Obesity: factors that cause it and impact on general health

Author: Iloka Benneth Chiemelie
Published: 5th May 2018

Introduction

In numerous literatures, obesity has been described as a very complex issue to address. It is the outcome of a combination of varied causes and contributory factors, which include individual factors such as genetics and behavior (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). In terms of behavior, it can include pattern of diet, physical activities, how medications are used, inactivity ad other external exposures. On the same hand, contributory factors in the society also include food and physical activities within the environment, skills and education, promotional and marketing activities that push people to consume.

Obesity is a serious and complex issue that majority of the countries in the world are addressing, and no single country has successfully reduce the prevalence of obesity in a significant volume (FRAC, 2015). Excess body weight has been described as having huge impact on individuals, the society in general and healthcare system in particular. Additionally obesity results to numerous other chronic and serious diseases, directly impact on mental wellness, and reduces the length and quality of life that someone can enjoy, with an overall higher degree of costs for the society. 

Main question

1)      Do people understand what obesity is all about and its impact on their general health?

Primary sub-questions

1)      What is obesity all about?

2)      What are the impacts of obesity on general health of individuals?

3)      Does genetic have direct impact on potential for one to be obese?

Secondary research question

1)      How can the impact of obesity be reduced in over to enhance overall quality of life.

Background Report

Obesity is general considered a serious issue because it is linked with poor level of mental health outcomes, reducing overall quality of life, and creating contributory factors that result to deaths of affected individuals worldwide (which include diabetes, stroke, heart related diseases and certain kinds of cancer) (Farpour-Lambert, et al., 2015). Obesity can generally be descried to excess weight – that directly impact on quality of life. Some of the factor that result to obesity include:

Behavior: although obesity is somewhat considered genetic, it is normally due to improper energy balance within the body. Unhealthy behavior that include poor diet pattern and irregular physical activities result to obesity (Farpour-Lambert, et al., 2015). For instance, consuming high volume of beverages that contain excess calories in the body without taking necessary preventive exercise for overweight does result to higher gain in weight. A healthy diet patter is one that follows established dietary guidelines (such as the dietary guidelines for the Americans), and it places more focus on consumption of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, low-fat, lean protein and dairy products that are free of fat as well drinking good volume of water. In the absence of these measures, personal behaviors does create higher chances for one to be obese.

Community environment: at some point, people tend to make decision based on the community they live in. For instance, the absence of sidewalks or safer trails might result to people not adopting bike or walking to stores or work (Farpour-Lambert, et al., 2015). The outcome will be that they tend to gain more weight by using cars as against those they would naturally be losing by either walking or taking a bike. Home, child care, health care and schools within the community can also influence the daily behavior of people. As such, it is vital to create the right environment within locations that make it easy to undertake necessary physical activities and consume healthy diet. Even if one is not opportune to have such facilities, taking necessary personal measures such as: home gym or enrolling to gym classes, can significantly help to control weight. In essence, the environment one reside in does have direct impact on the people’s health and chances of being obese based on the understanding that if the environment does not promote physical activities, such chances increases and vice versa.

Besides the two factors discussed above, there have been discussions that genetics might have direct impact on the potential for one to obese. However, indications from research does show that changes in the population of human occurs in such a slow state for genetics to be responsible for obesity epidemic (HM Government, 2016). Notwithstanding this understand, differences on how people responds to the environment that promote physical inactivity and intake of high-calories foods can be used to serve as a guiding formula that gene could potentially play a role in the development of obesity. For instance, if one has a gene for growing big, consuming such unhealthy foods might result to the person developing obesity in the process. Thus, it can be stated that gene does not directly result to obesity but other actions can actually combine with gene to enhance overall potential of one to be obese (PWC, 2015).

Thus, the answer to question of how gene can influence obesity can be answered as: gene provide the body with instruction on how to respond to changes within the environment. Past studies have also shown that there are variations in certain genes that have the potential of serving as contributory factor to obesity by increasing hunger levels and food intakes. It is not easy to identify a clear pattern of inherited obesity within a family that is caused by a specific variation of a give gene (monogenic obesity) ( World Health Organization , 2016). However, majority of the recorded cases in obesity are the outcome of more complex interaction between numerous genes and environmental factors that are still poor understood (known as multifactorial obesity) ( World Health Organization , 2016). Thus, while watching weight and eating healthy, one needs to be very cautious of any irregular development of the body in order to ensure that obesity is not given any room to exist within the body systems.

Proposal for Research

From the above discussions, it is now clear that obesity is a serious issue that results from varied factors that also demand varied functions to handle. Thus, the purpose of this research will be to understand the causes of obesity and how they can be cured. By understanding the causes, the research will seek to analyze the factors, how these factors are enhanced, and the outcome of these factors as it relates go to overall outcome of obesity. By understanding how obesity can be limited and potentially cured, the research will apply real-life cases that have been proven be successful, discuss the measures to be employees as well as enact necessary contingency plans to effect in cases where the applied methods are not working as desired.

In the UAE, there are numerous cases of obesity due to the high level of sugar-related and sweet products, as well as marketing activities that encourage such consumption. Thus, this research will also try to relate the study to the GCC countries and how obesity can be limited in the overall Arab world. 

References

World Health Organization . (2016). Ending Childhood Obesity. Retrieved from World Health Organization : http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/204176/1/9789241510066_eng.pdf

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Adult Obesity Causes & Consequences. Retrieved from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/adult/causes.html

Farpour-Lambert, N. J., Baker, J. L., Hassapidou, M., Holm, J. C., O’Malley, P. N., & Weiss, R. (2015). Childhood Obesity Is a Chronic Disease Demanding Specific Health Care – a Position Statement from the Childhood Obesity Task Force (COTF) of the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) . Retrieved from Clinical Information : http://easo.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Childhood-Obesity-is-a-Disease.pdf

FRAC. (2015). Understanding the Connections: Food Insecurity and Obesity. Retrieved from FRAC: http://frac.org/pdf/frac_brief_understanding_the_connections.pdf

HM Government. (2016, 8 8). Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action. Retrieved from HM Government: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/546588/Childhood_obesity_2016__2__acc.pdf

PWC. (2015). Weighing the cost of obesity: A case for action. Retrieved from PWC: http://www.obesityaustralia.org/files/Weighing-the-cost-of-obesity-Final.pdf