Essay on The American Obesity Epidemic

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

In America today one in three adults are considered to be obese. Over the years the rate of obesity keeps climbing up and up. Some people blame fast-food or the environment Americans live in. After all,someone can purchase a chocolate bar at a bookstore nowadays. But, most people are looking at the incorrect factor to blame. Although the food industry is a huge contribution to obesity in America, people are ultimately responsible for their own health.

According to the USDA, at the start of century 21st American people have increased their daily caloric intake by consuming five hundred calories more than in 1970. As cited by Whitney & Rolfes (2011), there are many recognized causes of obesity such as genetics, environment, culture, socioeconomic, and metabolism among others; but the cause most evident

KRAKOW, POLAND- According to an alarming new study published Friday by the Federation of Abnormalities in Thickness, the percentage of obese Americans over the age of twenty has just hit 40%. This growing obesity epidemic has been called one of the heaviest issues in modern day society. "I don't understand why those in rich, developed nations like the US or the UK get to gorge themselves with lavish delicacies every day, while in Eastern civilizations, people are forcing dirt down their throat simply to survive." said Winnie Woltrap, celebrity spokesperson for FAT. "So why is food still being handed to the already obese Americans while the millions of starving people in Africa have bellies full of worms?"

Obesity can be understood using a reductionist approach by investigating its link to genetics. One can isolate genes and discover their effect on obesity. This reductionist approach takes obesity and breaks it down to a narrow focus that can be tested. A reductionist approach was used in a study where researchers

With a multitude of environmental factors playing an ever-increasing role in the reasons for obesity, it is hard to focus on one reason as the 'root' cause of obesity. Ever-decreasing levels of physical activity, married with poor dietary habits are two likely causes of the obesity epidemic. Samaras et al. (1999) concluded that physical activity is the strongest environmental influence on total-body fat-mass in healthy middle-aged women. An inverse relationship was clearly apparent between physical activity and total-body and

Obesity is a growing problem in America. There are many reasons obesity is growing rapidly such as genetics, physical inactivity, nutrition, medications, diseases, and psychological factors, just to name a few. Something that does not come to mind when speaking about obesity is genetics. But believe it or not, genetics does play a role in obesity just like other causes aforementioned above. Because obesity is a growing problem in America, it is important to understand and act upon its many causes, helping put an end to the sicknesses and deaths derived from it. Many would assume obesity is a result of poor eating habits and lack of exercise, but genetics also play into the issue. This essay will discuss two types of obesity which

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and developing countries. Although the trend of decreased physical activity and increased caloric intake is probably responsible for the recent rise in obesity, it is important to understand that these trends are playing out on a background of genetic variation in the population. Each individual's genetic background remains an important determinant of susceptibility to obesity. Discovery of the genes involved in the development of common forms of obesity, thereby identifying pathways that are causal in patients, will guide clinicians and scientists in designing more effective therapies and in identifying high-risk individuals for early intervention.

The best way to tell for sure if fast food was the direct cause for obesity would be to do statistical research on two groups of people where everything was equal such as wealth, age, time period, and location. The only difference would have to be the amount of fast food the two groups eat. This would be very difficult to perform, especially for any reasonably large groups of people. However, a group of people at the National Bureau of Economic Research were able to do the next best thing. They did a study on the obesity rates of 3 million students and their proximity to fast food restaurants over an 8 year time period. They compared 9th graders that went to school within a tenth of mile of a fast food restaurant and 9th graders who didn't. They went through great measures to make sure that everything else besides their proximity to fast food restaurants was equal. The results of the data are quite astonishing as econometric statistical

One of the most basic reasons for obesity in first world countries is an imbalance in diet. One of the largest influences on weight is simply what one consumes. First-world countries, especially America, are commonly associated with fast food, notorious for being high in calories. This influences weight gain in that, as said by the School of Public Health under Harvard, “[...] obesity results when someone regularly takes in more calories than needed. The body stores these excess calories as body fat, and over time the extra pounds add up” (“Obesity Causes,” para. 2).

During the research, it is found that triacylglycerols and fatty acids are not the only reason for people to become obese. Genetic factors are also a part of reasons for obesity. The gene decides some people are born with a tendency to obesity and this theory is based on the ‘Thrifty gene hypothesis’ raised by geneticist James V. Neel in 1962. The idea of ‘Thrifty gene hypothesis’ is that in ancient times, for hunter-gather populations ‘Thrifty gene’ would allow them to fatten more quickly when they have enough food. This is an advantage for them because with ‘Thrifty gene’ they can survive the famine. But in modern societies, this gene is useless because people have sufficient food and they don’t need to worry about

Many human beings living in the 21st Century are obese or have a problem with obesity. A person is considered obese if they have a BMI of 30 or more. To be obese means you have an excess amount of body fat that can harm your physical and mental health. For most individuals in the population, obesity results from multiple genetic and environmental factors that may interact with, or may be correlated with, each other (Faith, 1970). To unravel the causes and effects of obesity in human beings there are two significant factors to examine; the two factors are genetics and the environment. Genetics and the environment have many different aspects connected with them when it

Fast food is responsible for the increase of obesity rates in Western nations. In order to curb obesity rates, government regulation from the local level is necessary. The fast food corporations are responsible for the obesity epidemic because they make false health claims about their food and market heavily to children. But critics of regulation state that individuals, along with their food choices are responsible for the obesity epidemic. But regulation proponents believe that fast food needs regulation because of high obesity rates in poor inner city neighborhoods. In order to curb current obesity rates, local governments must intervene by implementing fast food regulations.

The situation is worsened by the increasing lack of adequate physical exercise partly due to the technological advancement that has led to the availability of many gadgets such as washing machines, computers, and dishwashers among others that encourage people to live sedentary lives. Other factors such as lack of enough sleep, obesity genes, smoking and some types of medications have also contributed to worsening of the condition. Environmental changes which have continued to take place in almost all parts of the world have contributed to the increasing prevalence of the condition. The result is the creation of global pandemic that has diverse implications on the general human mortality in the coming years and it thus seems that all people will have a polygenetic risk of developing obesity.

Overweight and obesity result from fat accumulation in adipose tissue which is an important fact occur in result of energy imbalance and associated with many chronic diseases. The risk of becoming overweight/obese with this fat accumulation increases across all socio-economic classes as a result of urbanization, which expose them to an obesogenic environment. A relatively high prevalence of overweight and obesity has been identified in Sri Lankan urban population, especially females (Katulanda, et al., 2010). Genetics plays an important role in obesity (Loos et al, 2009). Twin studies states also supports the fact that genetic influences are notable in obesity (Bouchard, et al,1990). Genetic composition can predispose an individual to weight gain in this obesogenic environment which arises with urbanization.