Global Public Health: UK Obesity Causes, Strategies, and Actors

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the obesity crisis in the UK, framed within a global public health context. It begins with an introduction to global public health and highlights obesity as a significant health concern in the UK, citing its various causes such as poor diet and lack of physical activity. The report includes a literature review that explores the reasons behind the prevalence of obesity, discussing factors like junk food consumption and sedentary lifestyles, and detailing the associated health risks such as heart disease and diabetes. It also examines the current strategies implemented by the UK government, including pricing strategies and initiatives to promote healthy eating and physical activity. Furthermore, the report identifies key actors, including family members, friends, and the individuals themselves, and discusses their roles in addressing obesity. It concludes by emphasizing the importance of combined efforts from individuals, families, friends, and the government in tackling this public health issue. The report underscores the need for a multi-faceted approach to mitigate the impact of obesity and improve overall public health in the UK.

Global Public Health

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Literature Review.............................................................................................................................1
Reflection.........................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Global public health can be considered as the concerns regarding the health of the people
in a specific area or the whole country. It can also be termed as a study for improving and
achieving equity of health for all the people across the world (Han, Lawlor and Kimm, 2010).
Although, there are various global health problems being faced by the people of UK, but obesity
is termed as one of the major issues rising in the population of UK and its various causes,
including high blood pressure, heart attacks and deaths as well. The report is about involving the
identification of the issues of obesity and various strategies that can be used to deal with it. Also,
it includes some additional actors that play a very important role in providing support and help to
these people.
Literature Review
Why the obesity is a major issue in UK
According to Redsell and et.al (2011), although there are various health concerns with
which the public is concerned but the people suffering from obesity is increasing day by day. As
the global health issue in the report is taken as obesity as it is widely spreading in people of the
middle aged group as well as in children. From previous reports, it has been observed that
obesity also comes along the list of diseases which is the leading cause of death . The world
health organisation (WHO) has recently reported that more than 31.1 % of people have been
indicated as obese and these were having the body mass index of greater than 30. The obesity
factor may be because of various reasons such as by eating junk food etc. The obesity factor has
been seen in children more than in the middle aged people. It is because the children often take
fast food along with the daily meals. Also, some of them are lazy enough to walk and exercise,
so they sit or sleep after the intake. This helps in gaining fat, so they became obese. The topic
concerning obesity is important so that some ways can be evolved out for controlling the factor
so that a range can be decreased or come to a minimum level in UK. Obesity is not just about
getting fat, but along with this, it also includes the risk of various diseases such as blood
pressure, various heart diseases, diabetes etc. A combination of extreme food energy and no
physical activity is the actual cause of obesity (Dinsa and et.al, 2012). The causes of inactivity
are also because of the increased using of private vehicles, desk employment and more intake in
sugar or saturated fats.
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Along with the daily meals, people are also supposed to visit various café's and
restaurants where they have some extra stuff such as burgers, pizza, chicken, hot and cold drinks
which include of a huge amount of sugar in it, as more sugar intake is also considered as a reason
for getting obese, it affects the inner metabolism of a human body, thus the person gets obese in
an amount of days. It has also been observed that people who are suffering from obesity have
less sperm quality as compared to the men without obesity (Scarborough and et.al, 2011). Not
only it affects on the quality of the sperm, but also on the blood pressure levels of a human as it
can increase the blood pressure of a human very suddenly or also can make the person diabetic
because of the large sugar intakes.
Current strategies implemented by the government
There are various initiatives that are been taken by the government in order to protect the
population of UK from obesity. In the year 2011, it was reported that developing the Fat tax
procedure can help in reducing the issue of obesity in the country (Roberto and et.al, 2015). A
deal has also been signed after that in which pledges have been taken in the food industry for
promoting healthy eating. It is because in various products, it has been observed that some
alterations have been used like in edible oils etc., there is a huge amount of alteration involved in
it which does not provide the sufficient amount of nutrition to the human and it also consists
unhealthy fats. A healthy fat goes inside the body and after that it shifts in all the parts of the
body accordingly, specially when the person does physical activities as it loosen up the muscles
of the body and then the fat is being transferred to that each part of the body. But, unlike it,
unhealthy fats are the fats that after coming inside the body, sticks to some one part and creates
the fat there. It is unhealthy, thus it affects the specific body part and starts creating issues.
Due to the effect on the body because of the unhealthy fats, the person may have risk of
some specific issues which further either cause diabetes, high blood pressure, strokes etc. Some
further strategies have also been used such as the pricing strategy, minimization on the sugar
intake etc., which were initiated so that the people may depend less on the fast food and these
drinks (Arora and et.al, 2013). The minimization of the sugar intake in the drinks was also
started because the chefs and the other vendors were using a huge amount of sugar in the hot and
cold drinks which was also considered as a major reason for the increasing obesity. Along with
some modifications on the food, the government also made various efforts to make people
involved in the London 2012 Summer Olympics so that the people can join in and involve in
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various physical activities there so that it can act as a shorter method of dealing with the obesity.
The forte of government behind this was that the people will involve more and more in the
healthy and active life style.
The BMI between 18.5 – 24.9 is considered as the healthy weight, the body mass index
of 25 or above is considered as the people who are overweight, The people having body mass
index of 30 and above are known as obese and the people who have a body mass index of 18.5 or
under this range, they are considered as underweight (Williams and et.al, 2014). There are
various challenges as well while doing measure for reducing the rate of obesity in UK such as
the government changed the pricing strategy just because the people can take the amount of fast
food in lesser amount but it didn't affect much on people. They still consumed a lot of fast food
which can be considered as a challenge in reducing the overall rate. The government also
included the strategy of using less sugar in the drinks and also included some changes in the food
items, but the vendors after a few time just because to increase their sales, re involved the use of
sugars and specific ingredients because people were used to that taste and want that only, despite
of the fact that it has a very negative impact on their health and making them even more obese.
Additional key global health actors
As the problem discussed is obesity that has been increased over few past years and
various strategies have also been used for reducing the issue. There are various factors that lead
to the obesity in teens and specially it has been observed in children. It includes a variety of
actors in the whole procedure of providing some treatments or involving some strategies that can
be used for minimizing the issue of obesity in people (Han, Lawlor and Kimm, 2010). The actors
may be the family members of the obese person or the friends of them. It also may include
various acquisitions that helps in providing support and care to such people and help them in
motivating them about themselves. Providing proper motivation to them can be done by the
family members or any of the friends in a way that they understand there are very negative
effects of obesity on health. It is because in obesity, some portion of fat glues to the body and
there makes the person obese.
The family plays a very important role as the way they can make the person understand is
cannot be done by some person because in initial stages, it may result moderate but in after
stages, it can go even worse. It may cause very serious issues such as high rate of blood pressure
because of which the person can get even heart attack as well (Brownell and et.al, 2010). So, it
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can lead to death as well. At initial stage, more symptoms observed are that the person feels lazy
and also, does not feel able to concentrate over anything because the obese people feel sleepy
more than a normal and healthy person does. So, the family members can also include in their
diet all their child wants so that if the children will have that food in home only, they may not
feel important to go out to have it. In preparing the meal at home has an advantage that it will be
healthy as well as it will not be included any sort of mono sodium glutamate (MSG) or any other
ingredient for making it more tastier. MSG is said to be added in the fast food which makes it
even more tastier but is very harmful for people, specially if taken in regular intervals. The
property of MSG makes it so tastier that the people wants to eat that food more and people like it
to have it. There are various issues that can be happened with MSG which involves asthma
issues, weight gain, sleeplessness (Roberto and et.al, 2015). So, it is another factor that causes
obesity and children nowadays are more prone to the fast food. So, the family members as they
are acting a very important role in the child's health, can make sure to prepare such tasty dishes
at home itself so that the child may not feel important to go out to have these. Also, along with it,
the friends can involve the obese person in some physical activities such as doing yoga or going
gym. By these means, they will be able to lose some weight and they may not feel tired any more
(Finegood, Merth and Rutter, 2010). After all these important actors such as the family and
friends, the person itself is an important actor as after the hard work of the friends and family
members, it is the obese person itself who have to work hard on losing weight and understanding
that the obesity can lead them to various further troubles.
It may also cause death as it creates high blood pressure and also causes hypertension, at
some point the level of hypertension may increase and affect the heart directly which can cause
heart attack and further lead to death as well. So, the contribution of friends, family and the
person, themselves have to work harder to resolve this issue, thus it can help in achieving a better
health and a body as well (Han, Lawlor and Kimm, 2010). The government also has a very
important role because with the help of governmental strategies, it has been possible to affect the
pricing strategy and including orders regarding the utilization of the minimized ingredients that
can cause harm if taken in excess quantity. The pricing strategy have been involved so that the
people because of the maximized rate structure can spend less on the fast food intake, but the
problem get solved to a minimal level. A few amounts of population were observed as taking
less than before but others continued. After that the government involved the minimal usage of
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some ingredients that are harmful in extreme amounts. It involved that the vendors who prepares
fast food and the restaurants should focus on decreasing the level of some ingredients such as
MSG etc., so that for the people who still have it, it may not impact bad on it.
Reflection
As obesity is one of the major concerns of death in UK, various strategies have also been
used by the government but I think if the family members of the person who is obese focuses on
giving a proper, healthy and tasty meal to the child, they won't feel need to go out and have fast
food on daily basis. I think going for these meals often is a better idea when you are hanging out
with friends and enjoying but it can really harm if taken on a daily basis. I have observed that the
vendors make use of MSG in preparing such food items because it increases the taste of the food.
I think if parents will cut in the amount of the pocket money of people, then it may quite hurt the
children. Keeping a check on the pocket money is OK somewhere so that the children may not
go on a wrong path but interfering more in their life is not. It is because by this way, the children
even gets more complex to deal as they start to hide from parents, so according to me, the parents
should make a better bond with the children so that they may feel open with their parents and
share everything with them. By sharing a better bond, I think the parents can even make it
possible to make understand the child that the disadvantages of taking fast food. I think the
pricing strategy was a better option that was initiated by the government and it helped the
population to some extent. I think the support from family and friends can help the person in
realising that the obesity can cause further damages to their internal body afterwards. It can
cause various health issues such as heart problems, blood pressure issues etc.
I have observed various people suffering from obesity has a very high blood pressure and
it may further lead to heart problems as well which can even result in death as well. I have also
observed that the restaurant owners and other vendors make use of the MSG for making the food
more tasty such that people will come more there to have it and it will help in increasing their
employment but along with increasing their employment, it also increases the risk factors of a
person like increased rate of blood pressure, strokes etc. So, I think the person should be enough
understanding that they may control their intake of the fast food and should get involved in some
physical activities so that they can lose some of their weight and focus on staying healthy. So,
according to me, it will be better if the families focus on providing a proper and healthy meal so
that the child may not feel like going outside for having fast food and on a daily basis as well.
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The family members should cooperate with the children and make them understand that it is
good if dome often but not on a regular basis. I think this can help in getting this problem
resolved to a huge extent and also in minimizing the number of people suffering from obesity.
Implications of the learning
My whole understanding of global public health has been changed over this module as
some time before, I thought it is good to have fast food on a daily basis and it is cool enough but
later, I realised that there are various side effects of it as well such as obesity, one of the major
cause of death in UK. Laying on bed and watching television and having snacks, activities like
these are also not cool, even they increase the amount of fat in the body. I have learned that
doing physical activities are a must because one can only get obese if the lifestyle they follow is
lazy enough and includes only eating and sleeping. It has also been observed that the obese
people are likely to sleep more than the healthy people. They follow a lazy lifestyle. So, I learned
that going for a healthy meal at home is a better option that having fast food on a regular basis.
After this study, I suggest people that there is nothing wrong in having fast food at regular basis
but it should be done within limits. If the person takes it on a daily routine, it may affect very bad
on the health of the person, specially it can cause a risk for high blood pressure, strokes etc. and
it can also may lead to death. So, it is better to take preventive measures to control the issue of
obesity.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the report that there is a huge amount of population that is
suffering from obesity in UK, because of which they have to face various issues such as
increased rate of blood pressure, strokes, extra sleeping schedule etc. Out of various issues,
obesity is being chosen because it has been observed that the issue is increasing day by day in
UK and also causing to death. So various strategies have also been developed in order to protect
these people from getting more obese and also in developing various strategies that can help in
involving them in more physical activities so that they can lose some of their weight and focus
on being healthy not fatty. Also, it has been concluded that in this process, various additional
actors are present for supporting the person such as their family or friends. So, these measures
should be concerned for decreasing the issue.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Arora, T. and et.al., S., 2013. The complexity of obesity in UK adolescents: relationships with
quantity and type of technology, sleep duration and quality, academic performance and
aspiration. Pediatric obesity. 8(5). pp.358-366.
Brownell, K. D. And et.al., 2010. Personal responsibility and obesity: a constructive approach to
a controversial issue. Health Affairs. 29(3). pp.379-387.
Dinsa, G.D. And et.al., 2012. Obesity and socioeconomic status in developing countries: a
systematic review. Obesity reviews. 13(11). pp.1067-1079.
Finegood, D. T., Merth, T. D. and Rutter, H., 2010. Implications of the foresight obesity system
map for solutions to childhood obesity. Obesity. 18(S1).
Furber, C. M. and McGowan, L., 2011. A qualitative study of the experiences of women who are
obese and pregnant in the UK. Midwifery. 27(4). pp.437-444.
Han, J. C., Lawlor, D. A. and Kimm, S. Y., 2010. Childhood obesity. The Lancet. 375(9727).
pp.1737-1748.
Redsell, S. A. And et.al., 2011. Preventing childhood obesity during infancy in UK primary care:
a mixed-methods study of HCPs' knowledge, beliefs and practice. BMC Family
Practice. 12(1). p.54.
Roberto, C. A. And et.al., 2015. Patchy progress on obesity prevention: emerging examples,
entrenched barriers, and new thinking. The Lancet. 385(9985). pp.2400-2409.
Scarborough, P. and et.al., 2011. The economic burden of ill health due to diet, physical
inactivity, smoking, alcohol and obesity in the UK: an update to 2006–07 NHS
costs. Journal of public health. 33(4). pp.527-535.
Williams, R. and et.al., 2014. Addressing liver disease in the UK: a blueprint for attaining
excellence in health care and reducing premature mortality from lifestyle issues of excess
consumption of alcohol, obesity, and viral hepatitis. The Lancet, 384(9958), pp.1953-
1997.
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