Causes and effects of obesity in america research paper examples

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What are the Causes and Effects of Obesity in America

Obesity is principally the unusual buildup of fat, normally about 20 percent, above a person? s ideal body weight. It is essentially defined as that body mass index, which is more or equivalent to 30 (Kiselinchev, Hill, & Green, 2003). The developing concern with obesity is due to the raised risks of disability, illness, as well as deaths to persons affected. In essence, every year more than 300, 000 people lose their lives to obesity related conditions (Rosenblatt, 2001). Several research investigations have demonstrated that more than half of Americans are overweight (Kiselinchev, Hill, & Green, 2003).
It is essentially about what is the physical facet of what results in excessive weight. More calories are eaten than the body is able to burn, and the undue intake of calorie is stored as fat tissue. It is, however, not clear about the precise cause of obesity. Rather, it is likely to be caused by a complex blend of factors. The factors like eating habits, genetic factors, an inactive lifestyle, quantity of fat in a person’s diet, physical activity patterns, and psychological factors, like depression, as well as, low self-esteem considerably determine how the body regulates the need to eat, and the rate of food conversion into energy (Kiselinchev, Hill, & Green, 2003). Obesity may as well be a side-consequence of certain disorders like hypothyroidism, Cushing’s syndrome, problems with the brain areas that aid in regulation of appetite, and use of certain drugs, like antidepressants or steroids (Kiselinchev, Hill, & Green, 2003).
Among the most highlighted impacts of the obesity epidemic is the direct medical spending. Obesity is associated with higher danger for numerous serious health conditions, like hypertension, asthma, hypercholesterolemia, type 2 diabetes, stroke, coronary heart disease (CHD), as well as arthritis. Direct medical expenditure on diagnosis and cure of these diseases, thus, is expected to rise with the rising levels of obesity. A number of studies provide prospective or retrospective figures of the extent of disease occurrence (Hammond & Levine, 2010).
On top of direct medical costs incurred by obesity, several more indirect costs are a portion of the overall impact on economic by obesity. Among these, impacts on productivity take the main role empirically. The report on the costs of productivity of obesity has been explained in a number of studies, with widespread agreement that such costs are considerable, but with significant differences in scale between the individual approximates, which can be associated to obesity, and of the quantity of related direct medical costs (Hammond & Levine, 2010).
As a result of comparative ease of measuring, studies approximating the absenteeism costs of overweight, as well as, obesity constitute the largest group of studies on productivity cost to date. Methodologies differ, even if the studies systematically find a strong relationship between obesity and higher absenteeism rates.
Even though, obesity raises physical costs, it is also now totaling to rising financial costs due to failure of insurers to cover a number of these physical ailments. Insurers tend to be cynical concerning the value of a number of the obesity cures. Nevertheless, for those persons who are cannot acquire approval as well as payment from their insurance carrier, they are coerced to pay out of pocket for cures (Kiselinchev, Hill, & Green, 2003).
The impacts of obesity are also applicable to the mental facets. Psychologically, many obese persons develop depression due to the how they look, and because they realize they fail to conform to the perfect society maintain them to. They do not just deal with internal psychological issues, but they are also externally being stigmatized in public for simply not meeting the bodily ideal of appearance (Rosenblatt, 2001). They are mentally forced to deal with stigmatisms and contradictions that frequently result in a risen reliance on food for comfort.
Obesity may result in a rise, in disability insurance premiums and disability payments. Such a rise could indicate a loss in productivity further than what is caught in data for absenteeism if recipients are not able to guard a job in total. In addition, a rise in the impairment rolls constitutes higher financial costs to the federal government (Hammond & Levine, 2010).
Obesity may also cause an effect on costs of transportation. Rises in body weight among the American people mean that additional fuel and, potentially, bigger vehicles are required for transportation of the same number of passengers as well as travelers every year. This gives rise to a direct cost due to more expenditure on fuel, as well as possible indirect costs in the form of more gas emissions from greenhouses (Hammond & Levine, 2010).
Obesity also been demonstrated to have a correlation with school attendance. The effect of school attendance on productivity and human capital is expected to function through its impact on educational achievement. Attendance could also have an effect on productivity through related parental work absenteeism. A study on the impact of obesity on school attendance found that the number of days lost from school is considerably more for children who are obese than the normal children (Hammond & Levine, 2010).
Obesity is also associated with early death where a number of research investigations have revealed that there is a relationship between obesity and mortality (Trogdon, Finkelstein, Hylands, Dellea, & Kamal-Bahl, 2008).

Reference Lists

Hammond, R. A., & Levine, R. (2010). The economic impact of obesity in the United States. Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity: Targets and Therapy, 3, 285? 295.
Kiselinchev, K., Hill, K., & Green, J. S. (2003). The Causes and Effects of the Growing Waistline of Obesity in American Society. Proceedings of the Academy of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict, 7(2), 75-79.
Rosenblatt, R. A. (2001, December 14). The Nation; Surgeon General Takes Stern Stance on Obesity. The Los Angeles Times, p. 41.
Trogdon, J. G., Finkelstein, E. A., Hylands, T., Dellea, P., & Kamal-Bahl, S. (2008). Indirect costs of obesity: a review of the current literature. Obes Rev, 9(5), 489? 500.