Obesity: It Affects Alot Of Us

I can’t remember what newspaper I was reading but there was an article about the health effects of obesity. After reading the article I thought about how many women in my family who are classified as being medically obese. I result was that alot of my relatives would be considered obese. So I did some research and found some intriguing facts.

 Obesity affects more than half or about 80% of adult African Americans. (http://www.magicjohnson.org/GoodHealth/F...

 African American girls are more likely to be overweight than Caucasian girls are. The trends continues into their adulthood, as 30% of younger (18-30 years) and 77% of older (45 – 65 years) black women are obese compared with 14% and 46% for their white counter parts (Women’s Health Weekly, 2002).

Listening to those statistics are upsetting because obesity can lead to problems like diabetes, cancer, heart disease and hypertension (http://www.obesity.org/subs/fastfacts/Ob...

WHAT CAUSES OBESITY

I have read lots of articles about the topic and I have heard different things that can cause obesity. One of the causes of obesity is a lack of exercise.

An article entitled, Obesity Epidemic Threatens Health in Exercise-Deprived Society, outlines this fact:

In the United States, 61 percent of all adults are overweight, and while caloric intake has been rising, exercise has been declining. The latest US survey shows that 57 percent of Americans exercise only occasionally or not at all; a number that corresponds closely with the share of the population that is overweight (Brown, 2001).

Another theory is that genetics may cause obesity. According to an article in Good Housekeeping, people who are obese have low levels of a hormone called leptin. Leptin is a hormone that signals your brain that you are full. So basically if your brain does not think you full than you may eat more.

Also, we are eating more that before. The mighty super-size is one of the villains in our fight against weight gain. The Center for Science in the Public Interest issued a report about how supersizing effects our weight in their study called “From the Wallet to Waistline: The Hidden Costs of Super Sizing. A sample of this study is found in the article, Super-Sizing Blamed for Bulging Waist. “The practice of bundling, which is turning a fast food sandwich into a meal by adding serving of fries and a soft drink is responsible for some of the biggest caloric boost.” (Warner, 2002)

WHAT TREATMENTS ARE AVAIBLE

There are quite a few things that can be done if you are suffering from obesity. Right now the government is getting involved in the fight against obesity. The president’s administration is pushing for us to start exercising. In June 2002 they issued a 16-page booklet that gives recommendations on exercising and health.