AngeliObesityans
THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC IN AMERICA
2
The Obesity Epidemic in America Needs Urgent Interventions
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Section 1: Research Topic
The proposed research topic is ‘The Obesity Epidemic in America Needs Urgent Interventions.’ Increases in the prevalence of obesity are associated with increased risks of acquiring non-communicable diseases and significant psychological and mental repercussions. Changing food systems and a dramatic decrease in physical activity are major contributors to the obesity pandemic. Overweight and obesity have become increasingly common in the last four decades, with 6-8% of the world’s population affected by the disease in 2016 (Di Cesare et al., 2019). In the United States, obesity has reached pandemic proportions. Combating the obesity epidemic and reducing the gap in obesity rates between populations of varying socioeconomic status and geographic locations calls for sustained efforts and innovative approaches. To wage a successful battle against the obesity pandemic in the United States, the suggested remedies must be culturally adapted, sustainable, and effective.
Section 2: Controversies
Two shocking discoveries from government researchers in the United States garnered headlines, contributing to a heated debate regarding the obesity epidemic in America. The researchers revealed that overweight individuals have a decreased risk of mortality than lean individuals and that obesity and overweight contribute to significantly fewer fatalities in the United States yearly than was traditionally thought (The Nutrition Source, 2022). Unfortunately, many reports glossed over the fact that the government investigators’ findings are riddled with errors. The research is far from the last word on the association between weight and health, and it seems to have significantly understated the association between being overweight and mortality rate (Jaacks et al., 2019). They employed body mass index, the ratio of weight to height, to categorize U.S. individuals across three experiments to determine whether or not they were at an ideal weight.
While researchers have a general idea of what BMI range is related to the lowest mortality, pinpointing the exact range can be challenging because the method used to conduct the analysis can introduce bias into the results. Weight reduction may have been either unintended or purposeful as a function of the underlying illness (Omer, 2020). This phenomenon results in a healthy population and those who lost weight to illness but can have a body mass index below 25. The prevalence of smoking is higher among the learner population than the heavier population. According to The Nutrition Source (2022), investigators will discover increased mortality risk among lean persons if they fail to acknowledge both reverse causation and the detrimental consequences of smoking, undermining the deleterious influence of overweight and obesity.
It would be unwise to get confident about the obesity epidemic regardless of whether one believes the projections of fat-related mortality. In addition to increasing the risk of death, obesity has huge consequences for health (Wang et al., 2020). The United States has a major obesity problem, with one-third of adults and one-sixth of children classified as overweight or obese. The prevalence of obesity and excess weight is a major contributor to the development of numerous serious diseases and illnesses, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and even cancer. In addition to its obvious health consequences, obesity is also associated with many secondary problems, such as reduced mobility, diminished quality of life, and soaring healthcare expenses.
Section 3: Tentative Thesis Statement
The obesity epidemic in America requires urgent and sustainable interventions. The proposed study will develop an understanding of the mechanisms and links of obesity to associated diseases and employ the insights to formulate suitable and sustainable interventions for prevention and mitigation.
References
Di Cesare, M., Sorić, M., Bovet, P., Miranda, J. J., Bhutta, Z., Stevens, G. A., … & Bentham, J. (2019). The epidemiological burden of obesity in childhood: a worldwide epidemic requiring urgent action.
BMC medicine,
17, 1-20.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12916-019-1449-8
Jaacks, L. M., Vandevijvere, S., Pan, A., McGowan, C. J., Wallace, C., Imamura, F., … & Ezzati, M. (2019). The obesity transition: stages of the global epidemic.
The lancet Diabetes & endocrinology,
7(3), 231-240.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213858719300269
Omer, T. (2020). The causes of obesity: an in-depth review.
Adv Obes Weight Manag Control,
10(4), 90-94.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tahir-Am-Omer/publication/342812303_The_causes_of_obesity_an_in-depth_review/links/5f072a2292851c52d624a874/The-causes-of-obesity-an-in-depth-review
The Nutrition Source. (2022, August 2).
Obesity controversy: Flawed Obesity Study Minimizes Health Risks of Excess Weight.
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/2005/05/02/obesity-controversy/
Wang, Y., Beydoun, M. A., Min, J., Xue, H., Kaminsky, L. A., & Cheskin, L. J. (2020). Has the prevalence of overweight, obesity, and central obesity leveled off in the United States? Trends, patterns, disparities, and future projections for the obesity epidemic.
International journal of epidemiology,
49(3), 810-823.
https://academic.oup.com/ije/article-abstract/49/3/810/5722224