Reductionist Approach To Obesity

Adult obesity rates have rapidly increased since 1960, with at least one-third of the population classified as obese today. It is believed that 60-70% of the risk factors for developing obesity are genetic and are genes that are generally considered to dictate food intake. The environment also significantly affects an individual’s risk for obesity, and poverty level is a huge factor as well. Of the ten states with the highest obesity rates, nine of them among the nation’s poorest states.

Genes control almost every aspect of human life, and when it comes to weight there is no exception. Little is known, however, how much of an individual’s genes actually control the weight of certain individuals. Body fat can vary from person to person, yet some people have always carried more weight than others. Often times, when one person is overweight in the family, most of the other individuals in the same family are overweight as well. However, more than just genetics can go into being overweight, and a person’s genes are not the end all be all of obesity. Many times the environment surrounding people who are obese contributes to the overall weight of the individual, and when obesity promoting genes are mixed

America's children are not getting enough exercise, and the health risks due to obesity are becoming epidemic in nature. Even First Lady Michelle Obama is supporting an initiative to help children become more active and to provide for exercise (at least 30-60 minutes per day) in all schools. Even limited amounts of exercise can have great health benefits. When humans exercise, the brain produces chemicals that help enhance mood, limit cravings for sugars, and contribute to healthier joints, muscles, the heart, and kidneys. In turn, this translates into more productive work time, the ability to sleep better, increase memory, and reduce dependence on medications. Children are so vulnerable to this health risk that if it continues, over 60% of graduating seniors will be clinically obese. Written by a medical journalist, the book is designed for the lay reader but has a number of documented scholarly sources.

Dalton, S. (2005). Our Overweight Children: What Parents, Schools And Communities Can Do to Control the Fatness Epidemic. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Obesity is one of the biggest problems in healthcare in many developed nations. Atlas views obesity from a functionalist’s perspective, that obesity (deviation from healthy body weight) has tremendous social costs including increased healthcare expenses as well as costs from work absenteeism and premature death, thereby threatening social stability and growth.

Consumption of the wrong foods and no exercise cause obesity to step into the lives of many within America but on the other side of fence, complicated reasoning can run behind factors that hold a place with the individual’s overall characteristics, attitude, genetics tendencies and environment. The Effectiveness of obesity is the medical cost that takes place treat individuals that experience obesity; this increases the family expenses and causes

Environment factors, including sedentary lifestyles, high energy intake and social aspects enhance the risk for obesity. A recently published evaluation of the Framingham Study provides an interesting alternative explanation for the worldwide increase in the prevalence of obesity, by demonstrating that the chance of a person to become obese is significantly higher when a friend, sibling or spouse are obese (Christakis and Fowler, 2007). Thus the social net work could be a relevant factor in the obesity epidemic.

According to Harvard Health Publications (11-12), the causes of obesity are interrelated. By understanding how these various factors interrelate and eventually how they cause obesity, we can be able to draw a conclusion whether the problem of being overweight is as a result of our own fault or it is a problem that people do not have control over. The factors that interact with one another and result in one person being overweight compared to another include; genetics and the person’s weight, influences from the external environment, physical inactivity and the behaviors that have been learned by a person.

Fed Up. Stephanie Soechtig. Perf. Michele Simon, Katie Couric, Bill Clinton, Michael Bloomberg. Atlas Films, 2014.

The everyday routines of life can and will be more difficult if encumbered with obesity.

Obesity continues as a deadly epidemic that involves people that continually overeat in which causes weight gain that has affected all people around the world. During the last few decade obesity has doubled and threatened people's health in adverse habits of overeating. With the progress of technology, fewer people do manual labor; they work longer hours sitting down and eating too much of unhealthy foods. How obesity affects our community health and economic cost, taking the steps, to prevent obesity, and then the sociology functionalism theory relates to the problem of obesity in the United States and the world.

The topic that I have chosen to look at is obesity. The aim of this topic is to find out whether “the ignorance of genetics as a contra factor of obesity”. I have chosen to look at this topic because obesity is concerns me. Obesity has always been a bid debate for a long time now and I was intrigued to find out more about the topic and the cause of obesity. The fact that obesity has made deadlines news in recent years. There are a lot of misconceptions about obesity such as overweight is caused by a sow metabolism. There have been a lot of beliefs and myths about obesity in society today and he above myths is on of them. According to Donnellan (1998) ‘ ‘people who are overweight have told their doctors that they eat no more and

With over 22.5% of the current U.S. population considered to be clinically obese, compared to only 14.5% in 1980, there does not seem to be a cessation of this epidemic in sight (Hill & Peters, 1998). Goran and Weisners' (2000) proposal that "... the inherently lower resting metabolic rate in women versus men is responsible for the higher adiposity rates in women..." is wanting, especially since the potentially modifiable factors of; less physical strength, less daily free-living physical activity, and lower total energy expenditure are more likely the cause of the differences in observed adiposity between men and women. Since our genetic makeup has not appreciably changed in the last twenty years, we cannot strictly attribute the explosion of obesity to genetics. As these biological causes of obesity are disproved, a focus on the environment as a reason for obesity is taking centre-stage.

Obesity basically means having too much body fat. Not being overweight for your height, having too much muscle, or water in your body. What exactly is obesity? “Obesity is a condition that is associated with having an excess of body fat, defined by genetic and environmental factors that are difficult to control when dieting. Obesity is classified as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or greater. BMI is a tool used to measure obesity. Obesity increases your risk of developing related conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and sleep apnea, to name a few. Many individuals are affected by obesity and are not aware of it” (O.A.C, 2016). Causes of obesity vary from person to person, but most are from the same reasons. Taking in more calories than your body can burn leads to obesity because your body stores the unused calories as fat. Typical causes are eating too much food than your body can use, drinking too much alcohol, and not getting enough exercise. Many obese people who lose large amounts of weight and gain it back think it is their fault. They blame themselves for not having the willpower to keep the weight off. Many people regain more weight than they lost. Today, we know that biology is a big reason why some people cannot keep the weight off. Some people who live in the same place and eat the same foods become obese, while others do not. Our bodies have a complex system to help keep our

Obesity is a condition in which the over accumulation of adipose fat tissue causes the weight of a person to increase abnormally. Their weight exceeds by 20%, as a factor of their ideal body weight. According to recent analysis, statistics show that more than one third of the world’s population is targeted by obesity. Research shows that overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight. Obesity occurs greatly amongst adults who are 18 years or older. An estimated 600 million adults were obese out of the 1.9 billion that were overweight, around the world in 2014. One in three adults in Mexico, New Zealand and United States are obese, and one in four adults in Australia, Canada, Chile and Hungary are obese. In contrast, rates of obesity are much lower in Asian countries, where approximately 2-4% of adults have obesity. In countries such as Mexico and the United States, Latino and Africans have the highest rates of obesity amongst all the individuals. However, along with adults, statistics show that the rates for obesity are also high among children within and below the age of 5. As calculated in 2013, the number of children across the world that were either overweight or obese was 42 million. Since then, the rates have increased by 30% more in in low- and middle-income countries than in developed countries. Due to the fact that this condition continues at higher rates across the world, several organizations, such as the World Health Organization, are working with and