Factors contributing to increase of obesity amongst women population within the United Kingdom - Essay Example

Factors contributing to increase in obesity amongst women in the United Kingdom Factors contributing to increase of obesity amongst women population within the United Kingdom In 2007, the Department of Health sounded an alarm that 90 percent the adults in UK will be overweight by 2050 (Health & Social Care Information Centre, 2013). The report indicated that between 35-43 percent of the women would be obese by 2030. The NHS spends at least 4.2 billion pounds in management of obesity. The women population in the UK is at high risk of obesity since the proportion of women with normal BMI declined from 50 percent to 39 percent between 1993 and 2011 (Health & Social Care Information Centre, 2013).

In the last decade, there has been twice as many females than males diagnosed with obesity in health facilities in the UK. In 2011/2012, the number of women (8,740 women) admitted in hospitals with primary obesity was thrice that of men (2,993 men). In the same period, the proportion of women with obesity increased from 16 percent to 26 percent since only 31 percent women participated in regular exercise (Health & Social Care Information Centre, 2013). The above findings make it worth to study the factors contributing to increase in obesity amongst women population in the United Kingdom.

The main factor that is contributing to increase in obesity among women in the UK is poor dietary choices. Women are the leading consumers of foods with high calories and extra carbohydrates that are not utilised by their bodies (Kopelman, Caterson and Dietz, 2010). Eating fast food in restaurants during lunch breaks in the workplace, skipping of breakfast and consuming high-calorie drinks are some unhealthy eating habits that are common amongst women in the United Kingdom (Alters and Schiff, 2013).

It is common for women to oversized portions and sweetened beverages that contain high levels of carbohydrates and other nutrients that contribute to accumulation of fat in the body. The second leading factor that is contributing to increase in obesity among women in the UK is sedentary lifestyle. Many women in the UK engage in less physically demanding work due to mechanised transport systems and labour-saving technologies in the workplace. In this case, women rarely engaged in physical fitness activities such as recycling or walking since they are committed in household duties or corporate work (Cappuccio, 2010).

Accordingly, most of the women in the UK prefer relaxing in their houses while watching television, browsing the internet and playing computer games thus leading to excessive calories in the body that are stored as fat. Moreover, most women relies on the usage of cars as opposed to waking shorter distances thus leading to inactivity that cause extreme weight gain since the body burns less amount of calories as compared to the one that is consumed (Walsh et al 2007). The third factor that is contributing to increase in obesity amongst women in the United Kingdom is pregnancy.

Many women often gain a lot of weight during pregnancy and find it difficult to lose such weight after the baby is born due to lack of physical activity and other family commitments in taking care of the baby (Public Health England, 2013). Pregnant women gain weight due to hormonal changes that facilitate the development of the foetus in the womb especially during their first pregnancy (Public Health England, 2013). In this case, weight gain during pregnancy and lack of enough breast-feeding will contribute to high risk of obesity among women in UK.

Bibliography: Alters, S and Schiff, W. 2013. Essential concepts for healthy living. Burlington, MA : Jones & Bartlett Learning. Cappuccio, F.2010. Sleep, health, and society: from etiology to public health. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. Health & Social Care Information Centre. 2013. “statistics on obesity, physical activity and diet- England, 2013” February 20, 2013. Accessed on 26th December, 2013 from http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB10364. Kopelman, P., Caterson.

, I and Dietz, W. 2010. Clinical obesity in adults and children. Chichester, West Sussex; Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. Public Health England. 2013. “Causes of obesity” Public Health England Publication. Accessed on 26th December, 2013 from http://www.noo.org.uk/NOO_about_obesity/causes. Walsh, M. et al. 2007. Watsons clinical nursing and related sciences. Edinburgh; New York: Baillière Tindall/Elsevier.