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Obesity: An Overview
What is the disease?
Obesity is an increasingly prevalent metabolic disorder whereby a patient's BMI or body mass index, defined as the patient's weight in kilograms divided by the patient's height in meters squared in kilograms, is greater than 30. Obesity puts one at greater risk for a number of ailments, and a BMI less than 21 is associated with the greatest protection from coronary heart disease mortality and other life-threatening ailments affecting the heart, other vital organs, and the body's metabolism. (Eckel, 1997)
However, there are problems with the BMI-based definition of obesity, as many women with a BMI of near 30 may be less at risk for heart disease if their increase in adipose tissue is distributed in the pelvis and not the abdomen. Substantial evidence now indicates that an increased waist circumference, or waist-to-hip ratio, better predicts co-morbidities and mortality from obesity, such as heart disease and Type II diabetes better than the strict BMI over 30 definition for obesity. A BMI-based definition of...
(Eckel, 1997)
The disease paradigm of obesity is also controversial in the medical community, as doctors tend to think of obesity as a condition brought on by behavior. The idea of treating the condition as a disease is thus unpopular. But Dr. Michael Gonzalez-Campoy thinks obesity should be classified as a disease and treated aggressively like other diseases. "If a patient that's hypertensive walks in and out of an office, they leave with a blood pressure pill. If a patient with obesity comes in, their body mass index is high, and you send them out of the office and you don't treat that obesity -- it would be like sending somebody out with a very high blood pressure and not treating it," because the condition puts one at risk for so many other disorders. (Benson, 2003)
What organs do the disease affect and what are its actions?
Obesity can affect…
Works Cited
Benson, Lorna. (2003) "MPR: Obesity as a Disease." Minnesota Public Radio (MPH) Special Report. Retrieved 11 Aug 2005 at http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2004/03/29_bensonl_desease/
Eckel, Robert H. (1997) "Obesity and Heart Disease: A Statement for Healthcare Professionals From the Nutrition Committee, American Heart Association. Circulation. 96:3248-3250. Retrieved 11 Aug 2005 at http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/96/9/3248#SEC1
Obesity Prevalence Obesity is a contributing factor to various chronic diseases in the contemporary society. It is a global problem that affects close to 300 million people all over the world. A third of the population in the United States is obese. Obesity is often associated with an increase in the cost of healthcare; a reduction in quality of life as well as an increase in the risk of premature death.
Obesity Education Community healthy living lesson plan Main concepts The community members will come to know what constitutes healthy and unhealthy snacks. They will also figure out why many people are addicted to unhealthy snacks that often lead to obesity and what alternatives could be introduced in their homes in place of the unhealthy snacks. To be able to sort out the unhealthy snacks from the unhealthy ones as well as telling why they
Obesity in the United States The extent of the Problem Obesity as one commentator says, is not just a "matter of aesthetics" but has become a major public health problem in the United States. Similarly, Federal health officials have categorically stated that "the growing prevalence of obesity in the United States represents a significant health threat to millions of Americans." Obesity is seen by health officials in a serious light and is
Epidemiology of Obesity The problem of obesity is one that impacts more than one third of the world’s present population (Hruby & Hu, 2015). In America, more people die from diseases related to obesity than they do from gun violence: approximately one-fourth of deaths in America result from heart disease, for instance (Butler, 2015). Obesity is a major epidemic (Mitchell, Catenacci, Wyatt & Hill, 2011) that is sweeping across the nation
Policy Guidelines Obesity has grown into a worldwide pandemic, with obesity rates constantly increasing. The WHO (World Health Organization) reports that over forty million children and 1.4 billion adult individuals may be categorized as ‘overweight’, while over 10 percent of individuals across the world may be categorized as ‘obese’. Children with BMI (body mass index) ?95% of others their age are regarded as obese. Though, at one time, obesity was thought
Obesity Why Obesity is so Difficult to Treat Determination of obesity Proper definition of obesity Obesity in perspective of the World Health Organization (WHO) Historical trends Health and Economic Costs Prevalence and Time Trends Prevalence of obesity among men Prevalence of obesity among women Prevalence of obesity among children Demographic Variations in Overweight and Obesity Prevalence Economic Costs of Overweight and Obesity (The Evidence Report,1998) The world market for treating obesity Causes of obesity Continuous availability of high-energy foods a) Imbalance calorie intake and BMR requirements