Obesity and Nutrition

Obesity and Nutrition

The epidemic of obesity presents a significant challenge to the prevention of chronic diseases and improved health care across all life courses around the world. Catalyzed economic development, mechanized transport, industrialization, and sedentary lifestyle, and nutritional transition to processed foods and diets high in calories, many countries have witnessed the prevalence of obesity and overweight in double digits. Raising the use of processed foods, in particular, foretells in the staggering burden of disease in health care systems and individuals in the years to come. As a complex multifactorial condition, with behavioral, environmental, genetic, and socioeconomic origins, obesity elevates the risk of debilitating mortality and morbidity. Borrowing primarily from epidemiologic evidence published within the last half a decade, this paper provides a research-based discussion of the obesity epidemic and the use of nutritional guidelines as control measures. Even though obesity has led to an increased risk of chronic diseases, the use of nutritional guidelines offers significant steps towards reducing the effects of the disease in modern society.

The transition to processed foods due to industrialization, technology, and population growth has led to the rise of obesity in the modern world. Obesity leads to increased body fat, which is a precursor for numerous chronic diseases. Having excess body weight lift the threat of developing conditions, such as orthopedic problems, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, and respiratory ailments, Type II diabetes, and depression (Agha & Agha, 2017). Preliminary research has shown a close correlation between obesity and chronic diseases. Increased incidences of obesity also present challenges related to health care costs and economic hardships. The American Diabetes Association reported a secure link between obesity and diabetes type 2. The assessment revealed that being obese increases the risk of future diabetic conditions by a factor of seven compared to a healthy weight. Excessive body weight in young adults and children, for instance, are substantial risk factors for diabetes.

Statistical data from previous research indicates that since 1980, the obesity rate has nearly doubled in at least 200 million males and approximately 300 million women having obesity. A report by Haerens demonstrates that the rates have been gradually increasing in children. For instance, in 2016, 43 million children were reported to be obese, which was a 60% upturn since 2000 (Hruby & Hu, 2015). Drawing from the 2017 research on obesity and weight in children and adults, the fraction of obese and overweight adults has increased, which has also increased significantly in adolescents and children worldwide. While obesity is prevailing in all the groups, there is the presence of variation in their distribution across groups. It is mostly experienced in rural regions than in the urban areas, according to the report

The United States is documented to have the highest rates of overweight and obesity, with a third of the American population being obese. This trend is predetermined to increase to approximately 50% by 2030; besides, it is established that the sparse population has uppermost rates than the rich (Wilding, Mooney & Pile, 2019). The report adds that higher rates of obesity are associated with people with less education than those with higher education. For example, in America, Hispanic women are said to have a higher rate of obesity. Men and women have different rates of obesity. Likewise, there are growing facts that obesity rates are calming for children and adults, the report references. Nevertheless, the prices remain high in America, thus placing a high population of Americans at the danger of more top health challenges. The rates of unadorned obesity are progressing to grow in adults and more than in children, as shown in the following diagram (Obesity and Overweight for Professionals, 2015).

Racial and ethnicities profoundly influence the obesity trend in America. In the United States, Latinos and Blacks encounter higher rates of obesity in comparison with the whites. It is approximated that 47.8%, of Blacks, 42.5% of Latinos, and 32.6% of Whites are obese, according to Obesity and Overweight for Professionals. There is also the persistence of inequalities in income, whereby the poor are incurring higher rates of obesity than the rich. This rate has continued to grow over the years, making the obesity trend increase. According to the National Council of Health Survey Data, 27.5 percent of men were obese in 2000, and by 2016, the frequency of obesity in men had risen to 35.5%. Likewise, 33.4 percent of women were overweight in 2000, and by 2016, the rate of obesity in women had increased to 35.8% in 2010. Today, there is no significant difference from 2011 to 2016 among the population referencing from Obesity and Overweight for Professionals.

There are various reasons for the obesity trend increasing over the years. Research indicates that one reason for the increasing obesity trend is that approximately 30 percent of the United States population is a lack of regular exercise and proper nutrition. Moreover, urban and suburban are significant marketing places for processed foods. The high economic conditions also mean that people cannot afford to eat a balanced diet in at least three meals a day. So, nutritional deficiency and sedentary lifestyle factors reference the increasing trend in obesity may lead to adults with diabetes and heart disease (Wilding, Mooney & Pile, 2019). In addition, unhealthy eating behaviors have also contributed to an increasing obesity trend. In the United States, advertisers incur a great deal of expense, promoting unhealthy foods to the population.

This temptation is difficult to fight back for many who have become accustomed to consuming these foods, John and colleagues write. Worldwide, most nations also experience similar obesity trends as the United States. Perhaps, the spreading of Western culture is impelling the diets of other religions as well. As Ample establishes, the dynamics contributing to the increasing trend of obesity in America is the distribution of food (John & Komlos, 2010). Some regions in America are typically denoted as “food deserts” because it is hard to get reasonable food in these areas. American rural regions have equally hit the headlines for the absence of food stores other than the junk food that might be present at gas stations. Correspondingly, in the urban areas, according to Seidell and Halberstadt (2015), are, in most instances, signified by low-income and the minorities having limited access to restaurants and supermarkets with healthy alternatives.