Obesity in America

Running heading : AMERICA 'S OBESITY TREND

Obesity trends in the U .S

March 2008

Obesity is considered a national health concern in the United States as a result of the large numbers of the population who are affected by it The Center for Disease Control (CDC ) classifies obesity as those persons with a body mass index of 30 or higher (as cited by Stobbe , 2007 . Over the past two decades the numbers of obese individuals have been staggering and within the last decade or so these numbers having been doubling among

children and adults (Byers Sedjo , 2007 . It is now common for obesity to be referred to as an epidemic , symbolizing its widespread prevalence not only in the United States but also throughout other countries of the world . Researchers , clinicians and affected persons , for the most part , have not been ignorant of obesity , its consequences or the need to decrease its prevalence in the population In fact , more and more programs are being developed and resources invested into programs geared at countering and reversing this epidemic However , even with the amount of attention obesity has garnered recently , it still continues to be a growing epidemic in America

The CDC indicates that national health professionals are aiming to reduce the number of adults affected by obesity to under 15 by the year 2010 . However , the accomplishment of this task seems daunting since it appears that , instead of decreasing the prevalence of diabetes is actually mounting (Center for Disease Control and Prevention , 2008 This worrying trend is not restricted to the adult population but childhood obesity is also being highlighted as a significant area of concern . Researchers are predicting that the current generation of children will probably be the first to have a lower life expectancy than their parents as a result of the prevalence of this disease and its concurrent effects (Schwartz Brownell , 2007 . In fact obesity in this age group and among adults is often referred to with such strong words as epidemic , crisis and emergency , emphasizing how seriously obesity is viewed and the terror , there needs to be a war on obesity so that it does not corrode the younger generation

Obesity statistics and trends

Increasing levels of obesity is not only a problem within the United States . Byers and Sedjo (2007 ) note that obesity prevalence is increasing throughout most countries of the world where there are poor nutritional habits and physical activity practices . Figure 1 depicts the ratio of the population affected by obesity in some of the major countries of the world . While the United States is by far the leader in obesity prevalence , the figures for the other countries are equally daunting . Approximately 27 and 10 of Russia 's female and male populations respectively are obese . Similarly the Australian , German and UK populations have figures ranging from 15 to 20 of the female and male populations . Of note the Czech Republic is almost on par with some segments of the US obese population

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