System Map on Obesity: Risk Factors, Current Scenario, and Interventions

This report discusses the concept of obesity, the main risk factors associated with obesity, a system map of obesity, and possible interventions to reduce obesity. It also provides a current scenario of obesity in the US and the world.

Running head: SYSTEM MAP ON OBESITY
System map on obesity
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Introduction
Obesity is a severe problem now a days in US and also in the whole world. There are
several factors that can lead to a person towards the problem of obesity. In recent time the
obesity condition of the US has become a great area of threat and the rate of obesity touches
the highest level according to a recent report. In USA, it is seen that, not only the adults but
the child and adolescents are also effected the problems of obesity now a days. In this report,
the concept of obesity, the main risk factors associated with obesity, a system map of obesity
and along with this possible interventions to reduce the obesity are discussed.
Current Scenario
Obesity refers to a medical condition in which the patients carries additional weight
due to deposition of excessive fat in the body. It is often seen that, higher body mass index
leads to the problem of obesity in the patients. The deposition of fat is supposed to be risky if
the deposited fat alters the health condition of the person. In case of adults, if an person has
the BMI of 25 or higher, he or she will be treated as overweight and the if the BMI is 30 or
high it is considered as obesity as per the guideline of WHO (WHO 2018). In case of
children under the age of 5 years the BMI range is 2 standard deviation above WHO child
growth standards median for overweight and 3 standard deviation above WHO child growth
standards median for obese and for the children between 5-19 years, the BMI range is 1
standard deviation above WHO growth reference median for overweight and 2 standard
deviation above WHO growth reference median for obesity (WHO 2018). In 2016, almost
650 million people had the problem of obesity (18 years and above). It is estimated that,
almost 41 million children (under 5 years) had the issue of obesity or overweight. Previously,
it was considered as the problem of high income countries (WHO 2018). However in recent
years, it was seen that, the low income countries of Africa had also the problem of obesity (in
children under 5 years) and it had increased almost 50% since 2000. In case of Asia, 50% of

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the total children under the age group of 5 years had obese or overweight issues (WHO
2018). Almost, 340 million children (age 5-19 years) had been suffering from obesity till
2016. In the time period of 2015-16, the prevalence rate of obesity in US was almost 39.8%
of total population that was 93.3 million of total adults (CDC 2018). In case of child and
adolescent, the overall prevalence rate was 18.5% that was 13.7 million children (age 2-19
years) (CDC 2018). However, in case of detailed age wise prevalence, it is seen that, the 12-
19 years children had the highest prevalence rate ( 20.6%), then the 6-11 years children had
the prevalence rate of 18.4% and the 13.9% of child ( 2-5 years) had the problem of obesity
(CDC 2018).
Factors affecting obesity
There are several factors that act as the drivers for the problem of obesities. Among
them a few can be listed as below:
1) Too much calorie consumption is a one of the major driver towards the
problem of obesity. In this case if a person consumes more calorie than that of he or
she can burn, the excess calorie will be deposited as fat in the body. In this context,
consuming of fast foods, dairy products, and fried-foods can also be driver for the
obesity problem.
2) Leading a sedentary life style is another major driver towards obesity.
3) Psychological problems like depression and related sleep disturbances
can also be counted as causative factors for the obesity.
4) Along with this, genetic factors can also be counted as driver towards
obesity (Katherine Marengo LDN 2018).

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System map on obesity
System map on the obesity is provided below:
Figure 1: System map on variables and cause of obesity
Leverage points
In order to change the pictures of obesity in US and as well as in world, the lever of
change is the increasing awareness among the people and as well as among the children. In
order to achieve this, children can be encouraged to do more physical activity so that, extra

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calorie cannot be deposited. Due to urbanization, it is quite evident that, the number of
playgrounds have decreased. So, more playground should be offered to enhance the physical
activity among the children. Awareness program can be launched in order to enhance
knowledge among the people. In the awareness program people should be given awareness
about the relation of obesity and depression. This will help them to avoid obesity in many
ways.

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References
CDC Cdc.gov- 2018. Adult Obesity Facts | Overweight & Obesity | CDC. Available at:
https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html [Accessed 16 Nov. 2018].
CDC Cdc.gov -2018. Childhood Obesity Facts | Overweight & Obesity | CDC. Available at:
https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html [Accessed 16 Nov. 2018].
Katherine Marengo LDN, R. 2018. Obesity: What is it and what causes it?. [online] Medical
News Today. Available at: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323551.php
[Accessed 16 Nov. 2018].
WHO 2018. Obesity and overweight. [online] World Health Organization. Available at:
http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight [Accessed 16 Nov.
2018].