Obesity in America

1466 Words3 Pages

Introduction This essay will discuss obesity in America and the statistical data found surrounding the subject. This is an interesting and personal topic and something very interesting to learn about. The essay will cover different vantage points of obesity including obesity’s relationship to poverty in the U.S., parents’ fight for more physical activity in schools to combat childhood obesity, statistical data about America’s obese population and even a spurious correlation between obesity and sleep duration in children. The relationship between obesity and health has been a major factor in drawing national attention to the growing prevalence of obesity. As the second leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States, obesity claims approximately 300,000 lives each year (Salinsky & Scott, 2003). Obesity is strongly associated with multiple chronic conditions, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, stroke, type 2diabetes, and with some forms of cancer, such as uterine, gall bladder, breast, colon, and kidney. Other conditions, such as sleep apnea, asthma, arthritis, reproductive complications, and psychological disorders such as depression, can be attributed to obesity as well. Obese individuals have a 50 percent to 100 percent increased risk of death from all causes, compared with normal-weight individuals. Most of the increased risk is due to cardiovascular issues. According to Salinsky & Scott, almost 80 percent of obese adults have diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, high blood cholesterol levels, or osteoarthritis. High blood pressure is one of the most common health conditions related to obesity in men and women. Obese men and women are more than twice as likely to hav... ... middle of paper ... ...have an appreciable effect in reversing this deadly trend. Given that the obesity epidemic is associated with deeply ingrained societal structures, policymaking on this issue is not likely to be limited to a single piece of legislation or a single program. Rather, it will involve multiple congressional committees and federal agencies addressing a variety of policy spheres, including health, education, transportation, taxation, agriculture, and social welfare. The final paper will bring light to a heavy issue in America. It will show statistical data which will help prove the seriousness of the matter. Obesity is not just a matter of being fat, overweight or above a certain BMI; it also can cause other fatal comorbidities such as diabetes, heart failure and other diseases. Bringing awareness to the issue is the first step in creating a solution for the problem.

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806 Words | 2 Pages
Being overweight or obese are risk factors for many chronic health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and … cancers.”
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Killer at Large: Childhood Obesity in America
1356 Words | 3 Pages
Did you know that 35% of the United States population is considered obese? Also, 66% of the population is considered overweight or more? (Saint Onge 2014) Even more frightening, in 2012 the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than one third of children and adolescents in America were overweight or obese (CDC 2014). The media sources used investigates the political, scientific, historical, and cultural reasons behind the childhood obesity epidemic in America. Obesity is a rapid growing epidemic in America and these sources present the facts causing this epidemic. As well as how the children of the American society are being wrongly influenced by the media, especially advertisments. (Greenstreet 2008).
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Analysis Of Obesity By Eric Oliver
827 Words | 2 Pages
She states a simple statistic that claims that obesity ifs the number one killer in America and then proceed to analyze reasons this problem could have arisen. The primary focus of this paper is on the health care disparities in minority communities. She also attributes increase in obesity to increase in high fructose corn sysops in food products, sweetened beverages, dietary habit changes in the past decades, changes in activity levels, governmental policies like farm subsidies. Her focus is in contrast to the other papers because instead of questioning the medicalization of obesity, she is question the changes in society that have led to the increasing obesity. She takes the lethality of obesity as an obvious fact backed by statistical
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Obesity in America
1106 Words | 3 Pages
Obesity in America is a very serious problem affecting many Americans currently and is a problem that continues to grow each year. “Over the past 40 years, the prevalence of obesity has more than doubled in the United States” (Wimalawansa). This issue is known to many but believed not be an issue to care much about but this is not true. Obesity in America affects everyone regardless if they are obese or not. In order to resolve the problem, we can slaughter all the adults that are currently obese in America.
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Food Deserts
866 Words | 2 Pages
Over 60 million people are obese in the world today. The socioeconomic statuses of the Americans play a major part in the obesity rates across the country. People with higher incomes are less likely to be obese than people with lower incomes. One in every seven preschool-aged children living in lower income areas are obese (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). A 2008 study showed that obesity is highest among American Indian and Alaska Native (21.2 percent) and Hispanic Americans (18.5 percent) children, and it is lowest among white (12.6 percent), Asian or Pacific Islander (12.3 percent), and black (11.8 percent) children (Get America Fit).
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Obesity in Children Across America
1344 Words | 3 Pages
Obesity in children across America has become an increasing public health concern. Obesity has been identified as an epidemic that is plaguing our children in the United States. In some countries around the world children are dying of starvation everyday. How can this happen when here in America the opposite is a major problem? This is not to say that in America there are no hungry or starving children. It has been proven that our children suffer from obesity, and “children who are overweight or obese as preschoolers are five times as likely as normal-weight children to be overweight or obese as adults” (“Hope”). Obesity not only can cause a child to become more prone to having health problems down the road, but it can also make them feel insecure about themselves. There needs to be action taken in schools as well as in homes to help prevent this growing epidemic.
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1874 Words | 4 Pages
Obesity is a growing epidemic, which affects the obese and society as a whole. I want to get to the root of this problem and have an understanding of it. I will be discussing what obesity is, how it is developed, and who is at risk. I would also like to explore the familial upbringing of those afflicted by obesity, how to reverse the process, and finally see how obesity is viewed by society.
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Causes and Effects of Adult Obesity
1953 Words | 4 Pages
Although many individuals are uncertain about the increasing statistics associated with obesity, more than seventy percent of men and virtually sixty-two percent of women within the United States adult population are overweight or obese (Wilmore, Costill, & Kenney). Obesity refers to the condition of having an excessive amount of body fat. If an individual’s amount of body fat becomes too excessive, he/she is at a much greater risk of developing life-altering diseases such as heart failure, hypertension, type II diabetes, cancer, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, etc. (Wilmore, et al., 2008).
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909 Words | 2 Pages
About half of all American adults and about one-quarter of all American children are obese or overweight.(Schlosser 240) Those stats have risen steeply during the last few decades, along with the growing number of people eating fast food. The obesity rate among American adults is twice as high today as it was in the early 1960’s. (Schlosser 83-86)
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Obesity In America
2143 Words | 5 Pages
The United States of America has the highest rate of obesity among all the high-income countries. This is an epidemic that needs to be reduced in communities and throughout the nation. Obesity, a medical condition which a person has excessive fat and not weight, is caused through eating a lot of food that is high in saturated fats and lack physical activity. Doctors use Body Index Maas (BMI) to determine if a person is obese. It has become a national problem that affects both children and adults. Obesity is the leading cause of death and linked to major chronic illnesses. The majority of people who are obese are from low-income families. Although, obesity causes chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, and high-blood
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Obesity is NOT a Disease
1863 Words | 4 Pages
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.
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Portion Distortion: A Growing Problem in Australia
989 Words | 2 Pages
Being overweight or obese are risk factors for many chronic health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and … cancers.”
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Childhood Obesity Essay
759 Words | 2 Pages
Obesity is a leading preventable cause of death. Even though its avoidable millions of children and adults are still dying from it. Documentation of obesity didn’t start to surface until the early 1600’s. Many americans have been affected by obesity , which is a health condition that has been characterized by health officials as an epidemic (obesity rates in the U.S)
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Is Obesity a Disease?
730 Words | 2 Pages
Obesity is a serious condition that has generated a discussion on whether or not to be classified as a disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), obesity is the body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher, which is calculated based on the person’s height and weight. For years, our society has been facing the obesity challenge, which can be extremely costly once it leads to several diseases. Thus, because of the constant increase of percentage of people with obesity, the American Medical Association (AMA) proposed in June 18, 2013 to classify obesity as a disease. Their argument was that obesity increases the risks of countless health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension etc. Moreover, it increases morbidity and mortality. By considering obesity as a disease, their aim was to maximize researches and funding, which will focus on obesity from different medical and health approach levels. Their idea of classifying obesity as a disease was in accordance with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s declaration of 1995. The institute declared, “ Obesity is a complex multifactorial chronic disease developing from multiple interactive influences of numerous factors.” In 2012, the CDC data showed 34.9% of adults obese and 17% of obese children. These numbers are very alarming especially since the struggle to deter certain factors contributing into this condition is still a challenge. Among the struggles, there are the people’s rights versus health regulations to keep them as healthy as possible like the former mayor Bloomberg regulation on soft drinks size cut. During CNN’s show GPS of Sunday 2, 2014, the host Zacharia...
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Cause and Effects of Obesity
936 Words | 2 Pages
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.
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Obesity in America

Portion Distortion Persuasive Speech

Killer at Large: Childhood Obesity in America

Analysis Of Obesity By Eric Oliver