Obesity in America
Obesity has emerged as one of the most pressing health problems in the United States. Indeed, the overall trend toward obesity in American adults, as well as children and adolescents, has been increasingly identified by doctors, scientists, and the media as an "epidemic." All that is necessary for one to see how prevalent this problem has become is to note the wide plethora of diet pills, plans, gimmicks, and other remedies guaranteed to melt away the excess pounds plaguing the American population. Although many in the country imagine that their weight problems have much more consequence to their appearance than their health (or, at the very least, many give much more import to these issues), the truth is that the increasing prevalence of obesity in America has far reaching implications, chief among them issues of ethical, scientific, economic, political, and population-based significance.
The National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health reports that during 1999-2000, it was estimated that a full 30% of adults within the U.S., or close to 59 million people were clinically obese (those having a body mass index of 30 or more) (CDC). This is a figure all the more staggering when one factors in the serious health consequences associated with being overweight -- consequences that include higher incidence of elevated blood pressure, stroke, cancer, cardiovascular disease, heart attack, and diabetes, to name a few. Additionally, overweight people suffer from less serious, but often debilitating joint pain, as well as psychological problems as a result of their weight.
Interestingly, one can see that, even fertility is adversely affected by obesity. This was illustrated in a 1995 study in Saudi Arabia, which noted that fertility was significantly decreased among obese women patients (Carolus,
Hamilton,
Jaroudi,
Sieck). Not only does this fact have the potential to seriously affect population patterns, should the epidemic continue, but, globally, one could see that in smaller countries, if a similar epidemic were to occur, there may be very serious social...
As it is, obesity emerges in cultures that become wealthy and start eating fast food. Doctors are also responsible for promoting the myth that obesity is related more to genetics than to lifestyle by misrepresenting the statistics about the disease. As WebMD points out, "If one of your parents is obese, you are 3 times as likely to be obese as someone with parents of healthy weight." What the Website
During the study a number of factors were considered for the evaluation of the fact that females unlike males in Saudi Arabia constitute a larger proportion. Themes Lifestyle and dietary Adolescent boys and girls were studied for at least two weeks on their feeding habits, for this period, females were observed to consume more snacks than male in that males could only consume snacks once a fortnight unlike their female counterparts who
It would be expected that the children would push for increased recess time. Note that no mention was made regarding diet. Also note that this specific class was selected by the principal therefore objectivity is further corrupted. However, use of the focus groups as means of gathering information may have been more advantageous in regards to the other 2 groups (parents and staff / teachers) since it prompts thought on
Obesity and Discrimination Bias against overweight and obese individuals is perhaps the last form of acceptable discrimination. Overweight people are subject to both subtle and blatant forms of discrimination, from childhood to adulthood. Discrimination occurs in family, social and professional situations as well. This paper takes an interdisciplinary approach to the issue of weight-based discrimination and harassment, drawing on diverse literature from fields including psychology, law, pediatrics and economics. The extent of
In person interviews can be an effective research tool but for the purpose of this study it would not be the most effective tool. Asking children in person how many hours they watch of television may not get accurate answers or results. In addition, asking the parents how much television they allow their children to watch may garner inaccurate answers as they may not know for sure, or they
Obesity, Prevention and Control in Teens Obesity refers to accumulation of harmful body fat levels, with excessive loose connective adipose tissues relative to lean body mass (Donatelle, 2002). One of the causes of obesity is high calorie consumption and the individual's inability to burn up the consumed calories. Obesity is said to be the outcome of imbalance of food consumed with energy expended (Venes, 2005). However, there are also considerable studies
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