Comprehension of the Prevailing American Obesity Epidemic

The Obesity Catastrophe

Comprehension of the Prevailing American Obesity Epidemic

The Issue

The number of Americans who are diabetic keeps on increasing with the centers for disease control asserting there more than two-thirds of an American adult is overweight or obese, with the greatest proportion of this number being obese. Overall, obesity is the second preventable cause of death in America after tobacco.

The overall issue is that the obesity epidemic in the US keeps on worsening, with the latest reports indicating that almost 40% of the US women are obese, while the American teenagers are continuing to add weight (Cawley, 2012).  According to the reports from centers for disease control as well as prevention, efforts that are directed at encouraging Americans to lose weight and stop adding more weight have very little impact. From the general assessment, 38% of the US adults are obese, with 17% of the teenagers also being obese.

According to the research done in assessing the obesity situation, out of the 181 million Americans between the ages of 20 and 65, 122 of this population encompass a combined 6.5 billion pounds overweight. In the maintenance of these extra pounds the assertion is that it is imperative that one consumes an additional 23 trillion extra calories annually (Imes & Burke, 2014). The current issue is that the challenges posed by weight are no longer a private business with the CDC in the year 2000 finding that the direct cost of obesity along with the lack of physical exercise to be $117 billion. The extra pounds exert a major role in the emergence of numerous problems faced by the US, with prominent ones being the escalation of healthcare costs, stagnant wages, diminishing resources for education as well as the inability to stay competitive globally. 

The assessment of the nationwide situation is that approximately two out of three US adults are obese or overweight and that while the obesity rates in the country have stayed steady, they have been rising in other groups, with an issue of disparities being evident. It follows that the Hispanic, non-Hispanic black as well as the Mexican American adults exhibiting higher obesity rates compared to the Hispanic-white adults.

The more alarming attribute encompasses the fact that the prevalence of overweight, as well as obesity in children moreover adolescents, is on the rise, with the youth becoming obese and overweight in their earlier ages. Further, one out six children and adolescents between the ages of 2 to 19 are obese while one out of three is overweight or obese (Lifshitz, 2014). The issue of early not only on rises the likelihood of but that it also increase the likelihood of one getting heart diseases in adulthood in addition to the prevalence of weight-related risk factors for cardiovascular diseases as high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol.

The issue of overweight has been found to be partly responsible for the dramatic increase in the diagnoses of type 2 diabetes mellitus among the children. The assertion is significantly worrisome considering the huge burden of the complications that are associated with the disease. The US nationwide search for the prevalence of diabetes among the youth found that type diabetes was accountable for just 6% of the new diabetes cases in the non-Hispanic, white children of between the ages 10 to 19 years, while the prevalence of between 225 to 76% was found in the other ethnic groups.

Obesity Costs

Other than the case of tobacco, the overall assertion is that there is no greater harm to the collective health in the US than the obesity cases. Even globally, the issues are than health effects presented due to obesity are deep as well as vast and their impact is lasting to the communities, nation as well as the individuals across generations (Imes & Burke, 2014). The situation in the US, with an emphasis being on adults over the age of 70 is that with the decline in the use of tobacco, obesity occurrence rates are now on the rise, with the number of deaths that are resulting from obesity exceeding that of tobacco (Imes & Burke, 2014). Just as is the case with tobacco, obesity has a very close relationship with a large collection of health conditions as stroke, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, unhealthy cholesterol, kidney stones, infertility as well other complications. There are additional social as well as emotional impacts of obesity which include discrimination, lower quality of life, lower wages as well as a possible susceptibility to depression.

The additional issue of the costs that are directly linked to obesity encompasses the further reason as to why it is imperative for strategies to address the occurrence of the condition. These costs encompass the medical costs associated with the diagnosis and the treatment of the conditions that are contributed by obesity.  Studies indicate that the costs associated with diabetes treatment compared to healthy persons are significantly higher. Obesity or overweight has been found to significantly increase the expected lifetime expenditure on medical care for most of the diseases that are associated with the condition than if the situation had been changed. The assertion, in this case, is that incidences of obesity increase the lifetime medical care costs for the diseases associated with the condition by more than 50% above the baseline (Lifshitz, 2014). The increased lifetime expenditure on healthcare has been found to chiefly be as a result of the care that is associated with diabetes and hypertension.

The additional attribute that has been considered a significant cost of obesity is on the issue of declines productivity costs. The assertion here is that other than the direct costs associated with obesity, there are several other indirect costs that are a part of the general economic effect of obesity.  Out of these issues follows the fact that the impact the condition has on productivity has been found as having the biggest role. The productivity costs that are associated with obesity are well documented in an assortment of studies, with the widespread agreement being that these costs are significant. The productivity losses have been seen to originate from the labor market regarding absenteeism which is the first order productivity costs that result from employees who are absent from due to the obesity-related health issues. Presenteeism as the additional costs encompasses the decreased productivity of the employees while at work. The other categories of productivity costs that have been associated with obesity encompass the issues of premature mortality along with the loss of quality-adjusted life years. The additional issues of higher disability rate benefits payments as well as the welfare loss in the health insurance market.

Transportation costs are the additional issue that is impacted by obesity, with the fact being that the increase in the body weight among Americans leading to a situation whereby more fuel as well as larger vehicles being needed for transporting the same number of commuters (Lifshitz & Lifshitz, 2014). The implication of this attribute is that it results from a direct cost that is in the form of greater spending on fuel in addition to the possible indirect costs that are in the model of higher greenhouse gas emissions.

The impacts associated with obesity are overweight affect the educational attainment regarding the quality as well as a quantity of schooling, representing an additional economic impact. In this assessment, the assertion is that it could become an increasingly significant issue with the rising number of obese children and adolescents.

The Causes

The overall consensus among the stakeholders in the healthcare sector is that eating too much in addition to exercising too little are the two chief causes of obesity. Although there are the assertions that genetic predispositions have a major contributing factor to the increase in obesity incidences, the fact that there has been an increasing in each generation, the prevailing fact is that the changes to the environment play a major role (Dietz, 2015).

The assertion that inactivity has become the new American normal and that it is amongst the main contributors to the obesity epidemic is additionally the prevailing causes of the condition in the country. It has been a long time since most of the Americans worked in the fields, with a huge number sitting throughout the working day, implying that there is less exercise for the ordinary American (Dietz, 2015). In the assessment of the available studies, it is only 20% of the contemporary jobs demand at least moderate physical activity in contrast to the situation in the 1960s. It is further asserted that Americans are burning 120 to 140 calories less a day than the situation was 50 years ago (Dietz, 2015). The attributes compounded with the numerous numbers of calories added a day; it becomes the perfect recipe for gaining weight.

The Solutions

The solutions to the obesity epidemic should encompass the institution of a war similar to the one that was waged against the consumption of tobacco as well as drunk driving. Plenty of reasons have been learned from the earlier solutions in the attempts to address the challenge. Overall, the assertion that has been considered necessary to the resolution of the obesity epidemic is that there should be an overall shift in our cultural systems and behaviors to win the war. Emphasis on the needs of attitude changes in instituting changes when it comes to the management of the obesity challenge is core.

The realization of these interventions demands that there is the major commitment from the governments through the diverse advocacy channels as the surgeon general, special interest from the different stakeholders as was the case in the mothers against a drunken driving campaign. They additionally should facilitate the integration of the commitment from the Congress and state legislatures in the context of stepping into the long believed people’s business and institute rules and regulation to promote the management of health care.  In this case, there are numerous areas that the Congress and the legislature can target, with some of the best channels being imposing heavy taxes on cigarettes and alcohol. There could additionally be the banning of any vending machines in schools as they have been a setback in the addressing of the obesity challenges due to their constant supply of high fat and sugar products to the school children.

Other groups that have been requesting that the legislative organs to institute changes to the curriculum that are meant to assist in addressing the obesity challenge. In this case, the assertion is that the current curriculum is not supportive of a physical environment and thus the need to ensure that it has classes that ensure the learners take part in games that are physically demanding and provides an opportunity to burn calories.

The Implication

The general mantra that supports the intervention is the fact that obese and overweight are not going to victims of the interventions but beneficiaries. The overweight persons can be likened to the smokers who have been trying to quit for a very long, constantly failing. Considering the huge expenses that this population has been suffering and the associated health complications are adequate issues to ensure that these individuals seek the interventions. It is imperative that there is the adoption of a general effort that is aimed at ensuring these individuals get healthier.

There are several innovations that can be adopted to address the situation:

1.        There should be the development of video games for the school students to aid in the increase of their physical activities

2.        There additionally should be use of personal coaches and pedometer programs that will assist the obese and overweight individuals to adopt better strategies for losing weight

3.        There should also be the use of the different social media platform as well as mobile applications guiding on the diet as well as physical exercise to assist population to lose weight

References

 Cawley J, Meyerhoefer (2012). The medical care costs of obesity: an instrumental variables approach. J Health Econ.; 31:219-30.

Dietz, W. H. (2015). The response of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the obesity epidemic. Annual review of public health, 36, 575-596.

Imes, C. C., & Burke, L. E. (2014). The obesity epidemic: the USA as a cautionary tale for the rest of the world. Current epidemiology reports, 1(2), 82-88.

Lifshitz, F., & Lifshitz, J. Z. (2014). Globesity: the root causes of the obesity epidemic in the USA and now worldwide. Pediatric endocrinology reviews: PER, 12(1), 17-34.

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in nursing essay help USA if you need a similar paper you can place your order from custom college papers.