American Obesity
Mary R. Hoyle
Western Governors University
American Obesity
Obesity is a medical condition in human beings, in which the body overproduces body fats, to such an extent that the excess body fats which usually accumulates within the body, can lead to other health problems like increase in body size or the thickening of blood vessels, which may eventually lead to heart attack or high blood pressure. Obesity is a global health issue, but it’s mostly common in the west, due to the kind of life style the people live. Obese people are usually stigmatized by the society due to their health status, meaning they are viewed as being in trouble. Whether obesity is a cause or reason for such stigma, is however debatable (Vogel, 2007).
In the United States, obesity was not a major problem until the 1980s when it was viewed as a national epidemic. In the 1990s, scholars and researchers struggled to look for the causes of obesity with some scholars postulating that it could be caused by a virus which behaves like the HIV virus, while others in 2007 theorized that it could be caused by the influence of individuals by their family members to over eat, thereby becoming obese (Ibsen2006).
The fact about obesity in the United States is that it is one of the highest in the world, and has been on the increase since the late 1990s.As of 2007, about 74% of all the adults were either obese or overweight .The problem of obesity comes with high financial costs to the United
Obesity is defined as a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduce life expectancy and/or increased health problems. “The problem of obesity is increasing in the United States. Understanding the impact of social inequalities on health has become a public health priority in the new millennium. Social, political, and economic factors now are acknowledged to be "fundamental" causes of disease that affect behavior, beliefs, and biology.” (Goodman, 2003) In the United States today, obesity has become an enormous problem. In the last 3 decades, the number of people overweight has increased dramatically. Obesity has not always been seen as a medical
“Obesity is a disease that affects more than one-third of the U.S adult population (approximately 78.6 million Americans). The number of Americans with obesity had steadily increase since 1960, a trend that has slowed down in recent years but show no sign of reversing”.
A lot of people wonder why we are so concerned about the obesity rate in America. Being obese causes terrible diseases and sometimes can lead to death. 18% of the deaths in the United States happened from 1986 to 2006 and were caused by the symptoms that came from being obese, these occurred mostly
Obesity has been measured or defined in various ways. Many researchers have differing opinions on the origins and effects of obesity. The rapidly increasing rates of obesity are often linked to a high calorie diet and little to no physical activity. Although obesity is seen as a disease that affects a person’s weight, it actually affects a lot more than that. Obesity can affect individuals in both adolescence and adulthood, their families, and the healthcare system. From an outside viewpoint, obesity looks like a disease that careless, inactive people develop. Not always is this the case. Obesity is not a disease that affects solely the weight of a person. To be considered obese, your BMI (body mass index) would have to be 30 or higher. Almost 70 percent of Americans are either overweight or obese. Not only does obesity affect the weight of a person, it can also lead to increased risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, sleep apnea, and many other things. Questions posed on this dreadful disease by many people are on the origin of the disease, the effects and exponential growth of the disease, and the actions that are being taken to help provide a healthier environment for Americans and to establish programs and preventative methods across the country to help fight the ever increasing obesity rate.
Obesity has been a problem in America for multiple years. Obesity rates in the United States are going to increase 37% in the next twenty-five years (Pomeranz 2009). According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases 68.8% of adults are overweight or obese, one in every 20 people or 6.3% of adults have extreme obesity and 3 in every 4 males or 74% of males are obese (Overweight and Obesity 2009). Once someone comes to the realization that they are obese, it can be hard to turn their life around and lose some of that weight that is making them obese. Obesity can be the cause of multiple health related issues that Americans face. For example, obesity can cause type two diabetes, cardio metabolic disease,
For a long time, obesity has been one of the notable health concerns that America has struggled with during the last five decades .Obesity as a health concern is not limited to America alone, it is a serious concern among other affluent societies like European countries. A considerable number of Americans spend a significant amount of money trying to lose weight. Obesity become an important focus in the news items during the year 2002.According to research findings, the rate of obesity among the American was at an average of 12% in 1990 and this rate was at 23% in the year 2005(Menifield, Doty and Fletcher 83-8).
Obesity is raging in the United States. America is the fattest country on this earth. It has become a major health concern. It is not only increasing at an alarming rate in adults, but also in children. The risk of obesity is serious; it can cause many problems in the body. In order to cut down on obesity, Americans need to be more aware of what they eat every day, make healthier choices, and get the proper amount of exercise and nutrition.
Obesity is a big topic in American society, it has grown over the years and it has become very well known. It has become an American concern and the food industry has been an easy target to blame for this “epidemic”. The truth to this is that it can be easy to blame the fast food industry, but the real truth it is, that obesity has become what it is now because our society has let that happened; the government, the citizens, the food industry's. They have all played an important role to what it is now obese.
Obesity is a medical condition in which excess fats have grown and accumulated to the point of harm, and a shortened life expectancy. Obesity is a problem that has been more prominent in the 20th and 21st century and is now a main concern for both society and the government. It is the citizen’s duty to resolve this epidemic known as obesity in the United States.
The problem of obesity has reached the epidemic levels in the US. More than 65% of the American adults are classified obese these days. This is a very huge number. Today Americans are plagued by diseases of which 120000 are because of obesity. An obese person in America is likely to incur $1,429 more in medical expenses annually. Approximately $147 billion is spent in added medical expenses per year within the United States. Although obesity is considered a preventable condition and has been increasing within the United States, no effective treatment has been developed. Health authorities anticipate no change to this vector. Of all the big countries, only
With obesity rates rapidly increase in the last 20 years, who is to blame for the widespread obesity? Many push sole blame on the individual because ultimately a person is responsible for their unhealthy lifestyle, but there are many other contributing factors to be considered. It is true that obesity has gone up because Americans do not exercise enough but many other forces have impacted the obesity rates in the United States such as “gender, race, socioeconomic position and age”(Ailshire & House 1).
Obesity in America has been a constant epidemic and is a leading cause of preventable death. Obesity is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health. The obesity rates have doubled in the past twenty-five years causing a long span of chronic illnesses; although including a healthy diet and exercise are important to weight management, it is not the only cause to obesity. It can also be caused by family history and genetics. Americans have created unhealthy habits that have been passed on to our children and they will actually be sicker than we already are if these habits aren’t changed. This disease can be prevented and reversed if one makes the necessary lifestyle changes.
Obesity is an epidemic that affects individuals worldwide. Unfortunately, more children are facing issues with obesity than ever before, leading to major health issues including diabetes, hypertension, and elevated cholesterol. The CDC website defines childhood obesity as a “BMI (body mass index) at or above the 95th percentile for children and teens of the same age and sex”("Defining Childhood Obesity," 2015, p. 1). It is important that parents understand that how the health of their child can affect the rest of their lives. The President-Elect of the American Academy of Pediatrics states that “to recognize obesity as a disease does help because it allows us to determine the chronic disease model and address obesity with community-level interventions, healthy interventions, and family interventions”(Devereaux, 2014, p. 288). This paper will examine an online website that is dedicated to the well-being and overall health of children. It will also analyze the mission, usability, and credibility of the online resource.
Obesity is major problem affecting the world at this day and age, especially the Unites States. Based from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about one third or 78.6 million U.S adults are obese. It is not a surprise that being overweight and obese can lead to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, some types of cancers, etc. One can then assume that every person who is obese or overweight is automatically at risk however sometimes a person may have normal vital levels. The term is metabolically healthy obesity (MHO) and it includes obese individuals who live without any health problems that are typically linked with normal obese individuals. Such people have excess subcutaneous visceral fat, normal insulin sensitivity, normal blood sugar, physically active, along with other similar qualities to a normal BMI metabolically healthy individual. This topic is very interesting because it is shocking to be obese in BMI and still be considered metabolically healthy. This implication may be the reason why many people disregard their weight just because they are in normal ranges for example blood pressure. Being metabolically healthy obese can be a silent killer for people will continue their lifestyles without caution. More research has to be done on it for a clear explanation for such phenotype. Some of the research in this topic suggest there is a link between MHO and higher risk factors and mortality if undermined. Other research suggest that MHO patients have
Obesity is classified as one of the extremely common and serious public health problems in the world. Overweight and obesity are the fifth leading global risks of mortality in the world (World Health Organization, 2009). Furthermore, they are one of the major factors of for a number of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer (World Health Organization, 2005). According to NHS UK, obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more for adults, and the UK 1990 growth reference curves are used to define obesity for Children (Cole TJ, Freeman JV, Preece MA, 1995). The growing challenge of obesity of Europe countries is remarkable among Asian countries .In 2008, 1.4 billion adults (35%) aged 20 and over were overweight and 500 million were obese (11%). More than 40 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2012(World Health Organization, 2014). That is the global obesity situation. Furthermore, the obesity problem in the UK is not optimistic, the UK has the highest obesity rates among Europe countries, and this trend has strikingly increased over the recent years to the point where more than 20% of the population are now obese. (University of Birmingham, 2014) However, the obesity situation in Singapore is more worrisome. In 2010, 40% adults aged 18 to 69 were overweight and 10% were obese which is more than double the level seen in 1992. (Ministry of Health Singapore, 2010) This essay will