Obesity

Why the Poor are not Necessarily Thin and Other Obesity Issues

For the past decades , the number of people suffering from obesity has increased dramatically . Being obese means you have excess fat stored in your body or you are over the normal weight that is required for your Body Mass Index (BMI . There are different measures for children and adults . Normally , for adults , when you reach a BMI of 30 or even higher you are considered to be obese [CDC , 2007 Lissau , 2004] . In the United States alone , there exists a 25 or

greater prevalence rate for 22 states [CDC , 2007] . What is more daunting is that even the poor suffer from obesity . We think before that the poor are usually malnourished because they do not have the resources to buy their basic needs . This also implies that the poor as well , are not aware of the nutrients contained in the food that they buy . Thus , they settle for the foods that are cheap and can easily make them full , but not necessarily healthy . Usually , those foods are high in calories . Most of the studies reveal that highest rates of obesity come from the poorest households [Kim , 2005 Sturm , 2001] . For this , I will be discussing how obesity affects almost everyone in the population , even the have-nots and the children . More so , I will be discussing the effect of obesity in the society and the economy

In an interview with Dr . Adam Drewnowski , director of the Nutritional Sciences Program in the UW School of Public Health and Community Medicine , he said that obesity is not just rooted to genetics but also by incomes and zip codes ' [Degginger , 2004] . He said that there are a lot of reasons why the poor have restricted access to healthier foods He said that it can be blamed to food pricing , marketing , school and work schedules or even transportation and access to the nearest grocery store

Obesity is a result of energy imbalance [CDC , 2007 NCHS , 1999] . This imbalance is measured through calories . If the calories consumed are greater than the calories used in the body , then there is a weight gain The CDC thinks that genetics , as well as the environment in which the person is situated may add to the risk of a weight gain . The choice of food and the amount of exercise or physical activity also plays an important role in the scale

In the United States , there has been a rapid growth in terms of food with a lot of variants to choose from . Fast foods are just sprouting in every corner . We all know that fast foods are usually high in fat calories and sugar . However , fast foods are very convenient and cheap thus many people consume this over any other food [Hawn , 2007] . At least these days , businesses are starting to introduce more healthy products by providing low-fat or even fat-free versions of the product . However the intake can also be a factor because some people do...