Cause And Effect Essay On Obesity

We say one is obese when his body fat is accumulated abnormally within the body usually, 20% or more over an individual’s ideal body weight. The most commonly used modification, established categorizes obesity into three (WHO, 2000). Like any other problem, obesity has its causes and effects. Some of the causes include, diet (unbalanced diet), environment, as well as genes and family history. On the other hand, the effects can be categorized into three namely; physical, psychological and social effects.

One of the major causes of obesity is lack of a balanced diet. A balanced diet is a meal, which should contain all the classes of food in their specified quantities. One of the foods that people consume that brings about an unbalanced diet is junk food. Examples of junk foods include, burgers, fries, pizzas, and so on. These foods mostly contain unhealthy cheese in them, which make them high in cholesterol. Although cholesterol is needed in the body, it is needed in a moderate amount. Too much of it can be bad for our health. When there is cholesterol present in the body of an individual, it leads to obesity in most cases. As a consequence, some of the physical effect attributed to obesity in this case are, high blood pressure and heart failure. They occur when the excess cholesterol begin to interfere with the obese individual’s body processes leading to death of not attended or diagnosed in the early stages.

Another cause of obesity can be said to be the environment. Most of the environments people find themselves nowadays encourage obesity, as there is no access to stores that sell healthy foods. These days, fast food outlets, which mainly sell junk foods, are being opened in almost every nook and crannies where people reside. Because of the high-rise in the opening of these fast food chains, sometimes, people are left with no other option but to consume them. An effect, which can be attributed to this cause of obesity, is the social effect. This entails discrimination and other behaviors, which people show towards the obese because most societies emphasis on the importance of being thin. Most obese victims have admitted to have severally been called names, laughed at, mocked at, and what not. It is those tiny acts that build up and make them feel neglected and unwanted in the society. This in addition, leaves them with few friends that are confident enough to accept them for who they really are and not what they eat.

Also, another cause of obesity is genes and family history. Science has proven that obesity can be hereditary (Hirschhorn, 2005). In other words, obesity can be transferred from parents to their offspring. When a child has obese and inactive parents, the child has a high tendency of ending up just like the parents. Also, genes can affect fat storage thereby, causing the fat to be stored abnormally in the body, which as we know, leads to obesity. An effect of obesity that can be paired with genes and family history is the psychological effect. Psychological effects have to do with depression and low self-esteem. Obese people tend to feel inferior. This can be linked with low self-esteem because when someone has a low self-esteem, it usually tags along with depression.

Obesity has become a serious challenge, which millions of people around the world are facing. In 2008, more than half a billion people were obese and at least 2.8million people die each year due to overweight or obesity (WHO, who.int, 2014). In our opinion, healthy foods should be sold at reasonable prices and distributed to convenient stores around making it cheap, affordable, and accessible to everyone. Also, side walks and safe recreational parks should be made as a sort of motivation for people to exercise. Free health care seminars should also be conducted frequently so as to educate people on obesity, overweight and other health related problems. This should be so because everyone deserves to be healthy. As they say, “it is better safe than sorry”.

Bibliography

wikipedia. (2014). Wikipedia. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity#Diet

WHO. (2014). who.int. Retrieved from who.int: http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/obesity/en/

WHO. (2000). Obesity. Article on obesity , 3.

Hirschhorn, H. N. (2005). Am j Clin Nutr. Genetics of common forms of obesity , 82.

MoreLife. (2014). Morelife. Retrieved from more-life.co.uk: http://www.more-life.co.uk/Default.aspx?PageName=Consequences+of+Obesity services, U. d. (2012).

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Retrieved from nhlbi.nih.gov: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/obe/causes.html