Public Awareness and Human Diseases:

Public Awareness and Human Diseases: Obesity

"Will Toucan Sam go the way of Joe Camel?" asserts a New York Times article exploring the new guidelines that the federal government has proposed that could change the way that the food industry advertises cereal, soda, various snacks, fast food meals, amongst other things (Neuman, 2011). This government initiative indicates that obesity is as dangerous to the youth of America as smoking, a truly alarming thing that is being expressed by the federal government. Though, it seems the obesity alarm being sounded by the government does not go without validity. According to the Center of Disease Control, between 1980 and 2000, obesity rates have doubled among adults, making 30% of the adult population in the United States obese ("Facts about Obesity"). America's modern day civil war with obesity is growing increasingly challenging, but there are ways to try to end and reverse the damage that has already been done. The need to educate and make the public aware of the this war on obesity is of the utmost importance and is a critical step in halting and eventually reversing the detrimental impact that obesity has had on our society at large. To that end, it seems absolutely necessary to move forth with an actionable plan to further thwart the obesity epidemic that plagues 30% of the adult population in the U.S.

Obesity is a disease that affects a myriad of individuals in American society. Obesity is, according to WebMD, "an excess proportion of total body fat" and a person who is considered obese is a person with "his or her weight [being] 20% of more above normal weight" (Nazario, 2011). As a disease, it does affect 30% of adults, but it is now affecting future generations of Americans as statistics from the Centers from Disease Control show that overweight rates "have doubled among children and tripled among adolescents- increasing the number of years they are exposed to the health risks of obesity" ("Facts about Obesity"). The characteristics of the groups most affected by the disease include Americans of "all ages, sexes and racial/ethnic groups" with it being especially prevalent in adult women who are non-Hispanic African-American women with about 76% falling into the overweight and obese category and Hispanic men with about 79% of the group being overweight or obese. In children and adolescents, overweight and obese classifications have more than doubled among children ages 2-5, have tripled among children ages 6-11 and has more than tripled among adolescents, ages 12-19 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services).

Major causes of obesity amongst adults includes leading a sedentary lifestyle, poor independent food choices, negative lifestyle changes, being in a lower socioeconomic bracket and decreased metabolic capacity (The American Physiological Society, 2008). The causes of childhood obesity are similar in that sedentary lifestyle and poor diet choices are likely to lead to an overweight or obese child but are also products of parental neglect in the form of poor dietary choices for their child (CausesofChildhoodObesity.org, 2010). Overweight and obese individuals negatively impact their body systems including their respiratory system, their pulmonary system; their skeletal structure as well as their mental health as some individual suffers from depression (Owens, 2005). Heart disease, stroke and heart failure are all potential outcomes of obesity has the heart struggles to pump blood through a larger body which makes it work harder, as a heart is only built to pump blood through less area. Furthermore, diabetes is also a potential complication of obesity has the body cannot process the sugars that are being taken in and cannot produce enough insulin. Also, depression can be a result as individuals who are larger than normal may have a negative self-esteem. There are a myriad of risk factors that can be responsible for causing obesity which include: genetics, inactivity, unhealthy diet and eating habits, family lifestyle, smoking, pregnancy, lack of sleep, medications, age, socioeconomic status, as well as medical problems (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2011). It seems that certain things are not in immediate control including medications, socioeconomic status, age, or genetics; but, there are things that are able to be controlled including inactivity, diet habits, family lifestyle and lack of sleep. Obesity is a disease in which individuals can "self-medicate" in that people can eat healthy and lead a more active lifestyle. Potential treatment options for severely or morbidly obese people include medications as well as various surgeries, including gastric bypass in which the stomach is stapled off to limit the amount of food that an individual can consume to drastically cut calorie intake. There are less invasive therapies available including therapies, nutritional and fitness coaching, support groups and even oral medications. The scientific community is also boasting new revelations in the scientific understanding of obesity. Researchers believe that "targeting the upper part of the intestine and interfering with normal" protein function may be a useful tool in weight loss (Washington University School of Medicine, 2007). As more research is done, it may be that there will be more medical options for obese people to be treated.

At present, the affects of obesity can already be seen as type 2 diabetes, which was once believed to only be present in adults, is now being diagnosed in young people, and 61% of overweight 5- to 10-year-olds already have at least one risk factor for heart disease, and 26% have two or more risks ("Facts about Obesity"). Being overweight is one of the main causes of Type 2 diabetes and complications of this condition include kidney disease, blindness and amputations ("Facts about Obesity"). The statistics are astounding for obesity, and this disease is now effecting the future generations of Americans. Some have realized the importance of addressing this issue early; therefore, there are programs that have been implemented in schools, workplaces and communities to combat the spread of the disease and put an end to the war on obesity.

A battle to take back America's youth from the grips of obesity is observed at John Welsh Elementary school in Northern Philadelphia. The elementary school nurse, Stephanie Miklosey, observed that students had a "range of obesity-related conditions including diabetes, high blood pressure and asthma" (Ahuja, & Salahi, 11). The program that Miklosey implemented at the school, along with help from community organizations, a nutrition program that taught students about healthy eating strategies and physical activity, which has resulted in "fewer students checking in with stomach aches and other more-serious conditions related to unhealthy eating" (Ahuja, & Salahi, 11). Components of the overall program at John Welsh Elementary school included replacing the vending machine junk food with water, juice and milk and snacks with less than 200 calories as well as having the school committing entire days to nutritional eating where students solved math problem sets around nutrition and learned what healthy eating actually was (Ahuja, & Salahi, 11). It seems that this program was deemed fairly successful by the individuals who launched the initiative in their school which is something that admirable on a broader scale. Information is given to the students in the classroom, through instruction from teachers as well as applied in classrooms so the information is constantly reinforced to the students.

Though, it seems that the above nutritional program could be improved and could be more effective if there were some changes that were made. Firstly, there could be more done at the school to make more permanent changes to the student body and not just limit the nutritional education to some days a year. The CDC recommends that in order to build a strong foundation to prevent obesity that there are four main strategies that should be implemented which include addressing physical activity and nutrition through a coordinated school health program, designated a school health coordination and maintain an active school health council, assess the school's health policies and programs and develop a plan for improvements and strengthen the school's nutrition and physical activity policies (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Adolescent and School Health, 2008). John Welsh Elementary has implemented most of these foundational strategies in its battle against obesity but has not developed a plan for improvements in the long-term. There are a myriad of things that can be done in order to launch an offensive campaign against obesity including implementing a "high-quality health promotion for school staff" or "implement a quality school meals program" that would extend the healthy options that the Elementary school has in its vending machine into the lunchroom (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Adolescent and School Health, 2008). Further building on the health promotion to school staff, it is important for students to not only learn for themselves how important it is to live a healthy life but also see older people, teachers and parents alike, implement changes in their own life. Students learn from older people and use them as role models- it is imperative that healthy changes are not left solely to students.