The Obesity Epidemic Is Disturbing The Financial And Social Stability Of The United States

Being overweight, eating poorly, and not exercising are becoming an epidemic in America, especially among college students. Most of the research on it states the same things, however the first research article I found speaks more to the behavior and its current affects on college students’ health. A slew of doctors and Jesse S. Morrell wrote an article about “Risk Factors Among College Men and Women” in relationship to obesity. The opening of this article stated that “an estimated 300,000 deaths each year are attributable to obesity… and young adults have experienced dramatic increases in obesity rates,” (Morrell, 2012, pg. 82). This statistic is what really got the research going and helped the researchers focus specifically on college-aged individuals. Upon diving into their research, the authors found more alarming statistics and related diseases. This included a recognizable relationship between obesity in young people and chronic disease risk, especially diabetes and cardiovascular disease (Morrell, 2012, pg. 82). In fact, CVD was the second leading cause of death in the US in that college-age group showing that our generation is at a greater risk for health problems than ever before due to our lack of exercise and healthy diets. Researchers then took to college campuses to examine students and their habits and provide risk assessments to promote healthier lifestyles and hopefully decrease the probability of CVD and DM through the metabolic syndrome system,

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

How many times a week do you go out to McDonald 's or Taco Bell for dinner? If you go more than once or twice a week then you really need to look at your diet and how healthy your lifestyle is. America is having a huge obesity crisis, too many Americans just don’t care about how much they weigh or unhealthy their lifestyle is. From the advertisement of the fast food companies, to people not being able to afford healthier foods, and people just being plain lazy, America has an increasing population of morbidly obese people.

America has been faced with the growing obesity epidemic. This is becoming very wide spread among all races and class levels due in part to the abundance of inexpensive food available and how easily people are becoming persuaded to but things they do not need. David Zinczenko published article “Don’t Blame the Eater”, Zinczenko argues that fast-food industries are not doing their job to provide clear enough nutritional information for hazardous food.

In the United States, a crisis is breaking out known as the Obesity epidemic. For the first time in history, it is possible for the children of this generation to have a lower life expectancy than their parents. Millions of Americans are exposed to ads that are luring them into eating the cheap, fast food of billion dollar companies such as McDonald’s. Obesity has established itself as the fastest growing disease in the nation and continues to make an impact on the general population. The issue of Obesity is directly related to todays technology through television, cell phones, video games and all of sorts of new gadgets.

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

This is a factor that many people overlook. Previous research has shown that, “the estimated annual cost of treating obesity-related illness in adults reached $147 billion in 2009.” (“National League of Cities Institute”) With the rate of childhood obesity growing, this number could become catastrophic. In fact obesity related illnesses cover a whopping, “21% of annual medical spending in the United States.” This amount of money can play a major role in our nation’s depth. Obesity is not only affecting the health of America’s individuals, but it is also affecting our nation as a whole. The government's job is to contribute to economic development and to the health and safety of people by maintaining and improving the state of the

In today’s world, obesity rate has been increased significantly. Among 196 countries of the world, the Unites States is ranked 19th, and one third of the population in the U.S. have obesity. Reason that people care about how much population is obsessed is that it is “linked to many of the major causes of death in the United States, including heart disease, some types of cancer, strokes, diabetes, and atherosclerosis” (Himes 73). 19th of the world may not seem very high rank, but if imagine one of three family member or neighbor is highly exposed to disease resulted by obesity, it will not become a slight problem that they can ignore. In order to solve this severe problem, many experts of health have researched and argued the underlying cause of obesity, and their arguments are mainly divided by two big categories: environmental factor and genetic factor. Many researcher have argued that genetic factor have more effect on human’s body weight than environment, so individual cannot control their body weight. As those researchers said, gene have some influence on human body related with obesity, but the largest cause of this disorder is environment. In other word, the increasing rate of obesity in America is mainly caused by toxic environment such as unhealthy eating habits and lack of physical activity. Also, it means that there is possibility to prevent obesity if government basically change the people’s thinking about health. Overall, since

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

The obesity problem in America has grown to the point that people blame a single part of the numerous issues. Obesity has increased due to the fact that consumers, franchise owners, and government have contributed to this largely increasing obesity madness. As Morgan from SuperSize Me exclaimed, “Mcbad”. To solve the issue of obesity people turn to the fast and simple diets emphasize by the media that worsen the body’s condition.(Omnivore’s Dilemma) The way to solve this increased in this obesity issue people should not pin it on a part of the reason it should look at this from an open minded perspective. An obesity problem increased by the consumer, franchise owner, and government, one issue with interconnected web of contributors.

Obesity has rapidly emerged as a serious health issue in America. The cause of obesity results from America’s social injustices. Today, food advertisements are in all places promoting an unhealthy lifestyle. Considering the great expense of healthy foods, low income families can barely afford fruits and vegetables. These two factors contribute to the increasing obesity rate in the United States. Unfortunately, it has taken an excessive amount of Americans to become obese for America to become aware of the issue and take action. Although obesity is still an increasing problem, America is fighting to reduce the number of obese citizens. As a result of low income and the media advertising unhealthy lifestyles, America is in the midst of an obesity epidemic.

This next article goes more into depth of the higher medical costs of being obese. According to Mokdad and associates in 2003, obesity has increased nation-wide by 74% between 1991 and 2001 (p. 242). The article goes on to state that in 2000, overweight and obese Americans cost the economy around $117 billion with $61 billion going to direct medical costs. Reading further into the article, it points out many diseases that can affect a person for a lifetime; because of that,

Obesity in the United States has really become an economic problem as well. People are spending the little money that they have and spending it on food that they shouldn’t be eating in the first place, which they should be spending their money on healthier and nutritious food, for themselves and their family. New England Medical Center, Michael Dansinger of the Tufts says:

Obesity has grown into a major epidemic, not only in the United States, but world-wide. Children and adults everywhere are suffering from the symptoms associated with obesity; diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, arthritis, and strokes. Obesity has affected one-third of adults in the U.S., which leaves two-thirds over weight (Hammond & Levine, 2010). In order to fully understand the impact of obesity in our society we will need to discuss economic theory in regards to supply and demand for diagnosis and treatment costs, how Medicare and Medicaid funds are impacted on a state level, and what steps must be taken to reduce health care costs associated with obesity.

Finally, Obesity is also an economic factor, because it affects our healthcare system and has negative impact on the economy. America promotes obesity and at the end of the day, America has only itself to blame for this pandemic.