https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/overweight-obesity
CNN posted an article covering how obesity has grown over time, as well as health problems that can be the result of obesity. The article had a large focus on obesity in adolescents as well as how wealth plays a role in obesity.
The article started with discussing obesity then and now:
Throughout the world obesity has been steadily increasing, this article highlights that significant spike in obesity and states that 11 million adolescents were recorded as obese in 1965 but as of 2016 124 million adolescents were found to be obese. This is something I find to be astounding because the number has increased far more than I would have guessed. Clearly this is an issue that needs to be addressed and corrected soon if we, as an entire world population are to remain healthy.
Then the author then went to health problems related to obesity:
It is known that being obese as a child leads to a higher risk of many health issues including adult obesity, type II diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and even some cancers.
Something worrying the article discussed was that we are now seeing 7 year olds with type II diabetes which is alarming because type II diabetes is known for being an adult-onset condition. This is something that I have heard about a lot in school and in the news in recent years. With type II diabetes on the rise to such an extreme that children are becoming affected there needs to be a change in the way we view overeating. Especially amongst children, holding parents responsible for the affects of food on their bodies and their children's bodies.
Later in the article the focus was on undernutrition and its correlation to obesity:
On the opposite end of the spectrum is undernutrition and unlike obesity, the level of undernutrition has been on the decline, but numbers are still too high to consider this a non problem.
As a strong point the article showed how wealth plays into obesity and diet:
An interesting thing the article stated was that obesity levels have come to a plateau amongst high income countries, but that does not belittle the significance of the obesity levels as a whole.
Also they talked about how the obesity levels are continuing to rise in low and middle income regions. Claiming this to be due to the access of cheep, unhealthy foods.
According to CNN, often times the trend was wealthier people were obese and poorer people were underweight but when countries become more wealthy it reverses and wealthy people become more healthy where as poorer people tend to eat the cheaper unhealthy foods. I think that something that needs to become more commonplace is having healthier options cheaper so that eating healthy does not feel like a privilege or something out of reach.
article used for above information:
I absolutely appreciate you looking at both ends of the nutritional spectrum! It is interesting that there has become a shift in obesity throughout the years, going from the wealthy being obese (because they could afford the luxury of sweets) to the poor being obese (because they could not afford the luxury of healthy food), and that society has done little to equalize that disparity (yay capitalism). Do you think that exercise plays a small role in obesity, and what schools should do to combat that problem?
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you brought up that childhood obesity generally leads to obesity throughout that persons life. I also liked how you stressed the increase of obesity throughout the years and recently has been becoming even more of an issue. I also thought it was important how you brought up the role that wealth brings when it comes the food people can buy and how that can affect obesity in a persons life.
ReplyDeleteI do think the most interesting thing about obesity is the relation to wealth and how that effects the health of different economic classes in society. It really is strange to think that we used to view obese people as "healthy" or well-fed, but not that is generally a negative, and I would think for good reason. The obesity epidemic is a huge problem, and I hope we can figure out a solution to allow people access to healthy food, regardless of wealth. The introduction of cheap, processed foods have done horrible things to the general health of our nation, while at the same time, being a cheap way for people to consume food.
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