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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 and across the entire globe, with obesity rates among children rising between 2 and 5 times in recent decades (Flynn, McNeil et al., 2005).
Obesity can be defined as the occurrence of having excessive body weight with regard to one’s height. Obesity is associated with the increase risk of developing chronic disease morbidity—anything from diabetes to cardiovascular disease to depression, cancer and disability (Hruby & Hu, 2015). The current trends shows that obesity is a major problem. Hruby and Hu (2015) note that “with few restrictions on access to or availability of food, the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the USA climbed virtually unmitigated over the last 50 years” (p. 674). Furthermore, more than half the American population is now considered to be overweight or...
This fact alone makes obesity and the associated health-risks to be the number one threat to American health.
Current research on the issue of obesity indicates that cultural, economic and social inputs have altered the way that people go about consuming food and exercising: The climate of fast food, pre-packaged food, convenience foods, and environments where outdoor play is limited, where more and more people are sitting for longer and longer periods of time, and where family life is not centered on traditional home-cooked meal-times—all contribute to the factors that spread obesity (Cunningham-Myrie et al., 2015).
The problem of obesity matters and needs to be studied because it is such an obvious and dangerous trend, not just in America but around the world. If people are living in a culture where simple things like diet and exercise are not given the attention they need, it will be very hard for health care providers to practice preventive medicine. Instead, too many practitioners are treating the problem of obesity instead of using approaches like health literacy and preventive care to educate patients on how healthier diet and more exercise can reduce the threat of obesity and reduce the risk of…
References
Butler, J. (2015). Running the ‘Gun Violence’ Numbers. Retrieved from http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/02/john-butler/running-gun-violence-numbers/
Cunningham-Myrie, C., et al. (2015). Associations between neighborhood effects and physical activity, obesity, and diabetes: The Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey, 2008. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 68(9): 970-978.
Flynn, M., Mcneil, et al. (2005). Reducing obesity and related chronic disease risk in children and youth: A synthesis of evidence with 'best practice' recommendations. Obesity Reviews, 7(Suppl 1), 7-66.
Hruby, A., & Hu, F. B. (2015). The epidemiology of obesity: a big picture. Pharmacoeconomics, 33(7), 673-689.
Mitchell, N., Catenacci, V., Wyatt, H. R., & Hill, J. O. (2011). Obesity: overview of an epidemic. The Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 34(4), 717-732.
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
Obesity in America: A rhetorical analysis of three articles According to The Journal of Economic Perspective as well as many popular news articles -- and the Centers for Disease Control -- Americans are getting fatter. Cutler, Glaeser & Shapiro (2003) begin their analysis of the subject with the stark image of the average American man and woman: "in the early 1960s, the average American adult male weighed 168 pounds. Today, he
Effects The effects of obesity are numerous and include both physical and psychological factors. The physical effects of obesity include heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol levels, hypertension, respiratory issues, and sleep apnea (Health Consequences). Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in the United Sates. In many cases heart disease is preventable or controllable through weight loss and healthy living. Another major effect of obesity is diabetes. Diabetes
Obese Obesity is the health disorder in which there is excess proportion of total body fat. An individual is an obese when his or her weight is approximately twenty or more percent above the normal weight. Scientist uses body mass index (BMI) as the common measure for obesity as the health disorder. Obesity affects the development of human beings. If the weight of an individual is between 25 and 30 in
Obesity Hispanic Population Obesity means more than just being overweight. It should not be taken for granted because it is a medical condition in which the extra fat of the body accumulates at different sites and causes negative effects on the health of the person (Haslam and James, 2005). This leads to various health problems and thus reduces the quality of life and expectancy. When the body mass index, commonly referred
Therefore, England appears to take the cautious route of employing alternative measures until such time as specific long-term results become evident in the other countries' projects. The U.K. government's public health policy has been trying to counteract obesity by means of implementing a set of initiatives designed to inform people about the downside of what being overweight and obese involves, and also monitor the average weight of different populations over