Obesity In America Essay

Improved Essays
“According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 65% of the U.S. population is overweight or obese” (Wilder, Cheskin 1). Obese is the usual term for an individual that has accumulated excessive body weight that it becomes harmful to their health. Obesity is growing at a rapid pace among Americans as well as all over the world. Poor diet choices or excessive eating can lead to poor nutritional health and in turn creates health issues that are largely preventable. Obesity is reaching epidemic proportions and is affecting a large portion of American’s, poor diet, and poor nutrition are part of the lifestyle in the 21st century but as time goes on and more Americans are plagued with obesity they become ill and develop diseases that hinder their longevity; to fight this there must be a lifestyle change, a balanced diet and daily exercise.
Obesity develops because of poor diet choices, eating more and expending less energy leads to weight gain and that’s where the energy balance comes into play. ”The
…show more content…
While there is evidence that obesity is heritable that does not make it an excuse to not live a healthy lifestyle. While science has proved that genetics play a role in hereditary obesity a lifestyle change can be the answer to counteracting these genetic effects. Everyone has an estimated energy requirement that is based off of gender, growth, age, physical activity and body composition and size (Whitney, Rolfes 239). The energy an individual needs will be different from someone else and can vary greatly based on these factors. Genetics plays a role in body composition and body size but does not influence weight gain. Poor eating habits, poor nutrition and lack of exercise have a greater impact on weight gain than genetics which only effects the stature of someone’s body. Likewise genetics can play a role in hereditary diseases and weight gain can accelerate these

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    She also states that genetics do play a role in obesity; having one parent that is overweight gives a child a higher percentage of being obese, but if both parents are overweight then the percentage is even…

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    Obesity, a disorder characterized by having excessive fat, can have an effect on factors ranging from health to relationships and contributes to the leading causes of mortality in the United States. Obesity rates continue to rise as the years go by, and public health campaigns fail to address the main causes of obesity when attempting to prevent it, which is one of their main problems. According to the American Heart Association, “nearly 78 million adults and 13 million children in the United States have to deal with this disorder each day” (Understanding). Obesity can be caused by behavioral and hereditary components. Several genes work to contribute to increased hunger and food intake, as well as the decisions people make when consuming food.…

    • 1824 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Bad lifestyle and genetics are the two main reasons that contribute children of being overweight or obese. Therefore, life style changes might be needed when having an overweight child. For the adult obesity, the main strategy to reduce or prevent of being obese is also the same: improving the food habits and increase the physical activities (Stanford Health Care, n.d.). People can apply scientific knowledge on choosing the right food to help them consume enough nutrition and calories daily, though the recent scientific research has more findings in the fields of genetics that cause people fat and the gene therapy may be a trend for obesity treatment in the later generation; however, there are still many things that scientists need to find out, such as how effectively that the gene treatment can achieve or what side effects may occur, which means there are still many issues and unknown mystery on the gene therapy and need further researches in the…

    • 1544 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Do Genes Affect Obesity? There is no way to phrase it nicely, America is a nation of fat people. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a halt in the progress of this problem. Americans continue to grow fatter every year. The United States as a nation is shockingly close to the 50% mark of obese adults, with 1 in 3 adults being obese.…

    • 2287 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gene-environment interaction and its effect on obesity disease Unlike what is usually portrayed on media , obesity is not just a problem of unhealthy lifestyle but in fact influenced by genetic factor as well. Genetic factor is believed to attribute 40 – 70% in the development of obesity (Shawky & Sadik, 2012). In other words, environment, genotypes and the association of these two factors play roles in the phenotype expression, which, in this case, is obesity. With regards to environmental influence, obesity can be the result of many external factors such as energy imbalance caused by oversized food portions, physically inactive lifestyle, consumption of unhealthy food, smoking, emotional factor or improper sleep time (Marti et al., 2013).…

    • 1225 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Obesity is something many people recognize as running in families. It is also something that is medically known to be the result of the individual’s environment as well as genetics. According to The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, “estimates of heritability range from 30 to 70%, with the typical estimate at 50%, meaning about one-half of the variation in body mass within a population is a result of inherited factors.”(Lyon. Hirschhorn, Am J Clin Nutr Vol 82)…

    • 1106 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Through out the years many people have been suffering from this chronic disease called obesity. Obesity is a condition that affects a person’s body mass index; also know as BMI, it is when someone has exuberance adipose tissue in the body. It is one of the most prominent causes in the United States for disability and morbidity and has given a big rise in healthcare costs. The U.S population has grown tremendously within the years and obesity has taken over one- third of the adult population (approximately 78.6 million Americans) (Gregorie, L 2004).…

    • 1676 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Adolescent Obesity is a Two-Way Street Within America, the obesity rate among adults and children has almost tripled between 1976 and 2012. The drastic increase in caloric intake and decrease of physical activity creates an extensive energy gap which is widely accepted as a leading cause of obesity. Nutritionally, calories are within all foods, and are converted into energy. When there is an excess of energy, the body stores the energy as fat within the subcutaneous tissue, which leads to a gain of weight. Likewise, when a person expends more calories than they are taking in there is a shortage of available calories, and the body uses its fat storage to make ends meet.…

    • 1178 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Obesity is coined in the American Heritage Dictionary as a condition that increases body weight caused by an excessive accumulation of body fat. According to researchers, there are three main causes of obesity: genetics, lack of exercise, and/or a lack of healthy food in one’s diet. 1 Genetics is a contributing factor to obesity, but studies show that a mere one percent of obesity is caused by hormonal changes. 2 The second cause of obesity is one that is consistently up for debate.…

    • 1088 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    There is an important role of biological factors in the regulation of body weight. Some people are more susceptible than others to becoming overweight and obese. For instance basal metabolic rate (BMR) affects body weight and weight loss because some individuals naturally use more calories to sustain basic body processes. The size and number of an individual’s fat cells also help determine the amount of weight loss that is possible. Obesity is also partially determined by a person’s genetic makeup.…

    • 1226 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Overeating And Cancer

    • 1949 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The Connection Between Overeating and Cancer Food and nutrients are a necessity to live and thrive. However, consuming too much for this necessity can initiate a deadly chain reaction. Obesity is a disease stemming from various influences, such as the variety of food consumed and socioeconomic influences, but an important influence of this epidemic is overeating.9-12 Additionally, obesity is an epidemic impacting nearly 2 in 3 people within the United State population.1,2 Obesity as a disease is associated with elevated mortality, cancer, high rates of diabetes, hypertension, asthma and various other diseases.2-8 With this epidemic continuing to grow, the diseases correlated to obesity also are becoming more prevalent in society.3-5 Cancer…

    • 1949 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Obesity is harmful since it related with illness. Moreover, this could lead to very serious diseases. Obesity has become epidemic in The United States and affecting millions of American. Development of preventing way of overweight like active lifestyle, proper nutrition and good eating habits are extremely significant to avoid uncontrollably weight gain. Giving all those reasons, obesity is evidently preventable and not inherits.…

    • 1529 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Negative Essay On Obesity

    • 1557 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Obesity Obesity is a product from energy imbalance; it has become a major issue affecting citizen globally, especially in the United States. Over two-thirds of the population in the United States are overweight and one-third of the population is obese. Anatomy requires an unquestionable about of energy from food in order to keep life functions. The body will remain constant to the amount of calories the body burns but if more calories are intake than the ones burn, it will no longer remain equal which pushes to weight gain and obesity.…

    • 1557 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Risk Factors And Obesity

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages

    1) In a paragraph, summarize the article overall. In today’s society, Obesity, a common problem found in almost every state is a new disease that is fast approaching. This article provided a lot of statistics on the variety of people who are obese, risk factors, causes of overweight and obesity, and provided many questions and answers that were very informational. Between 2003-2006 and 2007-2008 the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that over two-thirds of adults in the United States are obese.…

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Obesity At Risk Essay

    • 1046 Words
    • 4 Pages

    There are many other contribute to obesity but because of the learning and developmental stage we know a few reason why people are obese. If their experience is reward based the neurological tissue with develop under the same manner. If the reward program is food based, ultimately it will lead to obesity because the brain follows that pattern under these conditions Also found out that obesity is not only found in adults but also in children. However there are many ways that we can reduce obesity in America if we add a balanced diet in over everyday activity, reduce the constant munching and advertise some healthy food at times on…

    • 1046 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays