The Causes of Obesity - Essay Example

?Obesity Obesity is a physical condition but a number of sociological and psychological shades are associated with this health condition. To cite twosimple an obvious examples, an individual might have become obese through years of depressive mood that prompts him/her to over eat; then, there could be another individual who lives in a society where fat-inducing packed food form a major part of the daily menu and thus gradually puts on weight. In the first case, the reason for obesity is psychological while in the second, purely sociological. Before venturing into this kind of comparing different information bases of obesity, it is important to have a clear idea of what is meant by obesity. One definition for obesity provided by the National Health Service (NHS) website at http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Obesity/Pages/Introduction.aspx has been that it is “when a person is carrying too much body fat for their height and sex” and an adult individual is counted as obese if he/she has a body mass index (BMI) of “30 or greater.” James and Linton (2008) has defined obesity in more simple word as “an excess of body fat” (p.94). But the problem with this definition is that “there is not a quantitative definition of normal body fat” (James and Linton, 2008, p.94). The definition given by World Health Organisation website at http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/ is similar to the one given by NHS and says that a person can be considered obese when his/her BMI is more than or equal to 30. Hence a BMI equaling or greater than 30 can be considered as the yardstick against which a person can be stated as obese. In the context of the increasing prevalence of obesity all over the world,- majority of persons in Western Europe and the United States having a BMI above 30- there is a significant need to understand this health phenomenon from a physiological and sociological angle (Barnett, Barnett and Kumar, 2009, p.3). Anderson and Taylor (2006) have pointed to the difference between physiological and sociological points of view regarding obesity (p.547). Causes It is primarily with respect to the causes of obesity that these areas have different approaches (Anderson and Taylor, 2006, p.547). While the physiological point of view bases its definition and analysis of obesity in physiological causes and treats this health condition as a medical problem, the sociological approach “look to cultural factors as a source of obesity” (Anderson and Taylor, 2006, p.547). The physiological perspective on obesity has been helpful in identifying many factors that cause obesity. For example, one finding has been that “variety influences animals to eat even if they are not hungry” and this tendency can lead to obesity (Sizer, Piche’ and Whitney, 2011, p.346). Also from the side of physiological perspective, many metabolic theories are offered to explain obesity (Sizer, Piche’ and Whitney, 2011, p.344). One theory has been that some people become obese when they over eat and some people do not become obese so easily even if they over eat, a phenomenon caused by the physiological features realized by the genetic makeup of different individuals (Sizer, Piche’ and Whitney, 2011, p.344-5). Another cause of obesity, from the physiological point of view is the consumption of “fast food”, “which is high in fat and calories.” (Anderson and Taylor, 2006, p.547). From the physiological perspective, some other reasons of obesity could be “physical inactivity”, and inadequate consumption of proteins (Sizer, Piche’ and Whitney, 2011, p.344). But when one further traces the causes of increased consumption of fast food to life style changes by which “people are worried, overworked, and seldom take the time to prepare meals with fresh ingredients”, the sociological point of view comes in (Anderson and Taylor, 2006, p.547). The promotional work undertaken by packaged food industry to pursue their business goals and also the increasing “affluence” of a given population have also been viewed as the reasons of increasing consumption of fast food and consequently, obesity (Anderson and Taylor, 2006, p.547). Obesity is also seen as a condition that has certain associations with a person’s culture, gender, education, “food pricing”, “availability” of fast food, “customs of social eating” and advertising (Anderson and Taylor, 2006, p.547; Stern and Kazaks, 2009, p.81). When it is stated that over eating that causes obesity is also a condition resulting from “complex human sensations such as lonliness, yearning, craving, addiction, or compulsion”, an overlap of physiological and sociological perspectives become visible, just because many of these cited reasons are both physiological and social (Sizer, Piche’ and Whitney, 2011, p.344). In such a situation, hypothetically, two people can go on arguing between them on whether obesity is caused by a bodily dysfunction or by a social factor. Thus occur a grey area between both the perspectives. From the physiological point of view, it is still a contestable question whether obesity is caused by some metabolic problem inherent inside the body or is the result of external factors like over eating and lack of bodily exercise (Blackburn and Kanders, 1994, p.3). Hence it can be said that neither the physiological nor the sociological perspective gives a conclusive inference regarding the causes of obesity. Tools The physiological point of view make use of tools and standards like BMI, waist-hip ratio, “subcutaneous fat measurements”, “underwater weighing”, and growth charts in relation to age, to diagnose obesity (WHO, 2000, p.7-12; James and Linton, 2008, p.95). From the sociological perspective, it is acknowledged that obesity is generally considered by people with an “individualistic mentality” that makes them see it as “a problem of the person, an issue involving one’s self-control or self-restraint” (Ruane and Cerulo, 2004, p.7). It is also understood that the general perception is “individuals are over weight because of their personal eating habits, their lack of exercise, their laziness or their emotional baggage” (Ruane and Cerulo, 2004, p.7). Hence, the sociological perspective uses the tool of social analysis to describe the condition of obesity and its consequences and demands that obesity should be looked at “in light of broader social patterns and contexts” (Ruane and Cerulo, 2004, p.7). As a result, the sociologist would say, owing to certain social reasons, majority Americans are overweight, or children are more prone to become obese (Ruane and Cerulo, 2004, p.7). Being obese The condition of being obese is characterised by a set of symptoms and bodily discomforts when viewed from the physiological point of view but rather a different set of problems when seen from the sociological point of view. The physiological approach states that obese people have “abnormal or excessive fat accumulation in adipose tissue, to the extent that health may be impaired” (WHO, 2000, p.6). But the sociological perspective is more flexible in deciding whether a person is obese or not because this perspective acknowledges the fact that a person considered obese in one culture might be considered having proper weight in another culture (Tischila and Johnstone, 2010, p.13). Sociological approach also defines the condition of being obese in relation with gender, age, ethnicity, employment, education, occupation, household size, marriage, region etc. (Tischila and Johnstone, 2010, p.15-19). The physiological perspective identifies the consequences of obesity as an increased risk of mortality, several co-morbidities like heart disease, diabetes etc and mental health-related problems (Wadden and Stunkard, 2004, p.11). The sociological perspective, while acknowledging all these consequences with due importance, also points to the “economic costs” of obesity and also the issues related to social status, psychological well-being, etc. (Wadden and Stunkard, 2004, p.12). Treatment and remedies The psychological and sociological perspectives offer different set of remedies to obesity. The sociological approach focuses on motivation and social support for obesity control and also on correcting the social environment that causes obesity (Bray and Bouchard, 2004, p.76). This might include control over advertisements that promote obesity-inducing fast food and packed food, or a social ambience that promotes exercise. The physiological approach on the other hand puts forth an integrated treatment that includes reduction of high calorie food intake and a balanced, protein-rich diet, proper exercise, intake of medicines to correct inherent metabolic problems, and correction of psychological problems that lead to over eating by way of counseling (Eckel, 2003). But both the approaches tend to give importance to prevention of obesity over treatment (Stern and Kazaks, 2009, p.80). It is observed that “the individual, the family, schools, workplaces, local and state government, and communities, and organizations have to be part of the solution” (Stern and Kazaks, 2009, p.80). References Barnett, A.H., Barnett, T. and Kumar,S 2009. Obesity and diabetes, John Wiley & Sons, London. Blackburn, G.L. and Kanders, B.S.1994, Obesity: pathophysiology, psychology, and treatment, Jones & Bartlett, Burlington, MA. Bray, G.A. and Bouchard, C. 2004, Handbook of obesity: clinical applications vol.1, CRC Press, London. Eckel, R.H. 2003, Obesity: mechanisms and clinical management, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia. James, L.C. and Linton, J.C. 2008, Handbook of obesity intervention for the lifespan, Springer, Berlin. National Health Service. n.d., Obesity, Department of Health UK, London, viewed 06 May 2012, < http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Obesity/Pages/Introduction.aspx>. Ruane, J.M. and Cerulo, K.A., 2004, Second thoughts: seeing conventional wisdom through the sociological eye, Pine Forge Press, Los Angeles. Sizer, F.S., Piche’, L.A. and Whitney, E.N. 2011, Nutrition: concepts and controversies, Cengage Learning, London. Stern, J.S. and Kazaks, A. 2009, Obesity: a reference handbook, ABC-CLIO, California. Tischila, G. and Johnstone, A. 2010, Fat matters: from sociology to science, M&K Update Ltd, Cumbria. Wadden, T.A. and Stunkard, A.J., 2004, Handbook of obesity treatment, Guilford Press, New York. World Health Organisation 2012, Obesity and Overwieght, World Health Organisation, viewed 06 May 2012, . World Health Organisation, 2000, Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic, World Health Organisation, Geneva. Read More