Obesity in US

Obesity in US

Introduction

Obesity is basically getting overweight. It has emerged as one of the most vital nutritional problem facing by the developed world. This problem of obesity has occurred over a relatively short period of time; in the United States, it appears that the problem of child obesity has commenced in the last quarter of the 20th century. The data of year (1999-2000) abstracted from national surveys in the United States enlighten about the adult population of the US. The two third adults of US are overweight. It also argues that one third of the population is obese (Flegal et.al, 2002). Children who get obese likely to remain obese when they turn into an adult (Ogden et.al, 2002, 32). The problem of obesity has been evidenced in individuals of all ages regardless their ethnicity however this problem is more common in the poor people.

Obesity is a chronic disease. It is a global public health predicament which is affecting the children particularly. The US is going towards the problem of obesity with the advancement in technology and the developments it seems to be like the technology perhaps is one of the reasons of obesity, because the technology is reducing the physical activities of the human beings. On the contrary US should not be a victim of any chronic disease like children obesity because US is a developed nation and health facilities in US are better than many nations. One of the fundamental reasons in the prevalence of obesity in children may be because nowadays the cartoons which children love to watch are encouraging the junk food and making the children to ask for junk food which is not good for their health and make them obese. Some restaurants are also affecting the public health by making the people fat by selling the junk food.

Discussion

Childhood obesity has directly affected the short term and long term health consequences (Must & Strauss, 1999). The threats or risk with the obesity to the health can be cardiovascular risk factors, like high blood pressure, abnormal blood lipid levels, and impaired glucose tolerance. Respiratory conditions and the ability to work physically decrease. Once this childhood disease gets permanent and the child became adult with this disease it can lead to diabetes. There could be a psychological impact of obesity given that stigmatization and social isolation may result in lower self-esteem and depression in the children which can became the part of their personality. It has been discovered in a study that the quality of life of the children with obesity is somehow same as the quality of life of children going through the chemotherapy for the cancer (Schwimmer et.al, 2003, p.12). The obesity in childhood can become severe when a child continues his obesity in the adulthood as well; it can lead to serious consequences. This disease not only affects the people in their life style, it also ruins the appearance of the person which can lead to depression. It's been estimated that the 300,000 ...