Obesity: A Worldwide Health Problem

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Food advertisements, soft drinks, the growth of fast food restaurants, and the increase in portion sizes at cheaper prices are the changes that negatively influence the United States in term of health problems. Over the past few decades, obesity has been the main nutritional problem and has become one of the most critical health concerns in America. According to recent statistics, approximately one third of American adults are obese in which they have a body mass index (BMI which can be calculated as an individual’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters) of 30 or higher. Obesity does not only shorten people’s life expectancy in the future, but also burdens the national medical spending which is nearly $147 billion every year. Around the world, over one billion adults and more than 10% of children are considered to obese. As the World Health Organization predicts, the number of obese children will increase to 700 million and nearly 2.3 billion adults by 2015. In addition, childhood obesity is correlated with a higher probability of becoming obese adults, premature death, and disability (Kaltra, De Sousa, Sonavane, & Shah, 2013). Many researchers believe that racial composition of communities associated with obesity and that obesity has a big impact on various subgroups in the United States. In a study, the researchers compared the mean body mass index values among the popular races. As the results, people who live with a high proportion of Blacks and Hispanics have a higher BMI, and people who live in Asian communities have a lower mean BMI. Furthermore, they found that Black people (36%) were most likely to be obese with the mean body mass index of 28.6, followed by Hispanics (28.7%), Whites (24.5%), an... ... middle of paper ... ..., A., Sonavane, S., & Shah, N. (2013). Psychological issues in pediatric obesity. Industrial Psychiatry Journal, 21(1), 11-17. Karasu, S. R. (2012). Of Mind and Matter: Psychological Dimensions in Obesity. American Journal Of Psychotherapy, 66(2), 111-128. Kirby, J. B., Liang, L., Chen, H., & Wang, Y. (2012). Race, Place, and Obesity: The Complex Relationships Among Community Racial/Ethnic Composition, Individual Race/Ethnicity, and Obesity in the United States. American Journal Of Public Health, 102(8), 1572-1578. Palou, A., & Bonet, M. (2013). Challenges in obesity research. Nutricion Hospitalaria, 28, 144-153. Sallis, J. F., & Glanz, K. (2009). Physical Activity and Food Environments: Solutions to the Obesity Epidemic. Milbank Quarterly, 87(1), 123-154. Tomer, J. (2011). What Causes Obesity? And Why Has It Grown So Much?. Challenge (05775132), 54(4), 22-49.

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