Obesity Among Native Americans

Obesity Among Native Americans 1
SOCIAL COMPLEXITIES AND HEALTH
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Obesity Among Native Americans 2
Social Complexities and Health
A more significant percentage of the current world population faces many
health complexities which are responsible for their poor or low standards of living.
The indigenous groups in every country, for example, are viewed to have a poor
connection to their respective governments. The impact of the poor relationship is
inclusive of discrimination based on resource allocations and service delivery (Dai &
Zheng, 2018) Examples of the social complexities and health problems that such
people face include a prevalence of obese conditions and chronic diseases,
maternal health problems, cases of suicide, teenage pregnancy, substance abuse
and cases of diabetes among other health issues. All the health problems
experienced by both the indigenous and non-indigenous populations have their
causes and the social aspects which determine their predominance.
With the choice of Native Americans as the indigenous population, this study
is set to analyze the status of obesity among such Americans and the social aspects
which contributes to the obese conditions among them.
The State of Obesity among Indigenous Americans
The indigenous Americans, who are also commonly known as the pre-
Columbians originally occupied both the North, Central and Southern areas of
America. However, because of procreation, their descendants are either based in the
same places or have migrated to other locations within the country. Obese
conditions amongst the indigenous Americans, just as for the entire American
population has been on the rise in the past few decades. Research studies by Kelley
and Lowe (2018) show that in the latest report by the Centres for Disease Control
and Prevention, North Carolina, Arizona, and New Mexico are leading in terms of

Obesity Among Native Americans 3
worse obese conditions and victims of obesity with a tied percentage of 75%
(Yackobovitch‐Gavan et al. 2018). Native American adults in other locations also
face overweight situations in different proportions with the lowest rates found in
Texas which is reported to have 51%. The high percentages recorded are proof
enough to show that almost the entire American population is affected by obesity in
one way or the other.
Various factors cause obesity. The factors include but not limited to lack of
physical fitness (behavioral aspect), the types of diets taken by multiple individuals
(nutritional aspect) and even the slowing of the rate of metabolism due to inactivity of
many organs as a result of old age (age aspect) (Garg et al. 2015, p.e296). If a
particular population has a high prevalence of obesity, then the mentioned three
causative factors and many other factors may be linked to the situation. Therefore,
there is no doubt that a more significant percentage of the Native American
population is first-hand recipients of the causative aspects. A blatant reality revealed
by an individual report on obesity showed that most of the Native Americans have
the exertion to access healthy and affordable food (Medvedyuk, Ali & Raphael,
2018). For that reason, they resolve into consuming whatever they find, regardless of
their nutritional values and contents. Other sources also claimed that the vast cases
of unemployment had pushed most of the indigenous Americans into towns and
cities to search for healthy living conditions (Haring et al. 2016). While at the cities,
they are always subjected to long working hours. The long hours is a reason enough
to bar them from having time for physical fitness.
Apart from the three major causative factors of obesity (nutritional, behavioral
and age), the high percentages of obese conditions among natives Americans are
also contributed by what are regarded as minor factors (Sainsbury, Hendy,

Obesity Among Native Americans 4
Magnusson & Colagiuri, 2018). The small factors include but not limited to
pregnancy, genetics, and lack of enough sleep. During pregnancy, many people gain
a lot of weight which is very difficult to reduce even after the baby has been
delivered. Other people are also subjected to some tasks which deprive them
enough sleep time. High percentages of those who lack enough sleep time tend to
feel hungry most the times. Therefore, they resolve into eating some foods which
have high-calorie contents. Genetics is responsible for the differences in the food
processing and storage of fat in the body. Some people’s genetics affect the speed
of metabolism and makes the body to retain a lot of fats (Sainsbury, Hendy,
Magnusson & Colagiuri, 2018). In such a case, there would be large percentages of
obese conditions in such people. The same issue is the case of a portion of the
Native American population which adds value to the percentage of obese victims.
Social Determinants of Obesity among Indigenous Americans
The surrounding conditions, where people partake their activities of birth,
games, living, learning, working and playing among others form the social
determinants of health if they affect the health of the residents. The primary
characteristics of social determinants are its ability to cause disparity amongst
people who live in a more or less similar environment (Niederdeppe, Roh & Shapiro,
2015) Discussed below are some of the social determinants of health amongst the
Native American population.
Education
The levels of education that an individual has pursued has a deep connection
with the vulnerability of such a person to obese conditions. Lower levels of education
are usually associated with low salaries and generally a living standard which is