An Obesity Epidemic Particularly Amongst the Youth of Today - Essay Example

Causes of Obesity Name Institution Course Date Introduction Obesity remains is one of the major health challenges in the world. In both the United States of America and Australia, obesity epidemic has continued to cause a lot of havoc and health nightmares among the youths, children, and the adults. According to Shield and Mullen (2008: 26-59), obesity refers to the medical situation whereby excess body fat accumulates in a person’s body leading to the adverse health conditions. It is fully recognized by the World Health Organization as a universal scourge (Rivero 2013). The number of obese youths in Australia and the US has been on a steady increase. The epidemic has also continued to take its toll on people of various ethnic and racial backgrounds with the youths being the major victims in the recent past. There are many causes of obesity (Dietz 2004: 838-848). Causes of Obesity Youths in both the United States and Australia have continued to suffer from obesity. In these countries, existence of excess proportion of the total body fat remains a major challenge. 25% of male youths and 20% of ladies in Australia are either obese or generally overweight. The rate is equally high in the United States (Soren 2008: 21-26). Lack of Exercise In Australia, lack of adequate physical activities among the youths has continued to be a major health dilemma. The fact that at least one quarter of children who are aged between five and seventeen years have obesity while a third of the total youth population do not engage in physical activities hint at the major cause of obesity in the country. The youths in both the US and Australia do not engage in any meaningful physical activities due to the developing culture of laziness and preference for indoor games (Schlosser 2001: 5-17). Most youths in the US and Australia indulge in many activities that require very little energy. For instance, instead of undertaking bike rides, more than 61% of the Australian youths and 73% of the United States of American youths resort to playing computer games and watching television and other related indoor games. Worst still, most youths use cars to travel even for short distance trips that would otherwise require walking. Indeed, Australia and American youth population have been disinclined to engaging in outdoor and physical activities that it had been in the past five years. Sadly, these worrying trends have greatly contributed to increase in calorie levels in the youths. The youths formed a greater fraction of the more than 61% of the Australian citizens who were obese in the year 2008 (Soren 2008: 14-23). Food Promotion The manner in which food is marketed in both the US and Australia remain to be a very controversial issue. Most food chains deal in fast foods that are considered “sweet and merry” by youths. Sadly, such foods do not add any meaningful nutritional value. According to Fumento (1997: 3-26), most food advertisements focus on promoting “junk foods” that have little nutritional value. Some of the dietary recommendations in most food adverts only aims to enhance the consumption of certain food products while ignoring the actual impact they leave in their main target markets – the youths. Some food labels do not tell the truth on the possible dangers of their excessive consumption thus making the youths to be very vulnerable to all their negative effects (Soren 2008: 15-26). Most outdoor advertisements for fast foods trigger the youths to consume more “unhealthy foods” that lead to increased level of calories. It is evident that most food related outdoor adverts focus on censored fast foods and beverages. Consequently, more youths, who are the main targets of such adverts, get to eat processed food. As Rivero (2013) elucidates, the higher the number of outdoor adverts related to fast food, the faster the level of obesity among the youths. Unhealthy Eating Habits Consumption of excess calories among the youths has continued to prompt more medical attention from the medical expertise as more become inclined to consuming a lot of fatty foods. With its highest record of the obese population among the developed world, the United States’ youth feeding habits remains very wanting. Youth obesity menace has more than tripled among the youths due to increased eating habits. Most youths focus on consuming unhealthy foods. In both the US and Australia, the youths prefer to consume a lot of beverages and fast foods such as chips, chicken, fish, hamburger, sausages, noodles, meat, white rice, pizza, and ketchup, among others. Fast food chains have continued to have numerous negative health effects on the youths as they continue to entice them with a lot of tasty yet very dangerous food and beverages. The situation is worsened by the fact that most clients in fast food restaurants are youths (Soren 2008: 17-22). The youths have a higher preference to foods with a lot of calories. Poor nutritional consumption of food and beverages lead to sudden increase in body calories. Unhealthy eating habits combined with the problem of over nutrition are serious causes of obesity in both Australia and the United States of America. In these countries, obesity among the youths is mostly caused by excess fat in the body of mass index of 30+ including genetic and environmental factors. The youths ignore the fact that physically active people only need 2,500 calories while physically active woman need 2,000 calories so as to maintain a healthy weight. They also disregard the fact that only specific beverages and foods are needed to maintain healthy proportion of body calories (Soren 2008: 21-25; Mullen 2008: 6-34). Parental Responsibilities The competitiveness of the business market and changing lifestyle patterns has made the role of parenting to be more complicated and tricky. Most family ties have been negatively affected due to the fact that parents have become more focused on developing their careers and enhancing their economic wellbeing. The high cost of living in both the US and in Australia also demands that parents spend most of their daily hours at work. Rather than to accord the youths due attention and address healthcare concerns, parents mainly focus on addressing the issues of low income, education of their children, workplace challenges, and housing demands (Mullen 2008: 19-32). Some food labels do not comply with the good, health, and legal provisions of legalised food products. According to Dietz (2004: 836-857), most food adverts fail to offer the most appropriate intake guide. The situation has not been made any better by the evolution of work strategies where parents can now work from their home places. Parents have also increasingly failed to trust their children. Most of them no longer trust the youths with a lot of freedom to room around and engage in indoor games. Parents are no longer available to engage in outdoor leisure activities with their children hence most youths find themselves engaging in indoor activities. Ignorance of the youths on such crucial issues has continued to expose youths to unhealthy food products most of which lead to diabetes and a surge in the obesity epidemic. It is therefore evident that parental behaviours and lifestyle does not help to address the problem of obesity in Australia and the US among other nations (Jakle 1999: 23-54). Discriminatory Food Pricing The youths in Australia and the US form the largest population of the unemployed population. Poverty is one of the many causes of obesity epidemic among the youths yet this cause of the problem has continued to be ignored. This challenge is based on the fact that most unhealthy food products are readily available and accessible to youths than the healthy ones. Food pricing pertains to the issue of poverty and how it affects the youths’ eating and drinking habits. Although agricultural subsidies help to keep the price of food products lower, the price advantages do not always apply to all beverages and food stuffs. In most instances, the prices of fruits, beverages, and non-processed food remains high and unaffordable to the low income earning population (Hyattsville 2012: 7-18). Youths from poor families in the US and Australia tend to purchase more calorie-dense foods that have poor nutrient levels. Such youths can hardly afford health food products such as fruits, lean meats, fish, and fruits. As a result, they resort to processed foods that steadily contribute to the ever increasing rate of obesity and other related chronic illness that is common in both developed and developing countries across the globe. As Soren (2008: 23-29) elucidates, youths from poor backgrounds are at the highest risk level to suffer from obesity as they are extremely sensitive to the changes in the prices of food. Technology Information revolution has continued to play a vital role in the manner in which the youths in both Australia and the US spend their leisure time. Many youths have become more attracted to the “lazy type of leisure” activities that entail many indoor games and spending time surfing on the internet. Rather than to engage in outdoor activities such as athletics, football, volleyball, and social activities, most youths have continued to indulge in unhealthy eating habits and then spending their leisure activities in indoor activities. Calories continue to accumulate in their bodies leading to the obese endemic. Lifestyles in the main affected countries have not changed for the better despite of the fact that government agencies and many health institutions have remained steadfast in their effort to curb the menace Conclusion Based on the above analysis of the causes of obesity among the youths, it is evident that eating habits among the youths and families in countries such as Australia and the United States plays a major role in the prevalence of obesity. In fact obesity pandemic causes such as lack of exercise, food promotion, parental responsibilities, discriminatory food pricing, and information revolution and technology are intertwined with the concept of youths’ food consumption habits. Development of healthy eating habits, involvement in physical and dietary activities, and undertaking of public health forums aimed at sensitizing the youths on the existing health challenges remains very crucial in the fight against youth obesity. Legislative interventions aimed at curbing the obesity menace should also be put in place to enhance better health among the youths in both the United States of America and in Australia. Legal policies need to be formulated with the view to ensure that the level of exposure of processed food to the youths is immensely reduced. References Dietz, H (2004) Overweight in childhood and adolescence. New England Journal of Medicine, 350: 836-857. Fumento, M (1997) The Fat of the Land: Our Health Crises and How Overweight Americans can Help Themselves. New York: Penguin Books. Hyattsville, M (2012) National Centre for Health Statistics. Health, United States, 2011: With Special Features on Socioeconomic Status and Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Jakle, J (1999) Fast Food: Roadside Restaurants in the Automobile Age. Johns Hopkins University Press. Rivero, E (2013) Outdoor fast food ads could promote obesity, study finds. UCLA Newsroom. . Schlosser, E (2001) Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001. Shield, J E & Mullen, M C (2008) Counseling overweight and obese children and teens: healthcare reference and client education handouts. American Dieletic Association. Diana Faulhaber Publishers. Soren, H (2008) Parental responsibility and obesity in children. Public Health Ethics 1 (1), 13-29. Read More