OBESITY

Obesity is the 21st century food crisis. How should the hospitality industry respond?

Obesity is the 21st century food crisis. How should the hospitality industry respond?

Introduction

The hospitality industry or the foodservice industry especially the fast food vendors has largely been implicated, if not blamed, as one of the major contributing factors for the overall increase in obesity epidemic (Harris, Brownell & Bargh, 2009, 211-271; Harris, Pomeranz, Lobstein, & Brownell, 2009, 211-225). According to the research statistics, in developed countries nearly half of the amount spent by consumers on food goes to the food that is consumed away from home i.e. in different restaurants and other similar places. Thus, it can safely be argued that the hospitality and foodservice industry is certainly a major factor that contributes to increasing obesity in children and adults. But there also exists an opposing opinion as some would argue that it is not a one-way street and hospitality industry could not solely be held responsible for alleviating the obesity epidemic (Aranceta, et al., 2009, 583-588). Everyone, however, seems to have an agreement upon the fact that it is social and ethical responsibility of hospitality industry to play its part and take appropriate action for the purpose of reducing the obesity incidence. This paper aims at discussing the obesity crisis in the 21st century, while also analysing strategies through which hospitality industry can play its role to reduce this crisis.

Obesity

Obesity is a chronic disease characterized by excess body fat, which causes damage to health of the individual. Obesity coincides with weight increase, although it is not necessary that every time the reason for being fat or increase in weight related to obesity, like many athletes, that are "heavy" due to muscle mass and not fat.

Classification

There are several ways to classify and diagnose obesity. One of the most used is based on the severity of the overweight, which is done by calculating the Body Mass Index (BMI), using the following formula:

“BMI = (Weight in Kilograms / (Height in Meters x Height in Meters))”

The BMI is practical and simple and its application is recommended for adults. The assessment of body mass in children and adolescents is made ??by tables that relate age and weight. The BMI is not recommended in these age groups because children and adolescents undergo rapid body changes due to the arising growth. The public health uses "child card" to verify the suitability of height and weight until 5 years age. The monitoring is done at clinics.

The classification below shows the different degrees of obesity in adults, shown in Table.1

The higher the BMI of a person, the greater the chance he/she can die earlier and develop diseases like diabetes mellitus, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. But that does not significantly say that the thinner the better, because the rate of mortality also increases in individuals with very low BMI, especially because of infectious diseases of the lungs. The ideal is maintained between the strips 20 to 25kg / m.

Alone, the BMI is not sufficient indicator of ...