Millions of people battle with obesity and it is imperative to find the root cause of it. We are aware that our genetic makeup determines our traits and contributes to our health. So is obesity a genetic predisposition or is it a result of processed foods and lack of exercise? There are certainly environmental factors in obesity but overall it is genetic. “As early as in 2007 researchers identified the first 'obesity gene' known as the FTO gene (Fat mass and obesity-associated protein) but after having studied the FTO genes for six years, they are still not sure how this gene variant affects obesity.
In Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/sharpecw/obesity_epidemic. Lowell, J. (2004). The food industry and its impact upon increasing global obesity: a case study.
People are ostracized, often never to regain full societal acceptance. According to Hammarlund et al (1998) prevention is necessary to decrease prevalence of obesity because few adults who actually do lose weight are able to keep it off. Obesity is attributable to many factors, nature and nurture included. Some individuals are inclined to blame the obese individual for his or her health status. Still others blame the heredity and/or ethnicity of the person.
Once the obese person has been labeled, he or she is deviant. Obesity has become statistically an average behavior in the United States. Nevertheless, it is still “abnormal”. The norm stands that thinness is attractive and worthy (Adler and Adler, 245). So long as this norm is upheld, obesity will be deviant and people will be labeled for their deviance from the norm.
Fortuna, Jeffrey L. "The Obesity Epidemic And Food Addiction: Clinical Similarities To Drug Dependence." Journal Of Psychoactive Drugs 44.1 (2012): 56-63. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 Apr.
Many people eat not because of being hungry but rather to feel well and taste delicious food. They care more about the food’s flavors than the amount of calories or nutritional value. Overeating or excessive consumption of food is responsible for indigestion and obesity. The web-based survey conducted by the United States Food and Drug Administration in 2008 revealed that 38 percent of the American population did not relate fats to heart diseases. Approximately 20 percent of study participants did not know that certain foods or drinks may help prevent heart disease or obesity.
International Journal of Obesity, 32(2), 201-210. doi:10.1038/sj.ijo.0803760 Policy statement- children, adolescents, obesity, and the media (2011). Pediatrics, 128(1), 201-208. doi:10.1542/peds.2011-1066 Pennsylvania obesity data and trends (2013). Pennsylvania Department of Health. Retrieved on November 17, 2013 from http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/obesity/14184 Pi-Sunyer, F. X. (200).
I chose the topic of obesity, because many Pediatricians have been blamed for the lack of intervention in children and young adults, that they are responsible to educate the young and give advice to prevent obesity and the consequences it could have on their health. As time progresses, Americans, have had an increase in the amount people who are obese in the general population. The ways to deal with this issue has had varying points of view. Treatment of obesity is often debated whether what kind of treatment is best like: medical treatment, intervention, dieting, physical activity, pharmacotherapy, and bariatric surgery. People also often question how obesity can be prevented.
General conception is that people get fat due to eating fat containing food. Although the concept is true, it does not provide accurate reasons to explain the big difference in obesity rates between African Americans and other races. Both African Americans and others have the same food available to them, so the obesity rate should be approximately similar. Unfortunately, this is not the case. According to a research done by the National Centre for Health Statistics seventy percent of African Americans are overweight while fifty percent are obese, which is considerably higher than any other ... ... middle of paper ... ... We cannot scientifically change the genetic characteristics of African Americans to make them less obese for the very same reasons why we cannot continue human cloning.
If genetics was a cause of obesity, I myself would be overweight now, due to such a high number of my family members being overweight and obese. However, I am not because I find that eating healthy and getting exercise can offset that from happening. Yes, maybe some people will have a mutation in their cells or something goes wrong making it extremely hard to lose weight, but keep trying and... ... middle of paper ... ... the opening of his essay, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” With that said, limit the amount of healthy foods that are normally consumed by us Americans like refined grains and sweets as well as sugary dinks like soda.