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Disease A Major Health Issue World Today. Essay

Disease a major health issue world today. Epidemiologists "front line" advocating safe healthy living. This paper designed introduce a disease ways prevented. 1. Research a disease (history, treatment, . Obesity

Although it is presently a worldwide problem, obesity is not actually a new phenomenon. Experts in Europe and the Middle East found obese figures dating from 23,000 to 25,000 years ago. These figures were likely to be deities from the Paleolithic era. In Neolithic these corpulent figures invoked fertility for people and plants and they were often named Mother Goddesses. In the Modern era figures of obese women continued to appear not only as figurines, but also in paintings.

Obesity was considered to be a problem that needed to be treated before 1500 CE. In Ancient Egypt, obesity was seen as a horrible disease. The Chinese used acupuncture as treatment for obesity. "Ancient Tibetan medicine administered enemas and compresses to treat obesity. Indian medicine suggested treatment using organotherapy, specifically using testicular tissue." (Kathleen Y. Wolin, Jennifer M. Petrelli, page 1) Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, mentioned some of the risks of obesity: infertility, sleep disruption and mortality.

"Obesity is defined as an abnormal increase of fat in the subcutaneous connective tissue." (Evelyn B. Kelly, page 5) More and more people, all over the world, have been diagnosed with obesity and this disease can be called an epidemic one. "Since 1980, in some areas such as parts of North America, the United Kingdom, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, the Pacific Islands, Australasia and China obesity rates have risen three-fold or more." (Jamie Pearce, Karen Witten, page 3) Three in ten overweight adults are obese. Obesity does not only affect adults, as children are also affected. In United States since 1970 till 2010 obesity rates among children aged 6 to 11 progressed from 6.5 to 17.0% and for children between 12 and 19 years, it progressed from 5.0 to 17.6%.

Rates are not the same for all social and ethnic groups, and even between countries. Socially disadvantaged groups from the majority of developed countries tend to be more affected by obesity. For example, "in England obesity rates (obese or morbidly obese) are 68% higher among women in the lowest income quintile of households compared to the highest income quintile (although this trend is less strong...

Obesity not only contributes to developing of other diseases, as it also drives to the death of the individual. Obesity increases the risk of dying. It is one of the principals' causes of death among American people.
Heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis, and some forms of cancer are some of the diseases that are associated with obesity. Among these diseases the individual's state of mind is also affected. Obese people can be also diagnosed with clinical depression and can suffer of low self-esteem.

Recent research has shown that obese people have a bigger risk to develop cardiovascular diseases. Left ventricular hypertrophy is a common disease among obese people. Although abnormalities from the left ventricular are associated with hypertension, they also can be created by the sever obesity. Hypertension is most commonly met in obese people than in people with a normal weight. "This relationship may be cause-and-effect in that when weight increases, so does blood pressure, whereas when weight decreases, blood pressure falls." (Eckel) Also, the right ventricular is affected by obesity. "The pathophysiology is related to obstructive sleep apnea and/or the obesity hypoventilation syndrome, which produce pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular hypertrophy, dilatation, progressive dysfunction, and finally failure."(Ibidem) On the other hand, this affection isn't just an obesity risk, because it can appear when the left ventricular is affected in general.

Obese patients with congestive heart failure need to cut out from their meals sodium and need to lose small amounts of their weight. These two things can help at a better function and oxygenation of the ventricular.

80 to 90% of people who are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are obese. Overweight affects the body negatively, including the body's ability to preserve a healthy blood glucose level. Because of obesity, a body can develop resistance to insulin. This means that if you have been diagnosed with diabetes you will need a bigger dose of insulin and if you weren't diagnosed with diabetes long-term resistance to insulin will eventually develop this disease.

Another disease associated with obesity is cancer (pancreas cancer, colon cancer, breast…

Sources used in this document:
References:

1. Eckel, Robert H. MD "Obesity and Heart Disease- A Statement for Healthcare Professionals From the Nutrition Committee," Retrieved November 29, 2012 from the American Heart Association: http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/96/9/3248.full

2. Kelly, Evelyn B. Obesity, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006

3. Pearce, Jamie, and Witten, Karen Geographies of Obesity: Environmental Understandings of the Obesity Epidemic, Ashgate Publishing, Mar 16, 2010

4. Wolin, Kathleen Y. And Petrelli, Jennifer M. Obesity, ABC-CLIO, Aug 10, 2009
5. "A Codependent Relationship: Diabetes & Obesity," Retrieved November 29, 2012 from Diabetic care services and pharmacy: http://www.diabeticcareservices.com/diabetes-education/diabetes-and-obesity
6. "How are Overweight and Obesity Treated," Retrieved November 29, 2012 from National Heart Lung and Blood Institute People Science Health: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/obe/treatment.html
7. "How can Overweight and Obesity Be Prevented," Retrieved November 29, 2012 from National Heart Lung and Blood Institute People Science Health: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/obe/prevention.html
8. "Obesity and Cancer Risk," Retrieved November 29, 2012 from National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/obesity
9. "What Causes Overweight and Obesity?," Retrieved November 29, 2012 from National Heart Lung and Blood Institute People Science Health: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/obe/causes.html
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