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Unaware Obesity Problems 

What Obesity Problems?  

     When someone hears the word obesity, most of the time, the first thing that pops into their head is a person that is around 500 pounds and unable to do anything for themselves. With this stereotype in our heads, it would surprise most people to find out that approximately 36% of US adults are obese. Even more scary is the fact that roughly 17% of children and adolescents are obese. The US has become the country known for having the most overweight people in the world and the majority of the people that are considered obese, do not realize that they fall into that category. A person is considered obese when their body mass index (BMI) is 30 or above, or approximately 30 pounds overweight. BMI takes into account a persons height and weight and is calculated accordingly. The main issue at hand is that the majority of people do not realize that they are becoming obese and that their children are approaching obese size. When surveyed by LiveScience , "60 percent of men reported that they were neither overweight nor trying to lose weight, compared with 50 percent of women who said the same." These vales show that there is a huge overlap in the amount of people that are actually obese and the average amount of people that say they are just plain overweight. A study was done in 2010 by HealthDay and unfortunately not much has changed since then. The percentages are very similar, of poeple who don;t realize they are obese, and the amount fo people that are trying to loose weight has not increased by a large amount. 

Obesity Prevelance in the US

Along with the main issue of the public simply not realizing that they are aboese is also the fact that the ones that do realize this don't know the health problems that can be cause from obesity. Some of the main health conditions that can be caused from obesity are:

  • High Blood Presure (or Hypertension 

  • High Cholesterol (or dyslipidemia)

  • Type 2 Diabetes 

  • Coronary Heart Disease 

  • Stoke

  • Sleep Apnea 

  • Cancer 

  • Osteoarthritis 

  • Infertility 

A vast majority of people know about the big health issues that obesity causes, like heart disease and diabetes, because those are very well known health problems in the US. However, a survey was done by The Associated Press- NORC Centers for Public Affairs Rsearch and they found that only 7% of people surveyed in the poll knew that obesity could be associated with causing cancer even though doctors have known this for years. Being overweight can make it harder for doctors to spot the tumors, which means that tumors could go unnoticed. Experts say that being overweight leads to the production of hormones that can lead to cancer cell growth. High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, and Stroke were barely mentioned in resonses from the survey and Infertility was not mentioned at all. Only 5% of people in the survey knew that obesity couuld cause respiratory issues. Studies have shown in the past that dropping a few pounds can help to improve symtoms of respiratory issues. The biggest shocker from the survey was that only 52% of those surveyed had talked about their weight issues with their doctor. If doctors are not bringing up the issue during appointments and not informing their patients of what the consequences of being obese are the patients may not know. When generations are growing up in households full of overweight people they do not realize that there is anythign wrong with this lifestyle. As Jennifer Dimitriou, a bariatric dietician at New York's Montefiore Medical Center, stated, "that's all you know, and that to you is normal." 

 

From all the surveys done recently it is obvious, and previously known, that people don't realize that they are obese and so they are not doing anything about it. However, now the next big issue at hand is the public that doesn't realize the health issues that are associated with being overweight and obese. From the facts listed from the survey mentioned above, it is clear to see that people do not take obesity seriously and knwo very little about this silent epidemic. These facts have got to be somehow made more available for the people and doctors also have to do their part and talk to their overweight patients about treatment options. 

Citations:

  1. What, Me Fat? Most Americans Don't Think So, Poll Finds - NBC News. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2015, from http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/what-me-fat-most-americans-dont-think-so-poll-finds-n128406

  2. What is Obesity? (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2015, from http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/themes/what-is-obesity

  3. Obesity survey suggests many Americans don't know fat can cause cancer, infertility. (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2015, from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obesity-survey-suggests-many-americans-dont-know-fat-can-cause-cancer-infertility/

  4. Adult Obesity Facts. (2015, September 21). Retrieved November 3, 2015, from http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html

  5. Adult Obesity Facts. (2015, September 21). Retrieved November 3, 2015, from http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html

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