In 2008, the American Medical Association recognized obesity as a disease claiming that “Recognizing obesity as a disease will help change the way the medical community tackles this complex issue that affects approximately one in three Americans,” said AMA board member Patrice Harris, M.D. While this may be true, is that a justifiable reason to classify obesity, a result of unhealthy decisions, as a disease? The fact is obesity is the consequence of choosing an unhealthy lifestyle. True the unhealthy lifestyle may not be chosen on purpose but “The choices we make by accident are just as important as the choices we make by design” – Anonymous. Therefore if obesity is a consequence of choices then I feel obesity itself has to be a choice, not a disease.
To continue, obesity results when someone regularly takes in more calories than needed. Calorie intake is the amount of energy that one obtains from food. After reading this, it may seem odd that having too many calories can result in obesity. If calories are just energy, shouldn’t eating a lot of them result in an excess of energy, not obesity? What may come as a surprise is that obesity is an excess of energy, potential energy that is. The body stores potential energy by converting it to fat. Therefore to combat obesity all that is needed is to choose healthy foods, with less calories. Instead of eating the steak have the salmon. Instead of eating at McDonalds, make your own sandwich. That brings up another the factor, fast food restaurants, such as McDonalds are the main reasons behind people’s unhealthy choices. True, McDonalds’ does provide choices that appear to be healthy like their Premium Southwest Salad with Crispy Chicken, but don’t be fooled. That salad contain thirty t...
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...esity is a condition and yes it prevents the body from working properly but using that criteria to classify something as a disease would call for the classification of many other things as diseases. Let’s take smoking into account, smoking is a condition and it causes lung cancer which prevents the body from working normally but is smoking a disease? No, it is the cause and any malfunctions within the body are the effects and the effects are the true diseases. The same thinking should be applied to obesity because obesity is not a disease it is a biological consequence of unhealthy decisions.
To sum up, obesity is the result of unhealthy eating, lack of exercise and little else. The thing about those factors that result in obesity is that they are all choices. Therefore the question isn’t whether or not obesity is a disease, now the question is what do you choose?
However, an article from the Medical School at Harvard University disagrees. This paper says that there have been mutations in genes that make humans more susceptible to obesity and increase fat levels. Yet, the author of the article said that even though these genes are hereditary, that doesn’t mean their destiny. The article clearly states that obesity is 100% preventable by living a healthy lifestyle. This invalidates the argument that obesity is a genetic disorder. Genetic disorders are often untreatable, so to argue obesity as one is wrong.
Throughout the past years and more here recently obesity has become a fast growing problem in the United States and around the world. Since this has become such a problem certain authors are starting to take a stand in how they think the solution should be fixed. The solutions are discussed in the following articles: How Junk Food Can End Obesity by David H. Freedman and What You Eat Is Your Business by Radley Balko. Both articles have clear and distinct arguments, but the argument by Balko entices his readers and has a clear purpose and tone that allowed his article to be more effective.
The World Health Organization defines obesity as the “abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health”. (WHO, 2014). It is considered to be a medical condition which may reduce a person's life expectancy due to the negative effect it can have on our health and well-being. An epidemic is said to affect a disproportionately large number of people in a population and spreads rapidly. In recent decades, it has been suggested that we are facing an obesity epidemic. Obesity has been considered as a disease by some for over sixty years. It is more common globally than being underweight. The purpose of this essay is to look at the history of obesity and how it is defined. It will look at some of the causes and consider the effects. It will consider how obesity is framed, whether we are indeed in the midst of an epidemic, or if this suggestion is merely moral panic.
Obesity is a choice one makes. If an individual has too much body fat, they can exercise it off. The life one lives as an American permits living sedentary lifestyles that induce obesity. Obesity can potentially cause disease but it itself is not a disease. There are several factors that play roles in obesity.
Proponents of classifying obesity as a disease claim that it fits the definition of a disease. The American Heritage Dictionary defines disease as “a pathological condition of a part, organ, or system of an organism resulting from various causes, such as infection, genetic defect, or environmen...
According to the USDA, at the start of century 21st American people have increased their daily caloric intake by consuming five hundred calories more than in 1970. As cited by Whitney & Rolfes (2011), there are many recognized causes of obesity such as genetics, environment, culture, socioeconomic, and metabolism among others; but the cause most evident is that food intake is higher than the calories burned in physical activity. Excess of energy from food is stored in the body as fat causing an increase of weight. During the course of the last 40 years, obesity has grown enormously in the United States and the rates remain on the rise (pgs. 272-273).
Within the last 30 years, the number of obese Americans has soared from 48% to 65%. To make things worse, the number of obese children has tripled from 5% to 15% (Wallis). The rising numbers should be cause for concern but seem to be doing the opposite, making obesity and its consequences more acceptable. Neglecting exercise and careless eating can lead to life-threatening conditions. People do not realize harmful effects obesity can have on their bodies.
Amongst one of the bigger health issues in United States children is obesity. Obesity is a condition in which a person has accumulated an excess amount of body fat that it has become detrimental to their health. To track this health professionals use the term “obese” when a person has a body mass index (BMI) of over 30. Although BMI should not be the only determining factor of whether or not you child is obese as it only takes into account of height and weight, it is one of the better known systems of telling whether or not a person is overweight or obese (Nichols). Obesity comes with a range of other health conditions that can include but are not limited to cancer, diabetes, and depression. Not only do children and teens who suffer from obesity acquire many health diseases, they also tend to get failing grades and are bullied amongst peers. Most Americans correlate being obese with having an unhealthy lifestyle, but according to a 2006 Fox News article there may be other factors that attribute to obesity that include smoking, medicine, pollution, technology and lack of sleep. (“10 Causes of Obesity Other Than Overeating”). One part that does although indeed play a role in to child obesity rates is economics.
Is obesity a disease? This is question many people have asked. Yes, obesity is a disease; but one essential question many people tend to forget to ask is, “Can obesity be prevented or how could obesity be prevented?” Prevention does not put an end to obesity, but in fact it can decrease a person’s risk of becoming obese. There are many challengers towards the decision to why obesity rates are increasing; many say it just refers back to the person’s lifestyle, eating habits, and environment. Obesity should be prevented in a childhood versus being corrected later in life, but in order for obesity to be prevented people must first be aware of the causes then conclude by learning the fundamental factors that play into prevention.
Obesity is a big social issue in America. Due to the popularity of fast food and other unhealthy foods, more and more Americans are developing health diseases and disorders. We should be getting the correct daily nutrition amount, but because of our fast paced lifestyles we sometimes do not have enough time. Fast food restaurants make it possible to grab a meal and go. We often do not pay attention to the nutrition amount, but are simply looking for a quick bite to eat that will fulfill our hunger. Fast food is assisting in the increase of obesity in America (“Phrase” par.2).
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the United States more than one-third of adults and one-sixth of children are obese. Over the next twenty years, these numbers will more than double. By the year 2020, obesity will be considered a normal thing, and a healthy weight will be the exception. Who is to blame for the increasing obese population? Some say fast food restaurants that are on every block in the city. Others say it is the obese people themselves because they do not know how to control themselves. Many major health conditions come with obesity and it is costing the government millions in healthcare to pay for others lack of self control.
Furthermore, if we over consume foods without properly assessing their nutritional value, our bodies will be unable to completely process them, ultimately leading to obesity. Since the 1980’s, obesity rates around the world have risen significantly. In the United States, current statistics indicate that one in every three people is medically obese. This statistic has placed the United States as the second most obese country in the world, next to Mexico. These increasing causes of obesity are linked to the declining national diet and nutritional profile, as well as lifestyle trends in these countries.
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...
More than 72 million people are diagnose with obesity in the United States. That is more than one third of the United States population. Obesity is a condition where a person body fat exceeds a height and muscle chart that doctors made to keep the human body healthy. Obesity can be caused by a few factors but the most common related factors are improper dieting and little to no exercise are the leading factors, on why thirty three percent of Americans are obese. Obesity have been linked to increase blood pressure, organ failure and even death if left unchecked by a doctor. Even though in some cases obesity can be inherit by family genetics or other medical reason that only makes
Food addiction can lead to serious and difficult health concerns. Nevertheless, obesity has other health issues that comes with it as well. In the United States between 2007 and 2009 there has been a 1.1% increase of obesity (Pedram). There has been an assumption that if it continues by 2050 it would be close to 100% of Americans who would be obese (Pedram). This information explains that the increase in overconsumption of food can slowly make most Americans suffer from obesity. Another issue of obesity is that it is “the fifth leading cause of global death” (Pedram). Becoming a food addict can cause an individual into becoming obese that they may eventually face death. Food addiction has become quite a controversial that it is difficult to overcome as fast food restaurants are encouragement in individuals to choose the path of obesity. Nevertheless, obesity is still a health issue that is harmful and dangerous to an