of childhood obesity.

According to Wall Street Journal, “More than 33% of adults who earn less than $15,000 per year were obese, compared with 24.6% of those who earn at least $50,000 per year.” (Izzo 2011) Processed foods such as cheeseburger or French fries tend to be cheaper than buying healthier ingredients and making home cooked food. When people have lower incomes, they do suffer from food insecurity, which is an important connection between poverty and obesity. Two reasons can contribute to obesity: parents are working and are no longer at home with their children and therefore not able to cook balanced meals; and foods with high fat are cheaper than healthy foods.

Twenty one point seven percent of Mississippi’s ten to seventeen year old population is currently obese. Obesity in any area, regarding age, is a problem. Childhood obesity needs to be addressed first, because reducing the amount of obese residence in Mississippi would subtract from the adult obese rate. Obesity causes so many health problems that children should not be experiencing at a young age (“State of Obesity”). Childhood obesity has been casting a dark shadow over Mississippi for a very long time; taking lives and causing diagnoses every day, therefore childhood obesity is a problem that needs to be fixed.

Childhood obesity has become an epidemic in the United States in the past three decades. In 2012, roughly 17% or 12.5 million children and adolescents are overweight or obese” (“Childhood Obesity Facts,” 2014). According to the Centers of Disease Control and

Obesity is an expensive and extremely common public health issue that affects more than one-third of the United States population including 17 percent

We as a state have a problem Mississippi is the state full of the most obese people in the country. It is recorded that 35.1% of the people living in Mississippi are overweight, that being said we have to make a change to our state in some way. I don’t entirely blame the people of Mississippi for being overweight; I think our state is to blame to. It is not our fault there is not much to do; the state needs to find more activities for kids and adults. I think that is why people in other states are not as obese as the people in Mississippi.

In the United States Mississippi is the most unhealthy state, being well known for obesity. On estimate 41.8% of school-aged children and youth in Mississippi are obese. 450 children in grades 1 through 4 spend at least a year being educated on how to stay healthy and healthy eating habits. Then after grade four healthy matters aren’t as important. Not till highschool is it required to take a health class in Mississippi. They teach teens that the littlest things can make obesity occur and make it worse. Such as prohibited purchase of fresh fruit, vegetables, protein, poor dietary habits, unhealthy school breakfast and lunches, limited physical effort, and an increase of time on phones, television, or tablet. As for Programs are trying to make a difference for instance the team Healthy Mississippi is partnering with a program called University

The rate of childhood obesity has grown an enormous amount over the years with more than 40 million children being overweight! That number is astonishingly high and it is very obvious that something needs to be done about this. Studies had shown in 2008 that more than 40 million children were said to be overweight and the sad truth is that they are still increasing rapidly to this day; also every 1 in 4 teenagers is said to not reach the fitness guidelines (Tanner) according to an article by Lindsey Tanner. For this problem to be resolved not only do the parents of children need to make sure their kids are staying active but also, the schools they attend need to make sure they are getting a well-balanced meal and have some type of physical activity during their school day. Each state in America is given a percentage rate on the number of obese people in that particular state. The highest ranking state is Mississippi with a percentage of 34.9 and the state ranking the least is Connecticut with 24.5 percent. Different researches have shown that each day 850 lives are taken due to obesity and each year there are more than 300,000 people that die from obesity related illnesses. These are deaths that most likely could have been avoided if these individuals would have had the proper exercise and diet in their lives.

Obesity in the United States has really become an economic problem as well. People are spending the little money that they have and spending it on food that they shouldn’t be eating in the first place, which they should be spending their money on healthier and nutritious food, for themselves and their family. New England Medical Center, Michael Dansinger of the Tufts says:

America is facing a rigorous obesity plague that is endangering the health of millions. Moreover, we are passing our bad practices down to our children. Obesity is a stipulation in which anomalous or excessive fat buildup in adipose tissue that damages health. Obesity is defined in adults as a body mass index (BMI) exceeding 30 (kg/m). Obesity is one of the most discernible, but until recently, most deserted public health problems. The present high pervasiveness of obesity and the brisk increase in pervasiveness in the last twenty years has been referred to as an endemic (Johnson SJ, Birch LL. 1994). Children all through the U.S. are getting fatter and less fit, through potentially treacherous enduring consequences. The figure of

There is a giant threat looming over the United States, a catastrophic event of epidemic proportions which is threatening to capsize the health care system and that epidemic is childhood obesity. The awareness of this epidemic as a national problem developed in 1999 with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) publication of a compilation of yearly state-based maps that indicated the increase in the levels of childhood obesity. There were earlier studies done by the CDC regarding this epidemic, but the maps gave physical proof of the dramatic increase for this pressing issue (Dietz, 2015).

The trend of health care costs is still primarily based on treatment and less on prevention. Adult obesity is a significant cause of preventable chronic diseases and one cause of increased health care costs in the United States. The cost of obesity impacts each state and community. Adult obesity can be associated with chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, osteoarthritis, and some cancers, just to name a few, and account for more than 75 percent of U.S. health care cost. Currently, costs range from $147 billion to nearly $210 billion per year. If this trend continues, obesity-related medical costs alone could reach 66 billion a year by 2030.

According to Salois (2012), who had pulled information from a government data base, from this data which included 3,107 counties located within the United States. The risks for obesity in low income children were of the ages between 2-4 years old. These children normally come from families who do not make a lot of money to begin with. Low income families usually qualify for government assistance food programs. The food assistance programs provided from the government are Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs which is also known as short for SNAP. And the other food assistance program is WIC which stands for Women, Infants, and Children. The researcher had discovered that that grocery stores that low income families shop, do pose a risk