The cause of obesity can be found in an obese society - Essay Example

The causes of obesity can be found in an obese society BY YOU YOUR SCHOOL INFO HERE HERE The cause of obesity can be found in an obese society The prevalence of obesity in developed countries has increased substantially and expeditiously, despite efforts undertaken by governments such as the UK and the United States to create policies and initiatives designed to promote healthier eating. To illustrate the depth of the problem, one study recruiting 555 different women between 20 and 34 found that a substantial 63 percent of these females were obese according to the WHO standards for body mass index evaluation (Drewnowski and Spector 2004; Prentice and Jebb 1995). It is not a phenomenon limited to only women, in fact obesity for all demographics maintains an economic cost equivalent to three percent of the UK’s entire Gross Domestic Product each and every year. Obesity imposes the most significant costs on the health care system, especially the UK where the state must incur expenses for individual health care. The general belief is that obesity’s primary causes is simple gluttony, promoted by consumer access to high-fat, palatable food products which incentivises choosing extreme consumption levels (Drewnowski and Spector 2004). However, there is evidence that obesity is caused by poor human nutrition factors as well as socio-psychological factors within a society. For the most part, obesity can be attributed to societal factors within an obese society and those who argue that genetic factors happen to be a contributor, which are beyond the control of the average consumer, maintain little justification due to the rarity of hereditary conditions underpinning obesity development. It is the obese society, itself, which exacerbates this problem in developed societies and this research illustrates what justifies such an assertion. Poor nutrition largely underpins the prevalence of increasing obesity rates in developed countries. One study which examined 5,200 women in the United States found that women who sustained food insecure households as a result of being at the poverty line had higher rates of being obese than women with more stable incomes (Basiotis and Lino 2002). A more recent, longitudinal study found a substantial correlation between childhood obesity and levels and food insecurity resultant of poverty conditions in the household (Eisenmann, et al. 2011). Poverty as a catalyst for obesity illustrates how obesity occurs as a result of an obese society. In lower-income neighbourhoods with a high prevalence of obesity rates within the population, it is a common norm to live sedentary lifestyles. Lower-income neighbourhoods have less access to recreational facilities, parks and other resources which promote more physical activity, such as bike paths. Lower-income communities also have higher instances of crime and unsafe playground machinery for children, which causes adults and children alike to spend more time indoors and participate in sedentary activities (Duncan, et al. 2009). Therefore, obesity is underpinned by social recreational activities, such as watching television or engaging in video game technologies, which promotes individuals in a community to adopt the same behaviours of sedentary living. Where the social norm in lower-income communities reinforce the acceptability of inactivity and general sedentary lifestyle, the obese society itself contributes to the problem of rising obesity levels in society. Furthermore, communities considered low-income also have more access to fast food restaurants, which are often located near schools (Simon, et al. 2008). Through clever marketing and budget pricing structures, fast food restaurants incentivise higher levels of consumer consumption in low-income areas, serving high-fat and energy-dense food products. Low-income children and adults are disproportionately exposed to these marketing campaigns in the local community, enticing consumption of high-fat and sugary foods (Yancey, et al. 2009). Hence, obese individuals in a low-income society have much more propensity to frequent fast food restaurants, enticing others in the social environment to partake in these unhealthy eating habits. In low-income neighbourhoods, production of a quality, home-cooked meal using healthy foods (such as rich vegetables) is much more expensive than procuring products off of a fast food restaurant’s Value Menu. Hence, it would be common in low-income regions of a developed nation for community members to regularly consume fast food products as a type of nutritional norm that pervades the social environment. It can be said, from a nutritional perspective in an obese, low-income community, that the causes of obesity are, indeed, a product of an obese society. For most humans, social belonging and affiliation are fundamental needs which underpin the future development of self-esteem for the typical community member (Weiten and Lloyd 2010). Hence, sharing a fast food meal together would be a common occurrence and a shared lifestyle value which serves as a catalyst for rising obesity rates within a low-income community. A study conducted by Baughcum, et al. (2000) also found that low-income mothers who were overweight failed to recognize that they were, indeed, obese. In this study, many of these overweight mothers from a recruited sample of 99 women had children who were obese and, too, failed to identify that their children were actually overweight. This study concluded that low-income, obese women were irrational in their conceptions on obesity, in a type of deluded state, which was attributed to poor nutritional education. Hence, in a situation where a community maintains many low-income, obese women, denying their overweight status as a social norm may well underpin why obesity rates continue to escalate in a community where there is poor nutritional education opportunities or where norms related to body image are highly distorted and unrealistic. When there is no social discussion about being overweight or seeking to lose weight for themselves and their children, the social environment may well exacerbate the problem of adult and childhood obesity in these low-income neighbourhoods where obesity is prevalent and widespread. This assertion is supported by Wang, et al. (2014) who found that it is becoming socially-acceptable for youths to maintain a higher BMI average which establishes that obesity is both conventional and acceptable at the social level. Ideas on body size are changing, promoting a social catalyst in an obese society which underpins rising obesity rates. From a hereditary perspective, one study found that genetic factors predict who will be predisposed to developing obesity within a society (Owen, Stride, Ellard and Hattersley 2003). For example, Bell, Walley and Froquel (2005) describe Prader Willi Syndrome, an autosomal-dominant genetic disorder that is caused by missing chromosomal factors which underpins extreme development of obesity. Yang, Kelly and He (2007) identify only 176 different cases of obesity that have been attributed to genetic mutations, another autosomal-dominant catalyst for developing obesity. Both chromosomal-related and genetic mutation-related forms of obesity are highly rare within a society (Nirmala, Reddy and Reddy 2008). Hence, in an effort to challenge the notion that obesity is underpinned by factors related to an obese society, it would be difficult to competently attribute genetics to why obesity has become so widespread and prevalent in developed societies. With so few individuals actually sustaining these exceptional heredity conditions, it would be erratic to assert that genetic factors in an obese society contribute to growth in obesity rates within a community. Few individuals can realistically boast heredity conditions as a cause of their obesity. Hence, in this situation in which an individual maintains chromosomal abnormalities or genetic-related mutations, obesity would be apparent whether society was obese or whether it was a more physically-fit community. There is simply no empirical evidence suggesting that genetic risk factors are commonplace and there are no studies available which illustrate a correlation between genetics as a catalyst for higher prevalence of obesity within a society. This speaks toward nutritional and socio-psychological factors as dominant contributors to what causes society to maintain a higher-than-average BMI. In a study conducted by Carr, Friedman and Jaffe (2007) which recruited 3,000 adults for investigation, it was found that sustaining excessive body weight was not psychologically distressing to the majority of participants. Many participants indicated that despite interpersonal discrimination related to being obese, obese individuals sustained higher levels of self-esteem than their thinner peers participating in the study (Carr, et al. 2007). These results were rather startling when the basic assumption would be that social stigmatization related to obesity would deplete an obese individual’s self-confidence and esteem. The findings of the Carr, et al. study tend to support the notion that prevalence of obesity and its continued problems to society are underpinned by an obese society. With obese community members finding psychological comfort and acceptability in their obesity conditions, this may underpin more outward confidence, self-assurance and certainty that being obese does not refute their social relevancy. Hence, comfort in obesity might support a certainty that being obese is acceptable, promoting others to give less psychological care to their condition, promoting excessive consumption of foods as it now provides the ability to belong socially without fear of chastisement or prejudice. This was supported by Wang, et al. (2014) who found that obesity was being accepted as a social norm, especially in children, which indicates that social sentiment about obesity is evolving toward acceptability and tolerability. One need only watch television programming which promote food-eating challenges, such as the U.S.-based Man versus Food, in which the main character is cheered on by others in a food environment to consume massive portions of food to win a challenge. The renowned network, ESPN, also hosts major-league consumption events each and every year which are sanctioned by the International Federation of Competitive Eating. These events which receive wide popularity have awarded $350,000 USD to victors of competitive eating (Dossey 2010). Therefore, it may very well be that an obese society contributes to rising obesity, with popular culture and media portrayal that excessive food consumption is acceptable and worthy of applause and prizes underpinning its growth and problematic aspects for society. With gluttony being promoted on television networks, this may underpin why obese individuals are more comfortable today with their obesity condition and are capable of finding psycho-social well-being which underpins more social incentive to engage in massive food consumption. Again, this reverts back to the psychology domain’s recognition of the need for social belonging and social support to build one’s self-esteem and confidence. When obese individuals, today, witness other obese individuals being praised and given compensatory rewards for gluttonous eating habits, it may very well spark a psychological reaction that obesity is a trend worthy of pursuing and there should be little concern about the potential stigma it carries. Social sentiment and opinion as a feature of identity construction for children and adults is very significant and important for many individuals in society. With such a dramatic social shift toward admiration and celebration of gluttony in many developed societies, the obese society, itself, continues to exacerbate the problem of obesity. Concepts of body image, to many, are gleaned through social attitude about what constitutes beauty and attraction. When media is active in promoting the glory of massive food consumption without iterating its potential unsightliness or health-related detriment, the obese society, again, contributes to its prevalence and underpins why more individuals might be over-consuming and therefore sustaining a higher-than-average BMI. Due to the rarity of genetic and other hereditary conditions which contribute to the development of obesity, this factor should rationally be excluded as having significant relevancy in society for promoting increased prevalence of being severely overweight in a society. However, this research identified that social norms moving toward obesity as an acceptable condition, shared sedentary lifestyles in the social environment, media approval of competitive eating, and a lack of socio-psychological discomfort for being obese contribute to why obesity increases in an obese society. With children sustaining a higher-than-average BMI being exposed in lesser proportions to social prejudice, it is likely they will continue these unhealthy nutritional factors and attitude of acceptability for obesity into adulthood, thus exacerbating the problem for developed societies. This research concludes that obesity is indeed contributed to factors associated with an obese society, an assertion given buttress with considerable evidence that the obese society is the main contributor to the problem of obesity and why it is becoming difficult to control in developed nations throughout the entire world. References Basiotis, P.P. and Lino, M. (2002). 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