Obesity: A Public Health And Policy Problem

When it comes to the topic of obesity, most experts and critics will readily agree that it can lead to more severe health issues. Where the agreement usually ends, however, is on how much obesity really contributes to illnesses, such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Whereas some are convinced that obesity is a major cause in such diseases, others maintain that it is only one factor, of many, that lead to other diseases.

Obesity occurs over time when you eat more calories than you use. The balance between your genetic makeup, overeating, eating high-fat foods, and not being physically active. Being obese increases your risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, arthritis, and some cancers. If you are obese, losing even 5 to 10 percent of your weight can delay or prevent some of these diseases. For example, that means losing 10 to 20 pounds if you weigh 200 pounds. All of this can come from eating unhealthy foods.

Obesity is a condition where persons have accumulated so much body fat that it might have a negative effect on their health. Obesity is a serious, chronic disease that can have negative effects on many systems of the body. Obesity increases the risk of developing a range of serious diseases and are associated with the development of many long term conditions. Obesity is a result associated with psychological problems, health problems and social care.

A problem that is plaguing America and needs to be addressed with a policy change in school systems across the country is obesity. Obesity in America has been declared an epidemic, and the most alarming rates of obesity exist in younger demographics, which generally dictate that these children will continue into adulthood as obese adults (Jacobson, Kim, & Tortolero, 2009). This will add to the massive costs to society that obesity contributes from loss of employee hours to hospital care from the many diseases that are developed as a result of obesity. Therefore, this issue needs to be addressed early in life with school-aged children as it is far more difficult to stop obese adults from engaging in negative behavior that facilitates or worsens their obesity while legislative action can be taken to develop rules and regulations that can be implemented in school districts across the country.

Over the period of this course there has been a few topics that I have really learned about and either it has influenced me to change my lifestyle, and/or attribute to develop healthier patterns for myself whether it be in my marriage, for my child, or for my health. I will discuss the topics that mattered the most to me, that we covered throughout the duration of the semester. Which includes; The Common Challenges to a Healthy Lifestyle, Marital Expectations, and Income.

Being overweight has always been an issue in America but sometimes it'll get way out of hand. Obesity is a huge problem being faced in America. Many Americans face it from eating unhealthy and not getting the amount of exercise they need. Trying to prevent this in any way possible is a great idea being able to live healthier and enjoy more things, starting with small things such as banning sugary drinks and listing calories is a great way to start.

Conflict between an individual’s freedom to choose, and a governments obligation to protect its citizens has long been a source of contention and is often at the center of health policy debates. We have seen this very thing happen many times regarding obesity. Overweight and obesity result from daily lifestyle choices, the consequences of which gradually accumulate. Poor diets and inadequate physical activity are widely acknowledged as the main drivers of the obesity epidemic (Fung, Kuhle, Lu, Purcell, Schwartz, Storey, & Veugelers, 2012). Rates of obesity have skyrocketed in the past couple decades for adults, adolescents and children. Two out of every three adults in America are either overweight or obese and nearly 9 million children and adolescents are considered overweight (Tao & Glazer, 2005). The effects of obesity are wide spread. Obesity is directly tied to increased risks for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoarthritis, and psychological morbidity (Library of Congress, 2004). Obesity costs billions of dollars annually in terms of health care and lost productivity and increases the cost of health insurance, particularly Medicaid and Medicare, significantly. For those of us who pay for our insurance, both employers and employees, we have experienced this rise in costs. This has caused society to suffer a substantial health burden.

First of all, an unhealthy lifestyle can lead to many health problems. The lack of physical activity and poor diet can lead to obesity. Becoming obese will put an individual at risk for many health complications such as type 2 diabetes. Obesity is defined as an excessively high amount of body fat in relation to lean body mass (Signorino and Winter 2008). According to, Nath, Heemels, et al., there is a growing number of children that are being diagnosed with obesity related type 2 diabetes. Obesity and type 2 diabetes

Obesity causes Type 2 Diabetes. Type 2 Diabetes is a main health risk caused by obesity. It’s caused by changes in multiple organs and hormones in the body. Over time, these changes lead to high sugar levels. These higher sugar levels, in turn, produce Type 2 Diabetes (what np). Heart disease is another root of obesity. As your body mass increases, so does your risk for coronary heart disease (CHD). CHD is a condition in which a waxy substance called plaque builds up inside the coronary arteries. These arteries supply blood to your heart. Plaque can narrow or block the coronary arteries and slow down blood flow to the heart muscle. This can cause a heart attack. This can also lead to heart failure (Gibbons np). High blood pressure is another problem of obesity. Blood pressure is the force of blood pushing against the walls of the arteries as the heart pumps blood. If this pressure rises and stays high it can damage the body in numerous ways. Your chances of having high blood pressure are greater if you're overweight or obese (Gibbons np). In closing, being overweight can cause tons of different diseases. The government should help us control ourselves so we can be a healthier society and so we don’t have to keep dying considering we're too overweight and

Obesity leads to heart failures and diabetes. Almost two thirds(68.7) of Americans are obese or overweight than they should be. Main reason is because of the eating disorders Americans have. Obesity causes problems for a person and can certainly be diagnosed with type one and two diabetes that can be inherited into the family. For example, another cause is the high fat content that fast food companies put in their foods. Parents

Obesity has greatly increased among adults, teenagers and children in America. Statistics has shown that about two in every three adult in America is Obese or over weight. The children and teenagers are not left out also; the obesity prevalence is three times what it was in the previous years between 1970s and 2000 (Klegal, et al 2002). The occurrence of obesity has resulted in genetic, political, sociological and economic consequences (Hong T., Glazer G., 2005). Several institutions have been implicated by the government, for example, schools, family and genetics all play a part in the obesity epidemic. Certain policy determination caused by urbanization and has reduced the number of individuals walking or even taking part in daily exercise (Hong T., Glazer G., 2005). Policies that were formulated to support and encourage farmers and protect consumers from high priced agricultural food prices has resulted in food excesses and overproduction (Hong T., Glazer G., 2005). Technological advancement has reduced the number of workers that go to work daily and as such, some people work from home in the twentieth century; this has further reduced the daily activities performed by individuals (Hong T., Glazer G., 2005). Improvement in food processing and technology has led to the production of varieties

Obesity is defined as the excessive body fat accumulation that negatively impacts adult health conditions. Overweight and obese BMI is between 25 and 30 and >30. In 2010, obesity is a major public health issue that affects one million overweight adults and 400 million obese worldwide. Obesity is associated with risk factors such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and obstructive sleep apnea etc. (Fock & Khow, 2013). “ According to World Health Organization (2010), obesity is caused by excess calorie intake, genetics, lack of physical activity, and high cost in food prices. Despite the fact that obese adults do not have ample time to cook meals due to their busy schedule (Specchia et al, 2014). In addition, lifestyle and diet play an important role in adult obesity. The cost of obesity would be beneficial to solve the social and economic impact on public health policy.

Food has always been around as a source of energy for humans to survive. It revolves around us in our daily lives. There are many issues relating to food that is happening in the world, such as obesity. Obesity is a public health problem that exists in many countries and one of the countries with a high number of obesity is Mexico, ranked fourth for its prevalence of obesity. As a rising issue, obesity is triggered by the abundance of eating unhealthy food, such as fast food and drinking sugary beverages, causing Mexico to determine ways to reduce the amount of people from becoming obese or overweight by enforcing soda taxes and improving the environment so that their people can become healthier. Studies have proved that obesity is a result

Obesity is when you have excess body fat. It is defined by your BMI, or body mass index. Obesity is one of the leading causes of heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and even canter, all of which are leading causes of death. It can also make it more difficult and sometimes impossible to get pregnant.

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