He is not alone in his struggle with weight. A major public health issue in America is the high rate of obesity. Obesity is not just a personal trouble. Around 1/3 of American adults are overweight (Adult Obesity Facts). With that high percentage, obesity is a public issue.
Thesis Statement: Obesity in America has reached epidemic proportions, although diet and exercise is important in weight management it is not the only cause to obesity. 1. What is Obesity A. Obesity is a health condition where a person has an abnormal amount of body fat compared to their height 1. Probability of becoming obese, a person with a body mass index of over 30 is classified as obese 2. Nutrition and eating habits a.
Doctors have found biological connections between fat, insulin, and the high blood sugar levels that define the disease. The CDC estimates that 55 percent of adult diabetics are obese, significantly more than the 31 percent prevalence of obesity in the general population. And as obesity has become more common, so, too, has diabetes, suggesting that one may cause the other. Yet the critics dispute claims that diabetes is soaring (even among children), that obesity is the cause, and that weight loss is the solution. A 2003 analysis by the CDC found that “the prevalence of diabetes, either diagnosed or undiagnosed, and of impaired fasting glucose did not appear to increase substantially during the 1990s,” despite the sharp rise in obesity.
Are We Losing the War on Obesity? Do you know that obesity is one of the major causes of deaths in the United States? Do you know that one in every three American adults is obese (Flegal, 2011)? Do you know that in 2008 the nation spent over $147 billion dollars to treat obesity-related problems (Finkelstein, 2009)? Do you know that nearly 13 millions of the children and adolescents are obese and they are likely to remain obese when they grow up (Park, 2012)?
America is surely on the track to become the fattest country of the world. The connection between obesity and financial situations and larger portion sizes is that most Americans with a low income have a higher rate of being overweight or obese. The reason behind this is because families with lower income, will more likely to buy and eat junk food than healthy because junk food is cheaper. Junk food may seem like it
The finding was that on average energy dense food cost $1.76 per 1000 calories, while low energy nutritious food cost $18.16 per 1,000 calories. (“Dope, A High Price for Healthy Food”) This basically shows that unhealthy food are a better bargain for people who are tight on money. The bad thing about it is that the prices for healthy food are continuing to rise while “junk food” is relatively the same or a tad bit lower. America's low income families are therefore In a cycle where since they can't afford healthy food they eat bad, which in turns leads to bad health which leads then leads to high insurance and medical bills which ultimately causes them to get poorer or remain at the bottom of the pyramid. Why is healthy food so much more expensive than regular food?
Uda Widanapathirana Obesity is the accumulation of excessive body fat to the extent that it may impair health. Affected persons are predisposed to illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, high blood, pressure, and disturb the management of chronic disorders. The cost of treatment and healthcare of obesity related disease and other indirect costs are of concern due to rising obesity rates. To accommodate for these increasing costs, a fat tax has been suggested to discourage an excess unhealthy food intake through taxing foods with high sugar or fat content. Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of height vs. weight; a BMI of 25 kg/m2 and 30kg/m2 defines an individual as overweight or obese respectively.
The Socioeconomic Causes of Obesity Obesity is a serious epidemic in the United States that affects an estimated 35% of the population of the United States. (CDC, 2011) People with less than a high school degree are most likely to have the highest obesity rate, followed by high school graduates and college dropouts. College graduates have the lowest obesity rate. The population of the United States that lives at or below poverty level tends to be more obese than the population that lives above the poverty line. Another key factor that affects the obesity rate in America is the geographic region a population lives in and a particular population’s access to energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods along with the individuals’ cultural
Overweight and obesity has become a national epidemic problem. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity has affected a third of the adults in the United States and a third of the Americans seem to be getting fatter. (Freedman, 2011) It has created many problems, such as an increase in health insurance premiums, health related diseases and unhappy lives. These factors are affecting Americans of all ages and the problem is not going away unless drastic interventions are implemented. In the present paper, overweight and obesity is being investigated.
We are living in a land populated with obesity. America is the home to the most obese people in the world. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity in adults has increased 60% within the past twenty years and obesity in children has tripled in the past thirty years. A staggering 33% of American adults are obese and obesity related deaths have climbed to more than 300,000 a year. Lawmakers have even tried to impose a new tax rule called the “Twinkie tax”, which would tax unhealthy foods to try to persuade people out of buying them.