Obesity Epidemic Summary

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

During the past 20 years, there has been a substantial increase in obesity in the United States and rates remain high. More than one-third of U.S.

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

How would you feel if I told you that there is no one state with an obesity rate lower than 20%? Take this information and compare it to twenty years ago when every state had an obesity rate lower than 15%. Obesity has become not only the number one cause in death, but according to David Zinczenko, editor-in-chief of Men’s Health and author of “Don’t Blame the Eater”, it is the number one cost in health care with numbers rising well over 100 billion dollars a year (196). There are many people we could blame, such as the food industry or the government, but before we start pointing fingers elsewhere, individuals need to stand up and take personal responsibility for their own actions and health. Either way it is evident a

Obesity and weight related disease are at an all time high and continue to plague the United States.

“I couldn't open up a magazine, you couldn't read a newspaper, you couldn't turn on the TV without hearing about the obesity epidemic in America.” is a quote by Morgan Spurlock, that acutely describes the obesity problem going on in America. Any way one can want to talk about the problem, it will always be a huge dilemma throughout the United States. For a long time now, people have been discussing who is to blame for the obesity crisis going on. Some people prefer to blame the government, several blame the restaurants, others the parents and even the schools receive criticism for obesity. People should develop their own ideas on the obesity crisis and to figure out who is to blame and how to fix the problem.

Obesity is becoming one of the biggest problems in the country, but there has to be reasons for it. It can be the economy, society now, or people and companies. It’s time that our country starts to realize that we can’t live like this anymore. We need to see what is causing the sudden rise in obesity, and what we can do to fix it. Education of risks and solutions can be very helpful. Obesity is killing so many people, yet is still 100 percent avoidable. Our country is beginning to care less and really let themselves go. The fast food industry, supermarkets, and schools are the ones at fault for the spreading problem of obesity.

Welcome to the United States of America; where every citizen has the right to life, liberty, and an expanding waistline. Recent studies have shown that “1 out of every 3 Americans are considered obese or overweight”(Kelley); a major contributor for 100,000 to 400,000 weight related deaths yearly. As a cost of being one of the heaviest nations in the world, the U.S. designates around $190.2 billion dollars, or 21% of all medical spending every year, for treatment, preventative, and diagnostic services, in an effort to stop what is now referred to as ”an obesity epidemic”. As for individuals living with this chronic disease on a daily basis, a recent report from George

Opposed to the standing viewpoints however, some health professionals and individuals believe the obesity epidemic within America is not just a myth conjured by the weight loss industry and health professionals; the epidemic is in fact a very real issue slowly killing Americans and dieting is the only way to solve the severe health issues arising from obesity. It is believed by some individuals obesity is America’s most serious ongoing crisis and the economic predicament sparked by the increasing waistlines will lead to the crash of America’s economy. In Dan Carroll’s article, “The Obesity Epidemic Is America’s Greatest Ongoing Crisis,” he expresses if the funding for national health care continues to rise due to obesity, the other vital areas

Increasingly high obesity rates among the U.S. population have both personal and societal ramifications. For the individual, increased body mass has been linked to a myriad of health issues including heart disease, Type II diabetes, high cholesterol, cancer, strokes, kidney & liver disease, and hypertension. (Wilmore, et al., 2008) On a societal level, the Center for Disease Control estimates that obesity related medical care costs reached a staggering $147 billion in 2008 with obese patients costing $1,400 more per patient than those that fell into a "normal" weight rage (CDC). Obesity-related diseases may also contribute to millions of lost workdays and higher insurance premiums (CNBC).

I was shocked when I read in our text that obesity in the United States (U.S.) has increased in one decade from 12% to 70% (Knickman & Kover, 2015, p. 125). Obesity is linked to many preventable chronic diseases and pushes health care cost between $147 billion and $210 billion per year (The State of Obesity, 2015). Even though the metric for obesity, the body mass index (BMI) is an old metric for judging health, the data is staggering and needs to be addressed.

Today, America is facing an epidemic that drains its economy and annihilates the health of its citizens, obesity. In the eyes of the average American, being overweight may seem like an issue with no effect on anything except for a rise of burger sales and an increased chance of diabetes, but this epidemic causes catastrophic events unseen by the public. Firstly, corpulence effects ⅓ of the U.S. population, leaving the other ⅔ in the category of being overweight, double the amount since the early 1970s, stated by Ross A. Hammond and Ruth Levine in “The Economic Impact of Obesity in the United States.” In addition to the effects of obesity in the everyday lives of the U.S.’ citizens, Obesity is next to if not deadlier than tobacco, which claims

Obesity has become a world-wide epidemic that affects every country and gender that exists. Obesity can result from poor nutrition, insufficient amount of exercise, or a lack of knowledge on how to care for one’s body. In general, many women suffer from being overweight. The article I read explains how some women, no matter what ethnicity, suffer from being considered over- weight during pregnancy. The article goes into further detail to explain how women feel about gaining weight while pregnant, what they believe to be considered healthy or unhealthy, and how they feel about their healthcare provider’s service to them while being pregnant. The articles states, “In the United Stated, 35.8% of reproductive age women (20-39)

Over the past few decades in the United States the disease obesity has become a national epidemic. In the Encyclopedia of Nursing it states the following “The latest projections of the World Health Organization (2010) indicate that globally in 2005, 1.6 billion adults were overweight and 400 million were obese, and that by 2015, 2.3 billion will be overweight and more than 700 million will be obese” (1). This was from 2010 the current obesity rate in the United States among adults is roughly 36.5% according to the Center for Disease and Control Prevention. The CDC is the nation’s health protection agency which protects against disease. With this epidemic continuing to grow and no

Obesity has become a serious problem with more than one third of adults being obese in the United States. Obesity is seen as a self-destructive behavior accompanied with smoking and use of other drugs thus, government officials and other business bureaucrats expressed the need to impose higher health insurance premiums on the obese. Obesity is not always due to the personal behavior of people and can be linked with the environment and genetics; I personally feel that obese people should not pay a higher health insurance premium compared to those that aren’t. Government officials and other business bureaucrats