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.
