Obesity Is Not A Disease Essay

According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, there are a high amount of adults in America over 20 years old with some form of weight problem. 33.1% of these adults are overweight, 35.7% are obese, and 6.3% suffer with extreme obesity, only 31.2% are at a healthy weight. Such a widespread presence of weight issues not only constitutes a negative stereotype, but another series of questions. Since the issue is so rampant, does that make obesity a disease? In November 2013, the American Heart Association changed its guidelines so that obesity was now considered a disease, which caused a significant amount of controversy to rise (heart.org). However, following definitional standards, obesity should not be considered

Obesity has played a major role in media over the last decade. With growing concern over the issue, a controversy over whether obesity is a disease itself or not has developed. Obesity, by definition, is a condition that is characterized by excessive accumulation and storage of fat in the body, usually indicated by a body mass index of 30 or greater. According to the currently accepted definition of disease, a condition of the body or one of its parts that impairs normal functioning and is typically manifested by distinguishing signs and symptoms, it can be concluded that obesity does not meet the criteria to be classified as a disease.

Often times, people who are obese also suffer with other diseases that may have contributed to their obesity in the first place. When a person is clinically depressed, a lot of times they overeat to deal with their emotions, which causes them to become obese. Another example of a disease that might have made a person obese is Hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is when the thyroid gland doesn’t produce enough thyroid hormones, which

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 isn’t a person with a few extra pounds to spare. It is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an effect on health causing reduced life expectancy and possibly increased health problems. A

Obesity is a common disease that makes a person massively overweight. This disease can potentially be lethal if not treated correctly. In addition, this could also lead to other common diseases such as heart disease and diabetes and cancer..

Obesity is a disease, yes it is a disease, obesity causes more health issues that people don't know obesity can cause like heart disease, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure and more, 2 out of 3 children in the United States is struggling of either being overweight or obese, several years in the united states no state has had an obesity rate over 15 % , but now times have changed , over 41 states have an obesity rate over 25%, this means that since 1981 the obesity rate has nearly tripled in the united states, “ people with obesity state that it is the government's fault for providing food that has no nutritional value in it”.

Obesity is a medical condition. It occurs when energy doesn’t get used and is stored as fat to be burned through exercise. There is 2 major reasons why you may be obese. 1. You don’t exercise or you lack on exercising. 2. You consume junk food (the food that has lots of sugar, high in saturated fat or food that has chemicals implemented on them. Food these days are so processed that, after we eat the food we start to get hungry faster then normal.

     Obesity is the net result of an excess of energy consumption over expenditure. Factors that must be considered as contributing to causation are: heredity, and altered metabolism of adipose tissue, the list goes on and on. Overeating is clearly a prominent contributor to obesity. Feeding behavior occurs in response to hunger and to appetite induced by the presence of food.

In article one Maia Szalavitz, wrote an article titled, “Viewpoint: Defining Obesity as a Disease May do More Harm Than Good.” She is a neuroscience journalist from Time Magazine, who talked about the harmful effect classifying obesity will have on one’s life, as well as others around them. In article two Dr. Keith Ablow’s article is called, “Obesity is not a Disease- and Neither is Alcoholism.” He is a psychiatrist and a member of the Fox Medical A-Team who talked about the solution to obesity, may be as simple as raising someone’s self-esteem. Both these articles talk why one should not classify obesity as a disease, but only one talks about the solution to solve the problem of obesity. Even though Szalavitz and Ablow are similarly matched rhetorically by taking a world-wide problem and discussing the issue of classifying it as a disease; Ablow is more rhetorically effective, because he uses more examples and evidence from different sources to back up his reasoning.

Obesity and its cause is a complex issue, but the main causes can be generally grouped into three headings: poor diet, lack of exercise and lack of awareness.

"A recent survey of North America male found that 42% were overweight, 34% were critically obese and 8% ate the survey” (Banksy). Known to be the one of the lead causing death in America. Obesity can be simply defined as the accretion of body mass. Most people automatically assume the obesity is a result of bad dieting or lack of physical exercises which is certainly not accurate. It is a perpetual disease to both adults and children, which is proven to be induced by genes, medication, and even psychological factors such as stress and depression.

In 2008, the American Medical Association recognized obesity as a disease claiming that “Recognizing obesity as a disease will help change the way the medical community tackles this complex issue that affects approximately one in three Americans,” said AMA board member Patrice Harris, M.D. While this may be true, is that a justifiable reason to classify obesity, a result of unhealthy decisions, as a disease? The fact is obesity is the consequence of choosing an unhealthy lifestyle. True the unhealthy lifestyle may not be chosen on purpose but “The choices we make by accident are just as important as the choices we make by design” – Anonymous. Therefore if obesity is a consequence of choices then I feel obesity itself has to be a choice,

Merriam Webster defines obesity is a condition characterized by excessive accumulation and storage of body fat. Carey Rossi points out “In one day the AMA classified 78 million adults, and 12 million children deemed to have a medical condition that needs treatment.” In the United States obesity, has become a major health epidemic. People are gaining weight in mass, and are also being diagnosed with diabetes, heart disease and, cancer, every day. Changing the problem has become an issue, and what can be incorporated to help slow down, or fix the issue has become the problem. Defining Obesity as a disease will discourage people from healthy eating, drinking water, and exercising. Secondly it could affect people’s mentality by making them

Obesity refers to the condition of having an extra amount of body fat. Obesity is caused by eating too much and moving too little. When an individual’s amount of body fat becomes too high, they are at a greater risk of being affected with life changing diseases such as heart failure, hypertension, type II diabetes, cancer, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, and others. This shows that people should become more physically active and attempt to make healthier choices because their life depends on the decisions, they make.