OBESITY AND WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF OBESITY?

Obesity and what is the cause of Obesity



Obesity and what is the cause of Obesity

Overweight and obesity have become key challenges for public health. Recent data show that 61% of adults in the Unites States are overweight (have a body mass index > 25, see the following definition) and 34% are obese (body mass index > 30, according to the Office of the Surgeon General, 2009). Canada and the United Kingdom show lower levels of obesity (about a quarter of adults are obese), but the long-term trend is similar and visible not only in developed but also developing countries: A growing number of children, youngsters, and adults are overweight. As a result of that trend, public communication on this issue has increased in the last years. Policymakers have coined the term obesity epidemic to label the associated challenge in a simple, illustrative, but at the same time also somewhat misleading way. (World Health Organization, 2009)

This entry starts with an elaborated and precise definition of the key terms overweight and obesity. Medical and economic aspects of the problem are described, and social constructivism and framing are presented as promising theoretical perspectives for a critical analysis of the obesity epidemic from a communication science perspective. Obesity can be counteracted by policies focusing on the individual level or the societal level. Opportunities and challenges for communication about obesity are suggested in the last paragraph. (Wang, 2003)

Definition of Overweight and Obesity

Obesity is commonly defined as severely overweight. This verbal definition is complemented by a quantitative specification of the boundaries between underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obesity. The World Health Organization (WHO) and most experts in this field refer to the body mass index (BMI) as a simple indicator relating the weight of an individual to his or her height. BMI is defined as the weight in kilograms (w), divided by the square of the height (h) in meters (kg/m2). To give an example in both standard and metric units: An adult who weighs 170 pounds (77 kg) and whose height is 6 feet (1.828 m) will have a BMI of 23.0:

BMI = 77 kg/(1.828 m)2 = 77/3.341584 = 23.0 kg/m2.

Is that underweight, normal, or overweight? Table 1 gives an answer to this question by referring to the weight classification of the WHO.

According to Table 1, the person in the previous example with a BMI of 23.0 is of normal weight. The same person would be classified as overweight and pre-obese (BMI = 25.1) with a weight of 185 pounds (83.9 kg) and as obese (BMI = 30.1) with a weight of 221 pounds (100.24 kg). Anyone not familiar with their own BMI or with the metric units or without a calculator at hand can use one of the many online BMI calculators that make it easy to determine this index using both standard and metric units (see, for example, the calculator provided by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, ...