Introduction
One out of three American people is obese; this statistic makes obesity the most common health problem in the US. Obesity is a medical problem because it is associated with various diseases such as arteriosclerosis, coronary artery disease hypertension, and diabetes, among others. Food intake of obese people is not properly regulated by the body’s natural feedback (homeostatic) mechanisms. Moreover, since obese people have more body fat than normal people they have greater susceptibility to store more fat soluble insecticides like dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB). High amounts of these toxins inside the body could result in serious medical conditions.
Obese people also face the social stigma and economic disadvantages associated to obesity. They pay higher insurance premiums; they are “less employable” compared to normal job applicants; they have limited clothing choices; and worst of all, they are humiliated by people who do not understand them (Marieb 2006).
The Body Mass Index (BMI)
The Body Mass Index is the official medical measurement of “obesity and body fatness” (Marieb 2006). “It is an index of a person’s weight relative to height (Marieb 2006)” It is calculated by dividing a person’s weight (in kg) to the square of his height (in meters). A person with BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight while a person with a BMI of 30 and above is considered obese. Doctors claim that BMI is not a good indicator whether a person is obese or not because there are bodybuilders, for example, who have high BMI due to their muscles’ weight. According to them, there are a lot of factors to consider in determining whether a person is obese or not, but nevertheless BMI is a good estimation of the body’s fat content (Foster 2008).
Obesity Statistics (Foster 2008)
- According to National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, obese people have more than twice the tendency to develop high blood pressure compared to non-obese people. The agency also reported that almost 70% of heart disease cases in the US are associated with obesity.
- Obese women are more susceptible to develop colon cancer and breast cancer than women of normal weight.
- Obese people’s share of the total number of type 2 diabetes cases in the U.S. is 80%.
- Obese people suffer various forms of social discrimination that have profound effects on their psychological well being.
- Obese and overweight people are humiliated due to the fact that the world’s model for beauty is “slenderness” of body.
References
- Marieb, Elaine. 2006. Essentials of Human Anatomy and Physiology. Singapore: Pearson Education South Asia Pte. Ltd.
- Foster, Gary D. "Obesity." Microsoft® Student 2008 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2007.