Running head: LITERATURE ON OBESITY Literature on Obesity Introduction Obesity has become a serious problem in the United States. As a health issue, it has continually put people at risks of associated opportunistic health disorders, especially among 1 LITERATURE ON OBESITY 2 children. It has been identified as one cause of a poor, unhealthy population. In recent years, the prevalence among the population has been reported to decline (McFarlane, 2009). However, the number and the level of obesity among preschool-aged children are still high. In a study conducted recently, it was established from a sample population that children between the age of 5 and 19 were obese, and 70% tested positive for one or more opportunistic diseases. Obese people are more likely to be pre-diabetic. This is a condition where the level of glucose in the blood indicates a high-risk level of developing diabetes. Another condition diagnosed with obese children and adolescents is the high risk of developing joint and sleep apnea problems. Another issue related to obesity it is likely to have social and psychological problems like poor self-esteem and stigmatization. Obesity has affected children across all classes, but it is more dominant among children from the middle and low classes. The health department has moved in to minimize the cases of type-2-diabetes, stroke, heart disease, several types of cancer, and osteoarthritis. It has also been established that 80% of obese children and adolescents will be obese at adults, exposing them to the above health risks. The aim of this paper is to analyze the literature behind obesity. Obesity Overview Obesity has been considered as one of the current issues affecting people. Social health scientists have been working on the methods of reducing the increasing rates of obesity, but the fight has born little results. There are many causes of obesity among children and adolescents. First, hereditary factors are among the greatest elements analyzed as a source for obesity. A few types of research discovered that the level of BMI between 25 and 40% of obesity cases are inheritable (Van, 2012). LITERATURE ON OBESITY 3 Therefore, the genetic element represents a negligible percentage of childhood obesity, less than 5% (Sweeting, 2008). Hence, genetics can assume a part in the advancement of obesity but it is not the reason for the emotional increment in childhood obesity. The statistics on childhood and teenage obesity are shown in the figure below. Obesity prevalence trends among children and adolescent aged 12-19 years The living conditions have additionally been connected with the rise in instances of obesity. The food accessibility and the inclinations of relatives can affect the types of food that a person consumes. Others, like the family's living situation, such as inactive or physically dynamic, have been linked with the cases of obesity (Rudolph, 2013). High consumption of fast food has been linked with obesity in the current era. Numerous families, particularly those with both parents employed far from home, settle on fast food LITERATURE ON OBESITY 4 restaurants. The selection of these fast foods is also facilitated by the sense that most kids like fast food. In the US today, there are more than 300,000 fast food outlets. These fast food restaurants provide an easy avenue to access fast food. For instance, classic Americans chuck down four plates of French fries and three burgers every week. This is just a small example of the actual problem. However, it must be noted that most fast food has a high amount of calories with little health qualities (O'Dea & Wilson, 2006). As such, the excess energy from these foods are stored as fat on body linings, muscles, and along blood veins. This must be noted as a health hazard. Many parents with obese children consider it as just baby fat. However, if they continue to be obese throughout their adolescent years, then there is likelihood that they will be obese as adults. This may cause detrimental health problems such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, and noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Challenges developed when a child is obese latter turn to be diseases at adulthood. The health problems transferred by being obese include heart diseases, gallbladder issues, diabetes, cancer, sleep apnoea, and osteoarthritis. The American Obesity Association pointed out that children and teenagers with obesity are 12.6 times more likely to have high amounts of fasting insulin, which is a threat for type-2 diabetes (O'Dea and Wilson, 2006). When a person develops this condition, it becomes difficult to control other opportunistic diseases related to the contracted disease. When eventually one is put under medication, the survival chances start to decline due to medicinal side effects. Having a large weight may also cause bone and joint problems facilitate by the lack of strength. The American Obesity Association says that children grow bone and sinews, which might not be adequately strong to hold excess weight. LITERATURE ON OBESITY 5 Reilly (2005) an author of other obesity journals, indicated that obese girls and young women are at a higher risk of experiencing negative socio-demographic encounters. Women are more likely to develop psychological and social problems whenever they have an abnormal condition as compared to men. As such, obese women have a likelihood to develop challenges propagated by obesity due to their psychological torture. Annually, since the advancement of technology and availability of televisions in almost all homes in the United States, obesity has been rising steadily. With more channels, interesting programs, and video games, most children after schools and during holidays opt just to sit and watch these programs. The parents do not schedule them for exercise or a daily chore, which becomes a chance to develop obesity. According to the CDC, obesity has more than doubled from 15% in 1980 to 31% in 2000 (Sharma, 2006). This rise can be tied to the technological developments during this period. As a simple example, many times people choose the elevator over stairs for even as small as ten steps. This scenario spells a problem and demonstrates how lazy people have become in the technologically advancing world. Further, children cannot undertake few activities, since most of them, including the most basic chores have been automated. As such, there are no provisions where people especially children can work to maintain proper body development. Unfortunately, people often fail to see the real problem or only turn their head to the solutions. When a person becomes obese many health factors are put at risk. Obese children and teenagers have a higher possibility of developing health issues like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke, sleep apnea, and osteoarthritis. Sadly, these are just a few of the long list of health troubles. However, obesity does not always have to be the result. It should be a personal initiative to schedule exercises in a daily or frequent activities. LITERATURE ON OBESITY Recommendations Obesity in today’s society needs to be tackled with urgency. It has been identified as one of the health peril associated with several wellbeing dangers. There are sociological ties related to obesity and is dispassionately characterized by body weight list that appears to be extremely constrained. However, there might be space for sociological examination into how social elements affect the view of weight within families. There has been identified a striking difference between gender and the variables of obesity as it has been reported. To achieve an obese free society, it is important to analyze the conceivable causes in the look for sustainable solutions. The level of these causes also varies, and the approach would be different with unique solutions. Studies have set the change of social life as the major approach to minimizing obese cases. Further, the approach towards obese people should be such that there is no rebuking or being sluggish towards them as there is likelihood of lowering their self-esteem. Programs should be created by specialists to attempt and obstruct the main causes of childhood obesity. This exertion should be facilitated by all stakeholders. Since there are different causes of childhood obesity, it should be managed by the entire society. Conclusively, the people need to schedule diets that are more beneficial and ensure that there are adequate physical exercises all the time. The media, advertisers, parents, and schools need to assume their roles through the advancement of physical action and adhering to a proper diet, and not have garbage food and computer games as promptly accessible to the kids. 6 LITERATURE ON OBESITY 7 References Adegboye, A. R. A., Andersen, L. B., Froberg, K., Sardinha, L. B., & Heitmann, B. L. March 08, (2010). Linking definition of childhood and adolescent obesity to current health outcomes. International Journal of Pediatric Obesity, 5, 2, 130-142. LITERATURE ON OBESITY 8 Baur, L. A., Hazelton, B., & Shrewsbury, V. A. (January 01, 2011). Assessment and management of obesity in childhood and adolescence. Nature Reviews. Gastroenterology & Hepatology, 8, 11, 635-45. Burrell, S., Alexander, S., & Baur, L. A. (July 01, 2011). The management of obesity in childhood and adolescence. Modern Medicine: The Journal of Clinical Medicine, 36, 7, 16. McFarlane, J., Scott, H., Robertson, V., Gleeson, C., Vanderkroft, D., & Wilson, K. (2009). General practitioner and paediatrician self-reported capacity for the diagnosis and management of childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity. Nutrition & Dietetics. 66, 176-185. Murray, R., & Battista, M. (January 01, 2009). Managing the risk of childhood overweight and obesity in primary care practice. Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent Health Care, 39, 6, 146-65. O'Dea, J. A., & Wilson, R. (January 01, 2006). Socio-cognitive and nutritional factors associated with body mass index in children and adolescents: possibilities for childhood obesity prevention. Health Education Research, 21, 6, 796-805. Reilly, J. J. (January 01, 2005). Physical activity and obesity in childhood and adolescence. Lancet (london, England), 366, 9482, 23-29. Rudolph, L., Caplan, J., Ben-Moshe, K., & Dillon, L. (2013). Health in All Policies: A guide for state and local governments. American Public Health Association. LITERATURE ON OBESITY 9 Sharma, M. (August 01, 2006). School-based interventions for childhood and adolescent obesity. Obesity Reviews, 7, 3, 261-269. Sweeting, H. N. (January 01, 2008). Gendered dimensions of obesity in childhood and adolescence. Nutrition Journal, 7. Van, . M. M. T. (May 01, 2012). Obesity in childhood and adolescence : editorial. South African Medical Journal, 102, 5, 289. Food Waste and Obesity 1 Food waste and obesity Food waste and obesity Food is a very essential resource and in as much as many across the globe can afford it, a significant number of others can barely feed themselves. Those who can easily acquire the food Food Waste and Obesity 2 appear somewhat reckless both in their eating habits and way of life. Most often, people will prefer low-quality, cheap and calorie-dense foods to the healthy ones which are rather expensive. The calorie-dense foods come with body complications such as obesity as the body seems to store most of the food in form of fat under the skin. This coupled to the sedentary lifestyle that most Americans put themselves into only make an obese-friendly environment in the entire American country. About one- thirds of all edible parts of food produced globally for human consumption go to waste annually (Gustavsson et al., 2011). A study by SIWI noted that food losses and wastage could be as high as 50% from field to fork ( Lundqvist, 2008). Thirty - fifty percent of all food produced (1.2 to 2 billion tons) is lost before being consumed by man ( Fox, 2013). Food in this case is the independent variably whose characteristics stretches from availability in terms of cost, nutrient quality and the amount of calories it gives. Obesity on the contrary is the dependent variable. It is a lifestyle disease that only sets in depending on the food one eats and the life one live. The entire American population was used as the control experiment as depending on the lifestyles led and food ate, the population will either end up obese or not. In the United States many stores and supermarkets usually dump food which is good enough to be taken by the less fortunate in the society. Many dumpster divers which include the students and the slum dwellers usually try to find their way to the dumpsters to acquire a good amount but this is not allowed by the stores management. The United States can borrow from other countries which have reforms and legislations on how food should or should not be disposed. A typical example is France. In France, the president, Francois Hollande passed a reform that no store should dump away good food that is only past the sell-by date but not the expiration date. In fact, any store that is more than 400 Food Waste and Obesity 3 square meters should file a donation contract with the charitable organizations which will be expected to collect any food that has passed its sell-by date. These charity organizations take the mandate to deliver the food to the less fortunate in the society and thus promoting charity. Similarly, the food producers can be given a specific amount of food to grow and with the measures reduce any surplus food. This will come in handy in the quest to reduce the food disposal from the source and the end consumers too. This can be enhanced by controlled farming which is closely monitored by the government and all the produce is collected from farmers by one collector who will later distribute to the factories for processing instead of the factories directly buying from the farmers. Factors affecting food loss Methodology A retrospective study was used. Food loss was the dependent variable. Study area was in the USA and France Period: 1960 -2015 Data collection: Literature review (secondary sources) and internet Pie chart showing type of food and percentage waste Food Waste and Obesity 4 Column2 Type of food Fresh fruits and vegetables Dairy Meat poultry and fish Grains Caloric sweeteners Processed fruits and vegetables Fats and oils Eggs 2% 0% 0% 7% 22% 8% 10% 19% 14% 18% Processing decreases food wastage as seen in fruits and vegetables where waste is lowered from 22% to 8%. Fresh fruits and vegetables are the most wasted type of food by 22% . Below is the list from highest to the lowest. Laws gapping food wastage by preventing throwing away of food by supermarkets, and grocery stores (as it is in France). It was found that the US supermarkets and groceries throw away food amounting to 40 billion LBs worth $46.7 billion were thrown (NRDC pdf, 2010). Same source indicates that one in seven Americans lacks a reliable access to food. Instead of throwing away food, supermarkets and groceries should be donating to groups that are unfortunate. Food Waste and Obesity 5 A law that allows importation of locally produced food was found to increase wastage. Such laws should be changed to ensure that local foods are fully utilized. Enacting of law to lower tax on exportation, transportation, processing and storage of food to minimize wastage during surplus Comprehensive studies should be done by the US government to determine food wastage due to dating. This can be accomplished standardization and clarification of food date labels. As a result, consumers will not throw food due to misinterpretation or earlier expiration date. Businesses can adopt means that reduces food waste especially ones dealing with perishable food. Consumers can learn to notice when food goes bad, better ways of cooking and storing food to minimize food waste. Agricultural revolution has brought food surplus in Mexico and USA (IATP, 2009). Increased food surplus increases food intake and hence calories. Increased calories may cause obesity. My research will be a retrospective study. The data in column % food loss was converted to % by assuming x was 10% (It has no impact on the rate of change) thus 10 % in 1990 and an assumed 15% in 2015 Year % of obese % of food loss 1990 11.12 10 2015 29.3 15 Food Waste and Obesity 6 Scatter plot showing % of obese people against % of food loss % of obese 10 15 There is a strong and positive correlation between food wastage and obesity. An increase in the rate of food loss is correlated to but not necessarily a causation of obesity. Food Waste and Obesity 7 References J. Buzby, and J. Hyman. “Total and per capita value of food loss in the United States”, Food Policy, 37(2012):561-570. K.D. Hall, J. Guo, M. Dore, C.C. Chow, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, “The Progressive Increase of Food Waste in America and Its environmental Impact,” PLoS ONe 4(11):e7940, 2009. K.D. Hall, J. Guo, M. Dore, C.C. Chow, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, “The Progressive Increase of Food Waste in America and Its environmental Impact,” PLoS ONE 4(11):e7940, 2009 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), economic Research Service, economic Bulletin No. (eIB-16), “Agricultural Resources and environmental Indicators,” Chapter 2.1, July 2006, http://www.ers. usda.gov/publications/arei/eib16/. USDA economic Research Service, “Major Uses of Land in the United States,” Pub. 2002/eIB14, 2002, http://www.ers.usda.gov/ publications/eIB14/eib14a.pdf. Webber, “How to Make the Food System More energy effcient,” Scientifc American, December 29, 2011 Food Waste and Obesity 8
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