Obesity in America - Research Paper Example

?Obesity in America Obesity is a physical condition which is characterized by excessive storage of fat in the body and the consequential overweight. Obesity is one of the biggest issues confronting America in the present age. With the physical activity restrained by excessive use of computers and the fast food chains identifying newer ways to satiate the food cravings of the American public, staying smart has become more of a challenge for the people of America. The best way to control obesity in America is by providing people with access to green spaces. The rate at which obesity in America is creeping up is quite alarming. As of 2003, number of overweight people in America had exceeded 199 million that makes about 64.5 per cent of the adults in America (Hearne et al., n.d., p. 3). In the speech that she made on 20 February 2004, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Julie Gerberding referred to obesity as an epidemic in America, “If you looked at any epidemic -- whether it’s influenza or plague from the middle ages -- they are not as serious as the epidemic of obesity in terms of the health impact on our country and our society” (Gerberding cited in Kvicala, 2003). Hearne et al. (n.d.) record some very alarming statistics with respect to obesity of Americans, some of which are discussed in this and the following paragraph. Obesity is one of the most significant causes of health related problems in America. Obese people are 50 to 100 times more susceptible to premature death than normal weight people. It is estimated that obesity may soon become a more prominent reason of preventable death as compared to tobacco in America. Every year, up to 400000 deaths occur because of physical inactivity and poor diet. Number of diseases caused by obesity exceeds 30. Diseases for which obesity serves as a causal factor include but are not limited to high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, cancer and coronary heart disease. Diabetes may also cause blindness in adults, failure of kidney and the patients may occasionally have to undergo amputations. Number of patients of diabetes has increased above 50 per cent in the last decade and this percentage is expected to increase more by 165 per cent in the coming five decades. Presently, 18 million Americans are patients of diabetes while 41 million people are in the pre-diabetic phase. There has been noticed an increase in the number of children that suffer from type 2 diabetes that was considered as a form of adult-onset diabetes until now. Individuals that acquire type 2 diabetes in childhood or adolescence are at increased risk of suffering from stroke, kidney failure and heart diseases when they grow up. Those kids are getting adult-type diabetes because they're overweight. We're seeing an absolute epidemic of diabetes in the schools in this country because children are just not getting the right exercise … The gap between what they're eating and what they're expending is getting larger on an annual basis. (Gerberding cited in Kcivala, 2003). Cost associated with obesity is another problem that the government of America has to address. According to the estimates made by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the direct and indirect expenses of obesity per year sum up to above $117 billion (Wechsler, 2004). These expenses include but are not limited to loss of productivity and medical expenses. In 2003, medical expenses that could be attributed solely to obesity in America were found to be $75 billion. This made obesity stand among the costliest epidemics in the whole history of America. About half of these expenses were borne by Medicare and Medicaid. This half amount summed up to almost 6 per cent of the total budget allotted to HHS in the year 2003. In the very year, the cost borne by Medicaid for the medical operations related to obesity for the District of Columbia as well as other 50 states was about $17.7 billion, while the costs that could be attributed to obesity were about $21.3 billion. According to Strum (2002), obesity causes the cost of medication to increase by 77 per cent while the cost of health for the ambulatory and inpatient care increases by 36 per cent when compared to the expenditures borne for treating people with normal weight. A significant portion of the total cost of obesity is paid by the business owners and employers in terms of paid sick leave, lost productivity, disability insurance and increased medical cost. Hearne et al. (n.d., p. 6) said that obese workers take sick leave more frequently as compared to normal weight workers and their chances of displaying high-level absenteeism is twice as much as those of the normal weight workers. As per the records maintained by the American Obesity Association, in the year 1994, number of lost work days and bed-days because of obesity was 39.2 million and 89.5 million respectively while the days of restricted-activity were 239 million in number (Hearne et al. n.d., p. 6). One of the most influential ways to combat the challenge of obesity is to inculcate good eating and exercise habits in the children. To achieve this, fitness training and obesity control programs should be made an integral part of everyday education in schools. The 14000 school districts in US are already taking measures to inculcate weight control training and education into the regular curriculum of schools. Opelika City School System in Alabama and the Los Angeles Unified School districts have taken some actions that are fundamentally based on improving the policy making with respect to nutrition. Opelika City School System in Alabama has prohibited the vending machines for as long as 16 years. Since early 1990s, cafeterias in the schools have not offered any kind of fried eatables to the students. Menus in these schools are designed in a way that accords nutrition with the age of the students. In Los Angeles, sodas have been banned in schools since the start of 2004, though it may be sold for up to 30 minutes immediately after the break off time (Hearne et al. n.d., p. 26). Besides, soda is offered on special occasions like school day or football matches. The school allows the students access to beverages that contained a minimum of 50 per cent fruit juice without any sweetener. Although such policy making can bring significant change in the children’s approach towards food and exercise, yet results can be improved manifolds if these policies are supplemented by the implementation of such school-based weight control programs as Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH). CATCH is implemented in schools with a view to preventing chronic disease in children. This is achieved by making use of a multi-component intervention focusing behavioral health of children. The intervention is made in students in the third, fourth, and fifth grade. “CATCH consists of school-based (school food service, physical education, and classroom curricula) and family-based (home curricula, family fun nights) components that work together to decrease consumption of fatty and salty foods and increase rigorous physical activity” (National Cancer Institute, 2011). Creation of new green spaces and expansion of existing green spaces is another potential way of controlling obesity in America. Green spaces are undeveloped and open areas that the public can access and use for recreational purposes. The government maintains such spaces with a view to promoting physical activity among the people including biking and walking (Prevention Institute, 2002 cited in Heanre et al., n.d.). In US, it has been found that areas where obesity and overweight is widespread among the Latino and African American communities lack such facilities as swimming pools and fewer parks (Powell, Slater and Chaloupka, 2004). In order to expand green spaces in US, a number of programs have already been shaped. In the year 2000, the Clear Ohio Fund was established that provided $150 million for creating green spaces in areas which were economically challenged (Natural Resources Assistance Council, 2004). Creation of green spaces is a better solution for preventing obesity because it inculcates a desire for healthy living within people without external influence or intervention. With the provision of green spaces, people neither have to be disallowed access to beverages or foods, nor have they to be convinced to do physical workout. Instead, with so much green space around them, people themselves feel encouraged to indulge in physical activities. This creates a healthy culture whereby more and more people are drawn towards walking and biking with the passage of time. In this way, this is a totally natural method of preventing obesity. In addition to that, the conventional school-based overweight and obesity control programs have not made a significant contribution to the prevention of obesity. According to a report written by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Trust for America’s Health, rates of obesity did not decline in even one single state of America in 2010, but rather increased in 16 states (Medical News Today, 2011). In the year 2007, there was just one state in US that had a 30 per cent plus rate of obesity whereas today, twelve states have this rate. Hence, intervention based programs can not be considered as effective in controlling obesity as natural opportunities can. Creating healthy environments is key to reversing the obesity epidemic, particularly for children. When children have safe places to walk, bike and play in their communities, they're more likely to be active and less likely to be obese. It's the same with healthy food: when communities have access to healthy affordable foods, families eat better. (Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey cited in Medical News Today, 2011). With the rapid increase of obesity rates in America over the past few decades, it becomes obvious that such a multidimensional issue calls for a joint effort from businesses, schools, communities responsible for providing health care and government. Individuals can not isolate themselves and yet be effective in eradicating obesity from America. Measures need to be taken that are directed at promoting the visualization of obesity and overweight among the public as an issue of health care instead of a cosmetic issue. Additionally, public should be made aware of a number of prevention and treatment options that they can avail to escape the risk of obesity and overweight. Research conducted by Dietz and Gortmaker (2001) suggests that it is considerably easier for people to prevent obesity rather than treating it after it has been gained. Thus, there is need for to create such obesity prevention strategies that promote healthy living in terms of better nutrition and exercise. Obesity needs to be controlled on immediate basis as it has already become an epidemic. It is happening everywhere in US. Along with taking action, there is need to have a close supervision and evaluation of the progress, so as to modify the strategies according to the exact needs of people. According to TFAH cited in Heanre et al. (n.d., p. 73), government needs to take the following actions: The government should make one agency completely responsible for controlling obesity and overweight in America. This will increase the coordination among all programs directed at controlling obesity and overweight. The same agency will evaluate the usefulness of programs so as to modify them for good. One agency that has full potential to take this responsibility is CDC that aims at “promot[ing] health and quality of life by preventing and controlling disease, injury, and disability” (MedicineNet, 2011). Obesity prevention efforts that CDC can possibly take include but are not limited to surveillance of mortalities resulting from obesity, establishment of a Task Force representing a number of government agencies and external experts and preparation of a Plan of Action, preparation of guidelines for nutrition and exercise, and evaluation and modification of on-going programs. Owing to the rapid increase in the number of patients of obesity related diseases in America, there is dire need to take immediate steps to enact the proposed solutions. Otherwise, American government may have to deal with increased pressure of health care. America is already coping with financial crisis, and is not in a position to deal with added costs because of obesity. References: Dietz, W. H., and Gortmaker, S. L. (2001). Preventing Obesity in Children and Adolescents. Annual Review of Public Health. 22(337): 53. Hearne, S. A., Segal, L. M., Unruh, P. J., Earls, M. J., and Smolarcik, P. (n.d.). F as in Fat: How obese policies are failing in America. Kvicala, J. (2003, Feb. 20). Americans Experiencing 'Pandemic of Obesity,' Says Director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. University of Georgia. Retrieved from http://www.terry.uga.edu/news/releases/2003/gerberding.html. Powell, L. M., Slater, S., and Chaloupka, F. J. (2004, June). The Relationship Between Community Physical Activity Settings and Race, Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Status. Evidence-Based Preventive Medicine. 1(2): 135-144. MedicineNet. (2011). Lead Poisoning Glossary of Terms. Retrieved from http://www.medicinenet.com/lead_poisoning/glossary.htm. Medical News Today. (2011). Obesity Epidemic In USA Continues To Spread - A Serious Problem In The South. Retrieved from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/230780.php. National Cancer Institute. (2011). Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH). Retrieved from http://rtips.cancer.gov/rtips/programDetails.do?programId=175413#Program. Natural Resources Assistance Council. (2004, Sep. 20). Clean Ohio Fund: Green Space Conservation Program. Retrieved from http://clean.ohio.gov/. Sturm, R. (2002). The Effects of Obesity, Smoking, and Drinking on Medical Problems and Costs. Health Affairs. 21: 245-253. Wechsler, H. (2004, June 16). HHS Efforts to Combat the Obesity Epidemic among Children and Adolescents. Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/t040616.html. Read More