Causes of Obesity, Interventions, and Their Degrees of Success

This essay examines the multifaceted causes of obesity, including genetic predispositions, overeating, high-carbohydrate diets, early cessation of breastfeeding, physical inactivity, psychological factors, and underlying diseases. It highlights the impact of these factors on weight gain and related health issues. The essay then explores various interventions aimed at preventing and managing obesity, particularly in children, adolescents, and adults. These interventions include promoting healthier eating habits, encouraging physical activity, and implementing acceptance-based behavioral therapies. The essay briefly assesses the degree of success for each intervention, emphasizing the importance of comprehensive approaches that address both individual behaviors and environmental influences. The document is contributed by a student to be published on the website Desklib, a platform providing all the necessary AI based study tools for students.

ESSAY

Essay plan
A good easy plan is a combination of different ideas and logical thought that draws the
outline about the relevant topic. An effective plan state the manner that help to prove the
arguments and also includes the evidence that is necessary to use. It also assist to leave main
point in the mind of reader.
Topic: “Identify the main causes of obesity. Provide examples of interventions, indicating
briefly their degree of success.”
In present time, people in almost every part of world are facing various health problem
due to excess body fat. Obesity is defined as the complex disorder including an excessive amount
of body fat due to which people suffer problem such as heart disease, high blood pressure and
diabetes. There may be assorted reason due to which people gain huge fat it may be genetic,
behavioural and hormonal influence on body weight. Obesity mainly happen when people
consume more calories and do not perform any kind of exercise to burn fat. Nowadays people
are inactive with a sedentary lifestyle due to which they have wrong eating habits and eat
unhealthy diet. It can be prevented, when an individual prefer healthy and nutritious diet and
preform workout and involve themselves more on daily activity. This help them to lose weight
live a healthy life as its is precious to us and all should care about life.
Main Body
Main Causes of obesity
In UK, it has been stated by Public health England, that obesity is one of the massive
problem. It have been observed that two third of adult and a quarter of children age group of 2 to
10 are obese (Harriger and Thompson, 2012). According to SK Kim, it had been assumed that
overweight children are happen to become overweight adult and suffer long term ill health issue
and mortality. Therefore it is said that in case if a person eats large amount of calories in a day
and not able to burn or metabolizes then they use to gain weight as body use to store excess
energy as fat. Ultimately, body weight is the result of genetics, metabolism, environment,
behaviour, and culture (Causes of obesity, 2018). Some of these are discussed below:
1

Illustration 1: source: Causes of obesity, 2018
 Genetic: It is one of the major factor as a person have more chance of being obese in
case if both or single parent are overweight. Obesity happen to a child because genes for
parent affects the hormones involved in fat regulation and there is lack of Leptin in
children. Leptin is an important cell produced in fat cell that help to send crucial signals
to brain to eat less food when level of fat store in body is two high. So when body is not
able to produce enough leptin the signals are not send to brain thus control over eating is
lost and causing obesity.
 Overeating: As per the name suggest obesity happen to a person because of overeating
or easting food more than capacity. Because of eating too much of foods high in fat such
as fast foods, fried or oily food and consuming more quantity of sugar product like sweets
and some specific fruits and vegetable such as potato, Avocado etc. These types of
basically have huge calories in small quantity that contribute to gain weight.
 Diet rich in carbohydrates: The role of carbohydrate in increasing weight is very clear.
As carbos use to heighten the blood glucose level due to which insulin release by
pancreas. So insulin use to promote growth of fat cells which increase unwanted weight.
For example, an individual is used to drink beer, wine or soft drink on regular basis then
he/ she might have extra weight. This is because these kind of simple carbohydrate are
2

more rapidly absorbed into blood that causes insulin to extract large quantity of
carbohydrate.
 Breastfeeding is stooped too soon: This is also consider to be one of the main reason
that makes an individual overweight. If breastfeeding is stopped in early stage than there
are more possibilities of making a child faces obesity when they grow up. Children at
their growing stage need proper care as large number of functioning is going inside their
bodies like growing of muscles, developing of hormones etc. Thus breastfeeding helps to
protect child from becoming obese and also protect for them from genetic condition like
Prader-Willi syndrome that directly causes obesity (Pearson, 2012).
 Physical Inactivity: People nowadays faces weight gain problem very much as they use
to spend more of their time in front of a screen especially children age group from 8 to
18. Adult are more dependent on car and bike limiting the scope of walking or cycling. In
general technology has made people more sedentary or inactive due to which the gain
excess fat and surround themselves with this massive diseases.
 Psychological factors: In present world most of the people are not satisfied with their
life style such as unscheduled easting habit, emotionally disturb etc. Thus for some
people emotion also influence eating habits such as individual use to eat in response of
sadness, stress, boredom or anger. For instance, a person is not satisfied with their job
therefore they feel irritated or anger most of the time and loss control on eating this lead
to increase weight.
 Diseases: There are some major disease due to which people use to gain weight such as
Hypothyroidism, insulin resistance, Cushing syndrome. Hypothyroidism or overactive
thyroid is a state in which the thyroid gland makes an irregular or low amount of thyroid
hormone. In case if an individual suffering for these illness do not take proper care may
use to gain weight just by eating little quantity of food.
Examples of interventions, indicating briefly their degree of success.
In today's era, professional doctor or Bariatric Surgeon have developed different methods
of preventing obesity. This is because more number of healthy people living in a society will
lead to more development and growth of economy. Some of the basic intervention related to
obesity are defined below:
Preventing obesity in children and Adolescents and degree of success:
3

It has been observed that young people become overweight quickly as they do not evolve
in physical activities and are more likely to have poor eating habits. There are number of steps
that can be taken to prevent overweight of a child (Rossi, Lipsey and Henry, 2018). This
includes:
Improve eating habits: Gradually parent must be consider about child eating manner
and they should work to change family eating habit making a child to eat more healthy food.
“Change the habits and the weight will take care of itself.” Parent must guide adolescent to avoid
eating junk fast food, soft drinks and more often chocolates and must prefer nutritious food
product like mike, vegetable and fruits. For example, family have 2 children and both are
overweight and the reason is unhealthy eating habit of family. This is one of the best effective
step to reduce weight and have a high degree of success as soon as parent stop their children
eating unhealthy food they will start losing weight. Parent makes a eating chart for their both
children considering nutritious food and maintaining a healthy diet.
Encourage physical activity: Nowadays people are focusing to have a good physic by
involving themselves in more and more physical activities according to their capacity. It is
necessary that children must have an hour of moderate physical activity three times in a week
that help them to maintain good weight and toned body. For example, if an individual child is
founded to eat more and spend most of their time in front of T.V then it is the duty of parent to
move their child to play more and more outdoor games at least for a hour or more. This practices
of intervention also have a high degree of success as children those usually suffer because of
over weight will be able to enjoy fit and flexible life as soon as they start doing physical activity:
Preventing Obesity in Adults and degree of success:
Regular eating: Large number of adult people are engaged in business or Job that makes
them to sit for longer period of time. Thus this may lead to increased weight as they eat food for
once or twice a day. Thus to overcome the problem the use to make a proper eating chart that
includes five to six serving of healthy fruits and vegetable that provide sufficient calories. For
example an adult use to eat a cup of raw vegetable or cap of fresh fruit juice. This step have a
high degree of success as eating healthy fruits and vegetable help to gain suitable calories that
makes a body fit and fine.
Acceptance-based behavioural intervention aids weight loss in adults with obesity:
Most of the adult nowadays assigned themselves to the Mind health program that help them to
4

develop skills accepted from acceptance and commitment therapy, dialectical behaviour therapy,
and relapse prevention for substance illness. People use to join gym, yoga, dance classes during
their free time in order to loose weight and bur extra calories. This is also one of the effective
methods that have been gaining success in reducing extra fat from an individual body.
5

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Harriger, J. A. and Thompson, J. K., 2012. Psychological consequences of obesity: weight bias
and body image in overweight and obese youth.
Pearson, E. S., 2012. Goal setting as a health behavior change strategy in overweight and obese
adults: a systematic literature review examining intervention components. Patient
education and counseling. 87(1). pp.32-42.
Rossi, P. H., Lipsey, M. W. and Henry, G. T., 2018. Evaluation: A systematic approach. Sage
publications.
Online
Causes of obesity. 2018. [Online] Available through:
<https://www.medicinenet.com/obesity_weight_loss/article.htm>.
6