The obesity in the UK is the highest in Europe and according to dozens of researchers the rate would possibly increase sharply in the next few years. Obesity is due to an unhealthy lifestyle, too much junk food and lack of activity. Poor health leads to many diseases such as high blood pressure heart disease, cancer, etc. Obesity impacts people’s living standard and also effects wider society. With the aim of preventing the rise of obesity, governments have taken action by introducing a new fat tax, a tax which is focused on high sugar content food. In this essay I will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of fat tax, and conclude with my opinion.
The term obesity is no longer unfamiliar to every-body it describes human body fat conditions which creates negative effects on health and living standard. Excess fat could distribute around the body or gather around one part. A research from the university of Birmingham concluded that 20% of the population are now obese costs £3 billion per year. According to this research, at the age of 16-75, the percentage of overweight is higher than women but women have higher obese data compared to men (40% male overweigh and 20% obese). An article in Forbes American business magazine stated that the United Kingdom ranks 28 out of 81 in a list of fattest country. For the fattest waistline Brittan is 58th. There was a formula called BMI (Body mass index) with the purpose of helping people control and record weight. According to the NHS, BMI is your weight in kilograms divided by your height in metres squared. If BMI is between 25 – 29 you’re considered overweight, from 30 to 40 is obese and over 40 is considered as very obese. The NHS is also introducing another method, measuring around your w...
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...nd, a fat tax also brings some disadvantages which affect consumers and the economy. A fat tax can confuse customer who think a higher price mean high quality not high fat. Some customers migh misunderstood and choose the wrong product which is pricey and makes them angry. Further evidence that government classify which food would face the tax (good fat like salmon is exempted). This stage takes times and costly. A fat tax puts people from the lower class in financial dificulty, if many people are unemployed then it is impossible to pay all their bills and extra fat tax.
In conclusion, obesity is common in morden life, especially in developing countries. Obesity is an excess body fat condition which cause a lot of individual consequences as well as for society. Fat tax is a possible solution to reduced obesity and it is approved by many professors and specialists.
Everyday Americans die from the diseases they carry from obesity. Many Americans overeat because of their social problems or because they are hereditary. Many plans have been discussed, but finding the solution is the problem. Junk foods and unhealthy beverages have corrupted children’s minds all over the nation, and putting a stop to it could lead to other benefits. Unhealthy foods and drinks should be taxed and healthy foods should be advertised to help prevent American obesity.
While nobody denies we have a problem with taxation in this country for food, beverages, and everything that we buy in general, I believe that we should have a fat tax to detour people from buying soda and other fattening foods. We should also ban sodas and other fattening foods from vending machines in schools, and replace them with more healthy selections.
Obesity is 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. Obesity has been a health problem ever since infectious disease had began in the first half of the 20th Century. The person with obesity is not the only person who is affected by their disease. In the case of childhood obesity, It can affect the parents because they might be the cause of the child’s issues. It can also lead to many different health problems such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and respiratory problems, and it can also even lead to death. Obesity has affected the world in many ways: task forces have been formed to address the issue, people are suffering from health problems due to obesity, and others suffer psychological and social issues.
Obesity is clinically defined as a body mass index (BMI) of above 30kg/m2 and is the accumulation of excess adipose tissue1. It is currently viewed as an epidemic due to the increasingly large proportion of adults who are now obese, with the incidence rapidly rising in the recent years. In a five year period from 1995-2000 there was a predicted increase of 100 million obese individuals world-wide 2. In UK it is estimated that over 25% of adult males and females are obese and it is thought that these figures will continually rise with estimations that 60% of adult men and 50% of adult woman with be obese by 2025.3 Being a huge burden on the NHS, it has been predicted that £5 billion a year is spent on preventing and treating the complications of excessive weight in the UK, which is almost 5% of the total NHS budget (£5billion/£108billion).4 The cost of obesity on the NHS will rise to correlate with the increasing incidence illustrated.
It led to loss of jobs for many Danish people and it also increased the administrative costs for companies that fell under the tax (Vallgårda, Holm, and Jensen 224). The fat tax even led some native Danish people to run across the border to neighboring countries to get their favorite fattening foods at a lower cost than in Denmark (Khazan 2). These trips across the border led local businesses to go under because of lack of business (Vallgårda, Holm, and Jensen 225). So, although a fat tax would gain revenue for possible programs on eating healthier, it would increase unemployment and economic failures. The fat tax would harm future businesses leading many manufacturers to avoid dealing with the tax
In the UK, the number of obesity cases has more than doubled between 1980 and 2014. The most recent data from the health survey England shows that in 2014 more than half of women (58%) and men (65%) were either overweight or obese (Health Survey England). Hence the government foresight projections suggest that 50 percent of the UK population may become obese by 2050. (Foresight, 2007). To classify an individual to be ‘obese’ is determined by their Body Mass Index(BMI). A value of 30 or more would put an individual in this
We live in a world where we are always busy doing something. We are doing so much in such little time that we often forget or do not have time to take care of ourselves. Our body should be our temple. If we do not take care of it, we will not be able to do the works that need to do, that always keeps us busy. In modern era being overweight has become a normal thing. People are not expected to have a perfect body. However, they are expected to be healthy. Some people are underweight. Some are overweight and some are obese. When a human body has more than 30.0 BMI is considered obese. BMI represents body index mass. BMI is body to height ratio. Having higher BMI doesn’t always mean someone is unhealthy. A lot of bodybuilder have higher BMI. However their BMI is higher because of their muscle mass and not body fat. Obesity is on the rise and it is growing fast. North America has the highest rate of obese people in the world and the number is going up every day. Different things causes obesity. For example sleep deprivation, lack of fresh food, food, cost of fresh food, lack of time, fast food at ease and lack of
Obesity in the United States continues growing alarmingly. Approximately 66 % of adults and 33 % of children and teenagers in the US are overweight. Obesity is the result of fat accumulated over time due to the lack of a balanced diet and exercise. An adult with a BMI (body mass index) higher than thirty percent is considered obese (Whitney & Rolfes, 2011, pg. 271).
The World Health Organization (2006, WHO) defines obesity as a body mass index (weight-for-height) equal to or more than 30. In the UK the prevalence of obesity in childhood has significantly increased over the past twenty five years. A study commissioned by The Health Survey for England (HSE) showed that between 1996 and 2001 the proportion of obese children aged six to fifteen rose by 3.5 per cent from 20 per cent to 23.5 per cent of the population in that age bracket; there is no reason to suspect that the children of England are not representative of the United Kingdom as a whole.
In the UK as well as in other developed countries, obesity is becoming a growing problem this puts pressure on health services and affects individuals’ ability to work, and contribute to the economy. The government feels the pressure to act by taxing unhealthy foods and drinks, and by setting up educational campaigns, (Stephen Adams, 2011).
Obesity is a physiological condition characterised by an excessive accumulation of body fat, specifically the build-up of adipose tissue beneath the skin. In recent years, the number of people diagnosed with clinical obesity has increased dramatically, with governments desperately trying to tackle the obesity epidemic and its associated consequences (McLannahan and Clifton, 2008). Studies have found that the prevalence of obesity once stood at an estimated 9.8% (Kelly, Yang, Chen, Reynolds & He, 2008), a considerable figure representing almost 400 million individuals worldwide. Even though obesity has now been recognised as a major problem the number of people affected is increasing rapidly, with almost 300,000 deaths attributable to obesity in the USA each year (Allison, Fontaine, Manson, Stevens, & VanItallie, 1999). Excessive amounts of fat can prove dangerous as the condition has a very high comorbidity rate with other long term health issues such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and cancer (Pi-Sunyer, 1993). Numerous examples of media, medical journals and educational literature concerning obesity refer to the condition as a disease, with an increasing use of the word ‘Epidemic’ to describe the somewhat recent surge of obesity cases in western societies (Boero, 2007), however there is little material available that offers evidence for obesity meeting specification for disease. Instead it has been proposed that obesity is alternatively a risk factor for developing other potentially harmful diseases, influenced by a variety of other factors i.e. genetics, cultural ideals and biological impairments.
The following statistic helps to depict the current situation in regards to obesity levels in the UK. According to The Health Survey for England: Adult Reference Tables (1997, cited in The Department of Health) “Obesity has risen dramatically over the last five years - 17 per cent of men are now obese, compared with 13 per cent in 1993, and almost 20 per cent of women are now obese compared with 16 per cent in 1993.
According to the financial leverage principle, which is one of the most important principles in Economics, consumers could be affected by taxation directly and it would provident them away from obesity and related diseases. The leverage theory is defined as total long-term funding under the same conditions, the cost of debt paid by enterprises from operating profit is fixed, while operating profit increased or decreased, the cost of debt for every dollar of business profits will be correspondingly reduced burden little or increased, leading to additional gains or losses per ordinary share (Nicholson. and Snyder. 2011). By the element, taxation of unhealthy food and drink increasing; the cost of producer would improve and be constrained raise prices of productions; declining purchasing power and reducing individual unhealthy food and drink intake to subside the likelihood of disease occurrence (Ogden, 2010). Also, it can be inferred from this element, as the guidance of the government, consumers change their eating habits, thus speeding up the unhealthy foods withdrawn from the market by producers. It means that people would be changed with the taxation’s changes into healthy food and drink habits. In addition, If the business in a relatively stable industry occupies a more favorable position in the market, then the
Obesity is a common condition that affects thousands around the world. Its causes may vary from simply eating too much to not getting the exercise needed to attempting to quit smoking. Treatment of this condition may be as simple as getting the right diet or exercise, or a planned schedule from one’s physician. Obesity may be heredity or may be a result of any of the above mentioned causes. It is a serious matter to be dealt with yet may be treated easily.
Obesity occurs in all countries and it is one of the gravest problems in modern society. Obesity problems have become one matter of concern for individuals all around the world. What is more is that Obesity rates continue to rise all around the world. One of the chief causes is unhealthy diets. Obesity is also due to lack of exercise and lack of education and awareness. Therefore obesity has various effects including the risk of suffering from a range of health conditions, increased expenditure on health care and lack of self-esteem.