Causes and Solutions to the Obesity Epidemic

Ca drug abuses and Solutions to the fleshiness EpidemicPoor runing habits and the somatic wellness of 21st atomic number 6 human beings has become the centre of cosmeawide discussions. It is far to a greater extent decomposable than untaintedly understanding and using the nutrimentary study available. A commixture of an individuals financial position, geographical location and will business office be to blame entirely it seems as if un honourable scientific studies, ill-informed decisions by members of g everyplacenment and the avail mightiness of false education ar study(ip) contributing factors to the status quo. How eer, it is evident that healthy state ar little of a burden on society than those who overeat and do non match in regular exercise.Obesity is an epidemic defined as the abnormal or excessive fat accumulation of which millions of individuals around the world stick fallen victim to. The disease is preventable but much than 65% of the worlds state do it in beas where sonorous and obesity kills much than under weight unit, 10% of the worlds adult population is clinically obese and 40 million children under the age of 5 are classified as being overweight. The statistics are horrifying but the effects are evident particularly in the United States of the States where its affects are seen in every state.The obesity statistics in South Africa are no better. Currently 29% of men and 56% of women are classified as being overweight or obese and of those individuals 71% run through never tried to cut shovel in and 78% think that they are perfectly healthy. The blame seems to be on Westernisation and Urbanisation as come up as the fact that we are among the eminentest consumers of alcohol in the World.Obesity has double since 1980 and it is currently the 5th leading cause of death. The fix is near unsufferable especially with the current nonchalant attitude with regard to the addressing of the disease. The lack of pro d towards addressing the problem is evident worldwide, particularly in the United Arab Emirates where type-2 diabetes is now seen in children as young as the age of 10.It places that in affluent countries such(prenominal)(prenominal) as the UAE-where people are spoiled by higher incomes-that overeat rather than the sedentary life style is to blame for the poor health statistics. The adroitness of the problem took hold half a century back where their lifestyle changed as a resolution of population growth and urbanisation. The UAE staple fare now consists mainly of rice, bread and sweet fruits and the sudden explosion of spoken language services and restaurants has compiled the problem. According to Dr Kazem Behbehani, We need to invest heavily in livelihood, and so the UAE draft strategy was implemented. The aim is to educate the public with regard to health and diet and similarly target the manufacturing sector where it will emphasise ethical marketing and labelling stra tegies.The epidemic mint be lopd through a combined effort by the individual, society and the fodder industry. The individual has the indebtedness to limit zip wasting disease and partake in regular physiological activity. Society must show its sustained political commitment and sour pursuing a life of health, affordable and easily accessible. The biggest responsibility lies with the feed industry as they are the whizzs that should provide healthy and nutritious choices and checker responsible marketing.A nonher factor to consider with regard to the poor health of individuals around the world is the exuberant food industry. According to the Huffington beam most 50% of all meals consumed daily are away from home and unity in five breakfasts is eaten from McDonalds. The kilogram large gram calorie phthisis has surged since 1980 from 3200 calories per day to a whack 3900 and can be seen by looking at figure 14 that shows the changes of calorie intake over the past 40 years. The fact that at that place are over half a million fast food restaurants staking their claim around the world is a concern as it shows the lead for them outweighs the supply. McDonalds al cardinal feeds 68 million people per day and is the largest toy electrical distributor in the world which explains why children develop such resilient assent and trust with McDonalds at a very young age.Calorie intake varies according to gender, age and height. at that place are, however, calorie intake guidelines for adults. The recommended calorie intake per day for sedentary males and females is 2,000 to 2,600 and 1,600 to 2,000 respectively. If an individual is active these amounts increase, for males it is 2,400 to 3,000 and for females it is 2,000 to 2,400 calories per day. What some people do not realise is how many calories are in the food they consume particularly in fast food.If we compare the amount of calories in a fast food meal (regular burger, fries and a milkshake) fr om the three major fast food range of a functions around the world, namely KFC, Burger King and McDonalds one will notice that an individual would collect almost expended their daily calorie intake in one meal.McDonalds (Big Mac, Regular Fries and a coffee berry Milkshake) = 1780KFC (Burger, Regular Fries and a Crusher)= 1125Burger King (Whopper, Regular fries and a Chocolate Milkshake)= 1750As a result of the Patient Protection and affordable Care Act all restaurant chains with 20 or more locations in the United States are now required to post the calorie contents of their products on menus or boards. The calorie information is relatively easy to find but whether or not people use them is debatable but a study conducted by NYU Langone confirms that the measure of nutritionary information at fast food chains does not baffle an individuals choice in product utilisation. As a result it has no effect on the amount of calories consumed, 10 per centum of the respondents in our study said that calorie labels at fast-food chains resulted in them choosing fewer calories.A comprehensive study conducted in Boston and Philadelphia by Bryan Bollinger, Phillip Leslie, Alan Sorensen and their team base that, Mandatory calorie posting does inuence consumer behaviour at Starbucks, causing average calories per transaction to decrease by 6%. But the effect is insignificant when you look at figure 12.4 where calorie posting before and after produced practically identical graphs of calorie consumption. They also note that, Calorie posting did not cause any statistically significant change in Starbucks revenue overall.If calorie posting does not affect a friendships overall revenue one wonders why every fast food chain does not partake in global calorie posting. Whether or not the effects on weight outlet are statistically significant or not calorie posting should become the norm. Society needs to be continuously exposed to calorie posting if the effects on an indiv iduals health are to be meaningful.Bryan Bollinger makes an interesting find. It seems only reasonable to pay that the providing of nutrition information to consumers would assist them in purchasing healthier products. The composition is that consumers would be shocked to realise how many calories are in the potable and/or food that they consume. However, it appears that consumers at chain stores are more touch close convenience, set and taste, rather than the nutrition information. And those who do care about nutrition information and calories either do not go to fast food chains in the first place and/or are already well-informed because the information is easily accessible on company websites.If nutritional information were going to make a difference it would appear at chain stores, however, if they assume that the calorie consumption for all chain stores was reduced by 6% whence, It would imply a decrease in total calorie consumption on the order of 1.5% This amounts to a unstained 30 calories and if it was going to have any meaningful effect on weight overtaking it would have to be between 500-1000 calories per day.The make-up suggests that requisite calorie posting is only an acceptable policy if the benefits outweigh the costs. If anything they take to that calorie posting will encourage companies to offer more downhearted-calorie items and that the consumers exposure to this information will make them more aware of the nutritional value of the foods they eat. They conclude that, Our back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that average reductions resulting from calorie posting in chain restaurants will not by themselves have a major clash on obesity.The study does have its shortfalls and the effects of calorie posting may have been understated as they acknowledge in the paper1.The study assumed that the calorie intake of every individual was 2000 calories per day. They comment that it may be higher and this would mean that the reductio n of calories per day could be much higher.2.The study was only taken from Starbucks and this could understate the impact of nutrition information at other(a) chain stores. In their study they found that consumers were more sensitive to calories ingested from food and not beverages which doer that the effects of nutrition posting could be higher at other chain stores.3.The impact of nutrition posting could be much higher chain stores hiked tasty, low-priced, low-calorie products.The individual most significant factor on the state of an individuals health and eating habit is their diet. A diet is a concept whereby an individual eats food in a regulated sort with the aim to either maintain, increase or decrease their current weight. It is frequently used in combination with exercise but studies by the APA ledger (among others) have found that the majority of individuals regain all weight regardless whether or not they maintain diet and exercise.There are a variety of diets th at either restrict calorie intake or a particular macronutrient but meta-analysis of randomised controls found no difference in weight sack. It appears that as long as calories are reduced weight will be lost but it is also evident that the bar of certain macronutrients such as carbohydrates results in fast weight loss over a shorter extremity of time.Diets appear to a muster as a result of an individuals own miraculous weight loss and William tsine is no exception. In his Letter on Corpulence that he wrote in 1863 he describes his low-calorie and low-carb diet. Banting was morbidly obese and he deuced it on his love for farinaceous foods such as, Bread, milk, butter, sugar and potatoes these, said my exquisite advisor, contain starch and saccharine matter, tending to create fat.Many individuals-like Banting and others-do not realise that their daily eating habits have a perverting effect on their health. Generally poor eating habits result in a poor state of heath.Drinking alcohol Increases ones insulin resistance which results in the storage of excess carbohydrates in the form of fat and hinders its use as fuel.Compulsive snacking and food binging Eating large amounts of food (often driven by emotions) results in eating beyond the point of being full.Skipping breakfast It is by far the most important meal of the day and failing to eat at this time results in an energy drain, disruption of metabolism, reduction in the amount of carbohydrates burned and increases likelihood of snacking.Eating heavy meals before get along Your body fails to burn and digest the carbohydrates as fuel and as a result the body stores it as fat.Dieting is not as dim-witted as it is made out to be as many individuals have realised. However, Tim Noakes believes that the current poor health of individuals around the world is the result of an unethical study conducted by Ancel Keys that has resulted in decades of individuals failing to lose weight.The Seven-Countries Study con ducted by Keys is considered a case of manipulated bias. The study was published in 1953 by Keys who was already a well-respected American biochemist. In the publication he drew a comparison to the cholesterol levels in individuals and the amount of fat that one consumed. disrespect having enough statistics from 22 countries he only selected 7 of them that supported his theory. The countries that were omitted did not support his hypothesis such as Holland and Norway whose diets comprised of large amounts of fat but who had some of the lowest cases of heart disease. Conversely there were cases where fat consumption was low but heart disease was high such as in Chile.There were many flaws in Keys work1.The data came from 7 of the 22 countries that suited his theory.2.He failed to use randomised controlled clinical trials and only ever reported observational studies. As a result he could not prove his theory unequivocally.3.He never considered other variables that could explain the re lationship explored in his theory such as the growth in cigarette consumption.4.He was not a clinician and had never treated a patient that suffered from the disease.Political events such as the desperate need to bring down the food price and increase the wealth of US farmers allowed for the global exploitation of Keys false theory. Senator George McGovern cherished to restrict the intake of saturate fats and eggs by implementing the United States dietetical Goals for Americans (USDGA). The guidelines for the USDGA were compiled by Nick Mottern who had no formal training in nutrition science and now the American diet was based on 8-12 servings of grains and cereals a day so that they could successfully implement industrial scale exertion of corn and soy.US government agencies such as the National make up of Health used research budget to prove that people that maintain the guidelines will become immune to diabetes, heart disease and obesity. They spent over $700 million promoti ng the Food Pyramid but could not prove that a dietary change would produce significant health benefits. Figure 2 shows that the sudden increase of obesity since the 1980s is as a result of the USDGA. The stimulatory effect of carbohydrates on hunger results in the increase in calorie consumption and figure 5 shows that the increased consumption of calories from carbohydrates matches exactly the change magnitude rates of obesity from the beginning of the 1980s.What many people do not know is that out of all the macronutrients (fat, protein and carbohydrates) available the one that our body can do without are carbohydrates. Humans have the ability to obtain their energy requirements from proteins and fats-a process called gluconeogenesis-and there are no scientific studies that show that avoiding carbohydrates have short or long term effects on humanness. There are, however, studies that support the Low-Carb, High-Fat diet (LCHF) promoted by Noakes and his team as a more suitable m eans of weight loss as opposed to other diets. A study conducted by the New England Journal of Medicine in 2003 found statistically no difference over a period of 12 months but low-carb diets are a more effective means of weight loss over a shorter period of time when compared to low-fat diets. annals shows that ancient humans such as the Egyptians suffered from severe tooth decay, bone fractures, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. These are symptoms similar to those that we now see in many individuals today. It is believed that the Egyptians diet, like ours, comprised mainly of refined carbohydrates. As Michael Eades says in his book Protein mogul if such is the ultimately health diet, Rich in all foods believed to promote health and almost devoid of saturated fat and cholesterol then ancient Egyptians should have lived forever.There are many shortcomings to the LCHF diet promoted by Professor Tim Noakes as explained by Christopher Gardner in a presentation presented at t he Stanford University. One cannot confirm if it is the reduction of carbohydrates or the increase of fat in an individuals diet that is behind the miraculous weight loss. The mere fact that you are restricting your carbohydrate intake to extremely low levels means that you immediately reduce calorie intake and despite having the ability to eat copious amounts of fat one cannot eat a vat of butter without bread to put it on. The result of the LCHF diet means your endure shrinks and you have the ability to go without feeling hungry for 6-12 hours.There is also the important issue of fat loss versus muscle loss. Weight loss typically involves loss of fat, water and muscle. The aim of weight loss is to reduce the percentage of body fat. Muscle tissue, however, is denser than fat and a mere 10% reduction can have a dramatic effect on the shape of the body.The fact that muscle loss occurs is based on our primary Metabolic Rate (BMR). This is the amount of calories the body requires whe n at rest and is influenced by the weight and muscle mass of an individual. More muscle means more calories without any weight gain. In order to lose fat one must have a daily thermal intake that is greater than or equal to the BMR. Muscle and fat loss occurs when the daily caloric intake is less than or equal to the BMR.Maintaining muscle whilst losing fat is tall(prenominal) but muscle loss can be restricted by regular lifting of weights and satisfactory protein intake.There are many other diets such as the famous Atkins diet but a more late diet based on the idea that no two humans are the same and that means one should eat according to their hereditary make-up. The diet is as a result of Dr Peter DAdamos work that certain foods are beneficial to certain blood types where others are harmful.It is evident that there is just far too much information out there surrounding proper dieting and nutrition. Individuals are bombarded with information that could possibly be false and b ased on no scientific studies but even those that are could not work for some individuals. It comes down to will power. If one partakes in regular exercise, follows an eating plan that contains sufficient nutrients and stays committed then I believe that anyone has the ability to live a healthy lifestyle.Finally the effect of obesity on the ultramodern world is a financial one. It costs the United States government $ one hundred ninety billion a year in treatments alone and it is expected to rise to $344 billion by 2018. This means that the obesity-related treatments make up 10% of the yearbook medical spending. On average obese people spend 42 percent more on healthcare costs than healthy-weight people and obesity-related duty absenteeism costs $4.3 billion annually.In closing poor eating habits and the physical health of human beings is only partly dependent on the availableness and the understanding of nutritional information as the issue is far more complex. Individuals are b ombarded with information (correct or not) and are far more concerned with price and taste rather than their well-being. Simplistically, the more educated we are in nutritional information the more informed we can be as individuals to take responsibility for our own health. It is however clear that healthy people are less of a burden on society.