Healthcare Report: BMED 2001 - Global Obesity Epidemic and Solutions

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the global obesity epidemic, examining its escalating prevalence and impact on public health. It begins by defining obesity and overweight, citing WHO data and highlighting the shift from malnutrition to the current global health crisis. The report reviews literature on the causes, including energy imbalance, increased intake of energy-dense foods, and decreased physical activity, and discusses the negative effects of obesity on bodily systems and cognitive function. It explores the role of environmental factors, such as the abundance of food and the lack of physical activity, in fueling the epidemic. The report concludes with a reflection on potential strategies for reversing the obesity epidemic, emphasizing the importance of understanding energy balance and implementing effective prevention strategies. It also includes a discussion on the need for public health campaigns and efforts to promote healthy living globally, along with references to key research and reports.

Running head: HEALTHCARE
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Figure – The Obesity Epidemic
Source – created by author
With the end of the scale of the malnutrition, the context of obesity is one of the most
blatantly visible but most neglected challenges of the public health [7]. The figure above
highlights the changing pattern of the human nature, from the pre historical age till date. The
picture highlights the transform that the human body undergone through the age targeting
towards the global epidemic of overweight and obesity.
Globesity; named after the escalating global epidemic regarding the obesity and
overweight that has been paradoxically coexisting with the level of the under nutrition has been
taking over many pat of the globe.
Obesity and overweight are generally explained and defined as the excessive
accumulation of the fat that tends to impair the health issues. According to Vandevijvere [8] the
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body mass index is the simple index of the weight and height that is commonly utilized for the
classification of the obesity and the overweight among the adults in the world.
According to Goodwin [2] obesity is a major complex conditions with some of the
serious psychological and social dimensions that impacts people from all the age groups
specifically targeting the socio economic groups threatening bot the developing ad the under
developed countries of the globe. As per the reports by the World Health Organization, the
outbreak of the obesity as the epidemic has hit each and every part of the globe with the
globalization influencing the environment for gaining weight and health challenges [10]. The
reports furthermore highlights that the worldwide rate of the this global epidemic of obesity has
tripled since the year of 1975. As per the data of the year 2016, 39% of the adults of each country
on an average basis who are aged 18 years were overweight and among them 13.76% were
reported to be obsess. Most of the population of the world resides in the countries where the
obesity and overweight targets the mortality rate for the people more than the underweight. The
reports furthermore highlights that over 340 million adolescent and children aged among 5 to
119 were reported to be obese and overweight in the year 2016.

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Figure - Rates of Obesity
Source – WHO [10]
The figure above explains the growing rate of the obesity among the top countries. An
estimated amount of 41 million children and young adults were reported to be obese in the year
2017. While just under 1% of the adolescents and the children among the age 5 to 19 has risen
from the percentage of 4% in the year 1975 for over 18% in the year 2016 WHO [10]. This rise
has occurred among both the boys and the girls in the year 2016 and 19% of the boys has been
overweight. The context of the overweight and obesity are connected or linked towards more of
the deaths in the worldwide basis as compared to the underweight. The fundamental cause of the
obesity and overweight is the energy imbalance among the consumed calories and the expanded
calories. In the global basis, there has been an increased intake regarding the energy dense food
that have been high in the fat. According to Hall [3] there also has been an increase in the

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physical inactivity due to the raising sedentary nature regarding the changes modes of the
transportation and the increasing rate of the urbanization.
Literature Review
The obesity epidemic in the country throughout the globe has increased significantly.
This has specifically targeted the level of the population including the children, the adolescents
and the younger people. According to the analysis by Visscher [9], the rates of the obesity has
been increasing in much of the rest of the world. A large amount of the research has now been
directed for the better understanding and the treatment of obesity and regarding the efforts
related to the substantial public health towards the direction of the reduction in obesity. As per
the analysis by Goodwin [2] obesity negatively affects the bodily systems. It is furthermore
inked towards the most prevalent and some of the costly challenges within the globe. This
includes type 2 diabetes, coronary artery disease, hypertension and some of the other forms of
cancer and the system of cognitive dysfunction. The research by several of the studies indicated
that 90% of the individuals belonging to the population who have type 2 diabetes are obese in
nature. The context of the visceral obesity is furthermore associated with the elevated
triglycerides, low rate of the HDL cholesterol and the formation of the LDL particles. There has
been numerous of the studies that has shown some of the major association among the obesity
and the cognitive dysfunction that furthermore includes the memory deficits and executive
functions. Another of the study by the researcher highlighted that the obesity and overweight has
been the context that is to be protective against the cognitive decline that is associated with the
mild cognitive impairment. According to Lind [4], the meta analysis of the prospective studies
showed that obesity, overweight and underweight are associated with the development of the
dementia in the life.

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Lind [4] in his research study explained the close relation among obesity and overweight with
the increased risk regarding the esophageal, pancreatic, thyroid and the cancers. These are
furthermore associated with multiple myeloma, malignant melanoma. With more number of
children and the young population becoming overweight and obese, they have begun towards the
development of the risk factors that are the related to the chronic diseases like hypertension,
dyslipidemia and hyperinsulinemia. The reports by Dietz [1] highlights the trends of the lifestyle
regarding the overweight and the obesity resulting from the interaction of various of the factors
like the genetic, metabolic, environmental and the behavioral influences. The rate or the rapidity
on which the obesity has been increasing rather than the biological changes that fueled the
context of epidemic. Decreasing rate of energy expenditure, increasing rate of energy
consumption together with the combination of both has led towards the balance of positive
energy and the marked the increase in the weight in the society. Rodgers [6] in his research
highlighted the factor that the inconsistent data over the intake of the energy suggest that the
increasing level of obesity might be more closely connected and related to the changes towards
the expenditure of the energy.
Reflection
There has been a big debate regarding how the obesity epidemic arose. The key lies in the
understanding of the regulation of the human body weight. The extent towards which the
physiological regulatory mechanism of the body serves towards the maintenance of the health
weight depending over the environment. I believe that there is a need for the importance of the
social and the physical environment has been facilitating the obesity and weight gain. Our
environment of food is abundant, inexpensive and served in a large portion creating physical
activity environment with some of the rare energy expenditure for the shelter, food and

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transformation. So what are some of the major strategies that we can use for reversing the
obesity epidemic. If the people in the world do close to nothing, the overweight and the obesity
of the population will continue to increase. According to Visscher [9] there needs to be some of
the relevant and effective strategies for addressing the issue of the global epidemics.
Figure – The prevention model
Source – Mitchell [5]
The figure above highlights the strategy for stopping of the excessive gain of weight.
This would ensure in the prevalence of obesity that would decrease with each of the successive
generation. Though it is expected that it might take a whole decade to reverse the epidemic of the
obesity, one of the positive view regarding this fact is that we might actually be able to maintain
and produce the changes of the behavior that would be needed for stopping of the excessive gain
in the weight. I believe that it can be summarized thus that obesity epidemic in the world has
proven very difficult for reversing. We have still not been effective towards the successful
implementation in helping the people for sustaining the physical and the eating patterns that is
believed to be needed for the maintenance of the healthy weight of the body. According to my

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personal insight, addressing of the obesity will require an understanding of the energy balance
and I think it will be easier from the energy balance approach to prevent obesity as epidemic than
to reverse it. We definitely need some of the mar successful model for the urgency to respond
towards the obesity epidemics. We should furthermore encourage efforts like evaluation of the
strategy, implementation of the strategic programs and the organization of the campaigns or the
knowledge for propagation of the causes of the overweight and why healthy living is essential
for each and every individual in the globe.

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References
[1].Dietz WH. The response of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the
obesity epidemic. Annual review of public health. 2015 Mar 18;36:575-96.
[2].Goodwin PJ, Stambolic V. Impact of the obesity epidemic on cancer. Annual review of
medicine. 2015 Jan 14;66:281-96.
[3].Hall KD. Did the food environment cause the obesity epidemic?. Obesity. 2018
Jan;26(1):11-3.
[4].Lind L, Lind PM, Lejonklou MH, Dunder L, Bergman Å, Guerrero-Bosagna C, Lampa E,
Lee HK, Legler J, Nadal A, Pak YK. Uppsala consensus statement on environmental
contaminants and the global obesity epidemic. Environmental health perspectives. 2016
May 1;124(5):A81-3.
[5].Mitchell NS, Catenacci VA, Wyatt HR, Hill JO. Obesity: overview of an epidemic.
Psychiatric Clinics. 2011 Dec 1;34(4):717-32.
[6].Rodgers A, Woodward A, Swinburn B, Dietz WH. Prevalence trends tell us what did not
precipitate the US obesity epidemic. The Lancet Public Health. 2018 Apr 1;3(4):e162-3.
[7].Rutter H, Bes-Rastrollo M, De Henauw S, Lahti-Koski M, Lehtinen-Jacks S, Mullerova
D, Rasmussen F, Rissanen A, Visscher TL, Lissner L. Balancing upstream and
downstream measures to tackle the obesity epidemic: a position statement from the
European Association for the Study of Obesity. Obesity facts. 2017;10(1):61-3.
[8].Vandevijvere S, Chow CC, Hall KD, Umali E, Swinburn BA. Increased food energy
supply as a major driver of the obesity epidemic: a global analysis. Bulletin of the World
Health Organization. 2015;93:446-56.

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[9].Visscher TL, Heitmann BL, Rissanen A, Lahti-Koski M, Lissner L. A break in the
obesity epidemic? Explained by biases or misinterpretation of the data?. International
Journal of Obesity. 2015 Feb;39(2):189.
[10]. WHO | Controlling the global obesity epidemic [Internet]. Who.int. 2019 [cited
16 May 2019]. Available from: https://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/obesity/en/