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In The Last Twenty-Five Years, America Has Embraced A Lifestyle

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In the last twenty-five years, America has embraced a lifestyle that has discounted exercise and home cooked meals for sedentary lifestyles, and food that is readily available. As a result of this trend, America is seeing an increase in BMI of its population as a whole. This includes expanding waste lines, higher fat content, and higher risk for many preventable health issues that includes Type II Diabetes, high blood pressure, heart diseases, liver failure, kidney disease, stroke, cancers, and a decrease in fertility. This trend is frightening for millions of Americans because it shortens their lifespan and quality of life. As a result of the negative effects of obesity, children are being subjected to the media, marketing, and poor…show more content…
Consequently, the result of this negative trend caused obesity to be the second leading cause of preventable deaths with 18% of American adults dying each year (CDC, 2016). According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases “more than one-third (35.7%) of adults are considered obese. More than 1 in 20 (6.3%) have extreme obesity” (NIDDK, 2012). Unfortunately, adults are not the only one’s suffering from obesity; 17% of children are obese with 31.3% being between the ages ten to seventeen, and 13.9% being high school students (State of Obesity, 2016). The prevalence of obesity, in children, is higher among Hispanics at 21.9% and blacks at 19.5% whereas non-Hispanic white adults in the United States are 14.7% (CDC, 2016). However, obesity rates are higher for children who live in low income families that are enrolled in the WIC program, even though rates have decreased since 2000. In 2014, the obesity rate was an average of 14.5 % of children ages 2-4 years (State of Obesity, 2016). According to the CDC, “the prevalence of obesity was higher among Hispanics (17.3%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (18.0%) young children than among those were non-Hispanic white (12.2%), non-Hispanic black (11.9%), or Asians/Pacific Islander (11.1%)” (CDC, 2016). Childhood obesity for low income WIC children in South Dakota, alone, is 17.1% which is ranked the fourth highest (State of Obesity, 2016). The severity of obesity is
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