I have chosen to research the effects and factors of an obesogenic environment. The obesogenic environment is an environment that promotes overconsumption of and discourages physical activity; therefore, promoting weight gain and obesity in individuals and populations of individuals. This subject has interested me ever since I learned about it in my nutrition class. Before learning about this issue in class, I had always thought of obesity as the individual’s fault instead of looking at how society might be contributing to it. I thought the obesogenic environment was a really interesting way of looking at this issue and I wanted to learn more about it. Also, I realized that this topic has become an increasingly pressing issue and is something
…show more content…
Many people drive to work, sit behind a desk, grab some fast-food on their way home, return home tired, and sit on the couch to watch TV for the rest of the night without getting any physical exercise for the day. However, this is not entirely the individual’s fault. Society and the environment play a large role in this. Our society is based largely on what is of the utmost convenience and what will require the least amount of energy to receive what we want. It advertises unhealthy convenience foods, establishes fast-food chains next to areas where there are many people present such as schools and large businesses, and continues to develop technology so that our daily actions require increasingly less energy and involvement. All these conveniences help to further create an obesogenic environment. A study was done over a fifteen-year time period with over 3,000 adult participants regarding the effect of fast-food restaurants on obesity. It was found that the people who ate at fast-food restaurants more than twice a week gained about four to five kilograms and had double the insulin resistance than people who ate there less than once a week. “Fast-food consumption has strong positive associations with weight gain and insulin resistance, suggesting that fast food increases the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes” (Pereira, et al.,
Many people drive to work, sit behind a desk, grab some fast-food on their way home, return home tired, and sit on the couch to watch TV for the rest of the night without getting any physical exercise for the day. However, this is not entirely the individual’s fault. Society and the environment play a large role in this. Our society is based largely on what is of the utmost convenience and what will require the least amount of energy to receive what we want. It advertises unhealthy convenience foods, establishes fast-food chains next to areas where there are many people present such as schools and large businesses, and continues to develop technology so that our daily actions require increasingly less energy and involvement. All these conveniences help to further create an obesogenic environment. A study was done over a fifteen-year time period with over 3,000 adult participants regarding the effect of fast-food restaurants on obesity. It was found that the people who ate at fast-food restaurants more than twice a week gained about four to five kilograms and had double the insulin resistance than people who ate there less than once a week. “Fast-food consumption has strong positive associations with weight gain and insulin resistance, suggesting that fast food increases the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes” (Pereira, et al.,