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The Epidemic Called Obesity
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- Obesity
has become a global pandemic affecting the lives and
health of millions of people, according to the World
Health Organization. It is an accelerating social problem
in industrialized countries and is also growing in the
former colonial world.
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- Obesity
is very often defined as an eating disorder. However,
it is not a simple condition of eating too much. Health
experts believe that obesity is a serious and chronic
disease prevalent in today’s society.
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Statistics
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the “obesity epidemic” increases, so is
the number of people that suffers from it. Approximately
300,000 adult deaths in the United States alone each
year are directly attributable to unhealthy dietary
habits and physical inactivity or sedentary behavior
or obesity. In the United States alone, nearly one third
of the adult population is obese.
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the Europe, they have a similar encounter of the disease.
An astonishing 58 per cent of Britain’s adult
population is considered overweight or obese, a report
published in England said.
The National Audit Office of Britain reported last year
that 20 percent of British women and 17 percent of men
were as much as 70 pounds heavier than the recommended
weight for their size.
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Obesity
is not just a health issue. It is also considered as
a socio-economic problem that utilizes $117 billion
per year in the United States alone.
In Britain, obesity cost £2.6 billion in NHS bills
and indirect losses to the UK economy. At
least 18 million sick days a year can be attributed
to obesity, it says, and the increased risk of heart
disease, diabetes, colon cancer and stroke reduces life
expectancy by around nine years.
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Causes for obesity
When
it comes to explaining these trends, not only media
reports, but many scientific articles disparagingly
refer to a combination of fast food, increasing
car
ownership and a sedentary lifestyle in front of television
sets or computer monitors.
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the first place, such generalisations are often backed
by little substantiated data. Some studies have found
that the prevalence of obesity among children is directly
related to the hours of television viewed, for example,
but other studies have failed to establish a correlation.
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fundamentally, these observations ignore the economic
and social driving forces behind the changes in diet
and lifestyle—including the profits generated
by the food and entertainment industries—and the
intense pressures caused by increasing working hours
and declining living standards for the majority of working
people.
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Effects of obesity
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Obesity
can also lower the life expectancy of individuals. In
addition to this, obese people are increasing their
susceptibility and risks to a number of diseases directly
related to obesity. This includes: type 2 (adult onset)
diabetes; high blood pressure; stroke; heart attack;
heart failure; cancer such as cancer of the colon or
rectum; gallstones; gout and gouty arthritis; osteoarthritis;
sleep apnea; and pickwickian syndrome.
