Obesity - Why it Matters
Obesity as defined by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), is someone with a BMI (Body Mass Index) Greater than 30. Obesity is a chronic health condition that raises the risk of high blood pressure, type II diabetes, high cholesterol, Sleep Apnea, Asthma, emotional issues such as Anxiety, Sadness, Depression, and many other negative health effects. Obesity also brings economic burden along with it, according to a 2014 literature review, " In a 2013 study it was estimated that Total per-capita costs in the USA were predicted, using a Markov-based microsimulation, to be US $33,900 and US $70,200 (2013) over a time frame of 5 and 10 years, respectively" (Tremmel Et al., 2017, p.10). According to the CDC in March 2020, American Adults showed an Obesity rate of 41.9% nationwide with that number increasing every year. Obesity is not a problem without consequences and has been negatively affecting the quality of life of millions of Americans for decades.
Obesity Trends
Obesity has been on the rise in America since the 1980s due to a shift to a more sedentary lifestyle for more Americans and an increased availability of higher calorie less nutritious food. According to a 2013 NHANES study, "In 2003-2004, there were an estimated 133.9 million US adults categorized as having overweight/obesity/morbid obesity (BMI ≥ 25) (prevalence 65.2%), increasing to 160.1 million (prevalence 69%) in 2013-2014. An increase in the number of US adults categorized as having obesity/morbid obesity (BMI ≥ 30) was also observed, with 65.0 million (prevalence 31.7%) in 2003-2004 and 85.9 million (prevalence 37.5%) in 2013-2014." (Palmer Et al., 2019, p.311). These percentages are only going to continue to increase as society becomes more sedentary if more is not done to combat this trend.
Childhood Obesity
According to a 2017-2020 study from the Centers of Disease Control for children aged 2-19 the prevalence of obesity was 19.7% affecting about 14.7 million children and adolescents. There needs to be more to get this number down. Learn more about childhood obesity below
Combating the Trend
When it comes to managing weight, nutrition and, exercise are going to be integral to your goals. Learn more about Nutrition and Exercise by clicking the links below!
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Resources
My Plate
MyPlate is a government resource that helps with making healthy choices for your diet and gives knowledge about what should be on your plate!
American Heart Association
The American Heart Association is a resource that can give you more education about being heart healthy and various others health issues associated with the heart!
Live Strong
Livestrong is a lifestyle website that can help anyone with ways to eat healthier, lose weight, and live a stronger happier life!
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, May 17). Adult obesity facts. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved April 30, 2023, from https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. (2022, May 17).
Childhood obesity facts. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved April 30, 2023, from https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html
Palmer, M. K., & Toth, P. P. (2019). Trends in lipids, obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes mellitus in the united states: An NHANES analysis (2003‐2004 to 2013‐ 2014). Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.), 27(2), 309-314. https://10.1002/oby.22370
Tremmel, M., Gerdtham, U., Nilsson, P. M., & Saha, S. (2017). Economic burden of obesity: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(4), 435. https://10.3390/ijerph14040435