OBESITY

In our nowadays society, one of the world’s biggest issues on human health is obesity. With the growing capitalist system, much junk food has become a more available source to most of countries. In order to understand obesity, we’ll have to look at what it means, what causes it, what its effects are on human health and how it could be prevented.

Obesity is known as an abnormality of excessive fat in the body. The BMI of a human being over 25 is considered overweight, and a BMI over 30 is considered obese. With the database WHO (World Health Organization) got, over the years, obesity among 5 to 19-year-old children has increased from 4% to 18% between 1975-2016. 30% of adults in the USA are obese, which is growing daily. One of the most interesting facts about the data collected is that developing countries have a 30% more higher rate of obesity among their citizens than fully-developed countries. This could be stated with the economic challenges societies face in developed countries as products high in proteins, vitamins and nutrients good for human health are far more expensive than junk food. Turkey and India could be given as examples of this situation as prices are high, but many people are still overweight.

Scientists have been researching the causes of obesity for decades, and the clearest information states that overeating (high in carbohydrates, low in nutrients), lack of exercise, sleep deprivation, environmental factors and genetics play an important role in the main causes of this problem. Eating disorder is also an important factor in this situation, as many obese people also have an eating disorder. Eating disorders could be defined as the behaviour of eating shown by people who eat in the name of calming down their stress or overcoming a traumatic event in their past. While eating disorders could vary into different types, the most effective one for obesity is binge – eating, where the patient cannot stop eating due to his/her emotions. Other than all of these, the eating habits of a family could also be a factor in one’s lifestyle in the future, as these habits are usually hard to break.

What makes obesity such a big problem in the world is the potential dangers it creates for human health. Just obesity itself could result in many long-term health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnoea, cardiovascular diseases and fatty liver, both in adults and children. Obesity could reduce the quality of life and shorten the life span from 3 to 10 years. As the body keeps getting heavier, normal life activities such as walking, running and travelling could become more difficult. An interesting application by USA’s one of the most obese towns McAllen, Texas, which has a 39% of the population considered obese, is now having trouble seating obese people in ambulances, and managing coffins. Another bad effect obesity could cause could be mental harm to a person, especially teenagers. With the result of bullying or bad self-image, eating disorders of the teens affected by this situation could give a turn and transform into anorexia, or the binge-eating sessions could increase more.

While obesity is in the rage of the new threats to human health, there are ways it could be prevented. Proper education to children should be given, emphasising the importance of this issue. This education could also be given to parents of children who are obese, or to obese parents themselves. The cafeteria food should always be under surveillance. Healthy food should be made more available to all countries. Exercise should be recommended to many, and schools and works should put in more effort to make their students and clients have a life that is engaged with sporty activities. Psychological support could be given to those suffering from eating disorders, and the rates could be reduced.

To sum everything up, it could be said that obesity is now a growing disease among many people. It is caused by many genetic and environmental factors and could result in serious health problems. With the proper education and advice given to the people about this issue, it could be reduced before the rates of obesity hit a peak.