Obesity in the UK: A Report on Strategies and Global Health Actors

This report provides a comprehensive overview of obesity in the UK, addressing its causes, health implications, and the strategies implemented by the government to combat the issue. It delves into the factors contributing to obesity, such as excessive eating habits, lack of physical activity, and the consumption of fast food, while also exploring the associated health risks, including type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, and increased mortality rates. The report analyzes the government's initiatives, such as the implementation of a fat tax and regulations on food adulteration, and evaluates their effectiveness in controlling obesity rates. Furthermore, it examines the roles of key global health actors, including families, friends, and the government, in promoting healthy lifestyles and providing support to individuals struggling with obesity. The report concludes by highlighting the importance of self-awareness, healthy eating habits, and physical activity in managing and preventing obesity.

Obesity in the UK

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Literature Review.............................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Obesity is a condition in which the extra fat in the body has been gathered at an extent
that it starts having negative impact on the body. There can be various reasons which contribute
to this excessive fat and these involve activities like excess eating, lack of physical activity etc. It
causes various health issues such as type 2 diseases, sleep apnoea, cancer etc. But along with
these, it is also considered as a cause for death. There are various methods which can help in
controlling the obesity of a person (Briggs and et.al., 2013). The report is about a very common
and public health issue, obesity and various strategies that have been implemented by
government for addressing the issue. It also includes the global health actors that are involved
and how they help in reducing the issue.
Literature Review
Why obesity is considered as a global health issue
Obesity is considered as a global health issue because it has been spread over all over the
world. Also, it leads to various issues because of which the person has to suffer from different
complications. Along with the diseases caused by it such as type 2 diabetes etc., it can also lead
to death as well. It has been observed mostly in case of teenagers. There can be various reasons
for it such as youngsters have a habit of eating fast food more but they are not aware of it causing
obesity which causes further issues. The further issues can be various diseases such as high blood
pressure, type 2 diabetes etc. that can actually harm the health of the people. So, the issue has
been observed in youngsters more than the middle age people (Fraser and Edwards, 2010). There
are various reasons because of which they get obese like the teens and the youngsters love fast
food more than the home-made food. Although the fast food they eat is tasty enough but lacks in
nutrition and is considered as unhealthy as well.
Obesity just does not mean when a person looks fatty and gets obese, but it also means
the sign of various diseases as obesity can cause high blood pressure, diabetes etc. Obesity can
be evaluated from the body mass index (BMI) as well. A person who is having the BMI between
18 – 25 is considered as a normal and healthy person, whereas between 25 – 30 is considered as
an overweight person but if the body mass index of an individual is above 30, in that case, the
person is called as obese. People nowadays lack in doing physical activities, especially in case
of teens and youngsters, they like to eat more and more outside but are not in a habit of doing
any workout, because of which the fat gets stored and they become obese. Being healthy and
1

getting obese are two different aspects because a healthy person has right amount of fat but an
obese person has extra amount of it. When unhealthy fats go inside the body of a person then
after entering, it sticks to some area of the body and the person gets obese. It further leads to
various diseases. As per the statistics of the World Health Organisation (WHO), it has been
evaluated that for about 31.1 % of people are obese and are suffering of some sort of diseases.
So, the concept is not about getting overweight but about welcoming various complications and
issues. Also, the lack of inactivity has also been increased because nowadays people prefer to go
by vehicles, they do not prefer walking much which indirectly decreases the physical activity and
the chances of getting obese increases.
Current strategies implemented by Government
There have been various techniques and strategies that have been implemented by the
government in order to reduce the risk of obesity in the whole country. A bill was passed by the
UK government about decrease in the unnecessary fat amount in the food because people are
very prone to the fast food and these extra fats can actually harm them. So, Fat tax has been
developed in order to control the amount of fats in food items. This was done in order to control
the total amount of extra fat in these food items which leads to obesity. The actual reason behind
this aim was that the vendors who make these fast food items make use of MSG which can be
very harmful for the human body if taken on regular basis (Munir, Clemes and Randall, 2012)..
Although, it adds some sort of taste in the food which actually is the reason that people like to eat
more often, but if taken on a regular basis can lead to various issues as it can damage the brain
and can lack the understanding power of the person.
There is a difference between the healthy and unhealthy fats . The healthy fat after
entering inside the body gets spread all over the body but an unhealthy fat after entering the body
gets stuck to any one place and then increases within the body itself, this is termed as obese.
Also, another rule was implemented regarding the alteration of the pure matter such as in case of
vegetable oils, there are many manufacturers who make a copy of some popular brand and sell
the adulterated products on the basis of the name only. These alterations in the oils and other
stuff also provides unnecessary fats to the human body. So, for preventing the alteration, the
government of UK has also developed a rule regarding that if any alteration of any popular brand
has been found in the market, the victims have to pay a very huge amount of penalty and along
with it, their license can be cancelled as well. Also, these vendors sell soft drinks that are very
2

rich in sugar and is considered as a very common cause of getting extra and unnecessary fats.
Because of these reasons, the person starts getting obese in a very short period of time. So, these
are some strategies that have been implemented by the government of UK for prevention from
obesity. Some strategies have also been implemented for the pricing of such food items. The
government increased the rates of some of these items in order that the people will very less
often consume it and this can be termed as a better way for staying healthy but it affected very
few people (Scarborough and et.al., 2011). A huge number of people were still used to take it
and on a regular basis as well. After that, the government included various facilities like free
gym in some areas so that people may work out more and do physical activities. It was
implemented so that more people can involve in various physical activities and can get rid of
obesity. So, these strategies have been observed successful enough in reducing the rate of obesity
in UK.
Key global health actors involved
There are various people involved in the whole process such as they can be parents, the
government, friends etc. Global health actors can act as people who can actually help in the
specific process and in reducing the rate of obesity along with the depression factors. Every
person plays a very important role as if some person is obese enough that there are various risk
factors that the person may have to suffer from various complication, in that case, the family
members of a person helps. It is because if the parents will provide food which is healthy as well
as tasty, then the child will no longer feel the need to go outside to have food daily (Sassi, 2010).
Children are not aware that the home-made food can actually be much healthier than the fast
food. In many cases, people who are obese are very depressed as well because of this issue but
the family can provide motivation to a level that the person can realise that they can reduce the
issue by involving in some activities as doing physical activities like yoga, gym etc. and by
getting used to the healthy food.
Eating fast food is not that much serious but if only being eaten very occasional. Eating it
on a regular basis can harm the health of an individual. The family of some specific individual
can make the child understand that in initial stages, they do not face any such issue but as the
person ages, obesity also gets worsened for a person as it increases the risk of various diseases
such as blood pressure, type 2 diabetes etc. A very well-known and popular example of this can
be considered as that it can lead to high blood pressure and if it extends because of any reason, it
3

can affect the brain and heart as well which can lead to heart attack and the person can die as
well (Scarborough and et.al., 2011). So, it is very important for children to be aware of such
complications that can be caused by these factors.
If the parents will focus on providing the food what children want to eat, the cited issue
can be overcome (Sassi, 2010). This is very beneficial as the children will get the food according
to their wish, what they want to eat and the mother will prepare it in a way that it is tasty and
healthy as well. Government also have an equal important role as it helped in implementing
various strategies and techniques for reducing the rate of obesity in the country such as the rule
for alteration and use of MSG etc. So, government of UK has also been given equal importance.
After the support and care provided by friends, family and the government, it is the responsibility
of the person itself to take care of it because self-help can work as the best possible formula as
the person should have a self-realisation that being obese cannot help and can lead to various
health troubles so for avoiding it, the person should be understanding enough that what has
happened has gone, now the situation can be controlled if the person wants to (Wright and
Harwood, 2012).
It can be done by involving oneself in physical activities, eating fast food occasionally
plus eating healthy fats which can make the person healthy and strong. So, along with the help
and support of friends, family etc., the person should also try to involve in activities that can help
and exclude from the ones that can cause obesity and further issues. Although the people were
still used to the fast food but it helped in reducing the rate of obesity to a huge extent. Friends
also play an important role because they can also guide their obese friends about eating out on an
occasional basis. Going out on some occasional basis is better but on a continuous basis, it can
actually harm the person and also can have a bad impact on their body and health (Wright and
Harwood, 2012). So, friends can also motivate in eating out less and also, they can involve them
in physical activities such as going out for a walk, going to gym etc. So, these actors can be
considered as global health actors that can actually support the people in preventing obesity.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the report that obesity is a leading health issue that affects the
person in various ways as it can cause numerous diseases and can also lead to death as well.
With respect to this, various strategies have been implemented by the government in order to
reduce the overall rate of obesity. Out of all these strategies, some remain very successful in
4

minimising the risk of obesity. However, obesity has also been considered as a very popular
issue because it has been spread worldwide and has affected a huge amount of people as well.
There are also some global health actors which can actually help in reducing the rate of obesity
in the country and these actors involve family, friends and government as well.
5

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Briggs, A.D. and et.al., 2013. Overall and income specific effect on prevalence of overweight
and obesity of 20% sugar sweetened drink tax in UK: econometric and comparative risk
assessment modelling study. Bmj. 347. p.f6189.
Fraser, L. K. and Edwards, K. L., 2010. The association between the geography of fast food
outlets and childhood obesity rates in Leeds, UK. Health & place. 16(6). pp.1124-1128.
Lobstein, T. and et.al., 2015. Child and adolescent obesity: part of a bigger picture. The
Lancet. 385(9986). pp.2510-2520.
Munir, F., Clemes, S., Houdmont, J. and Randall, R., 2012. Overweight and obesity in UK
firefighters. Occupational medicine. 62(5). pp.362-365.
Sassi, F., 2010. Obesity and the Economics of Prevention. Books.
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.
Wright, J. and Harwood, V. eds., 2012. Biopolitics and the'obesity epidemic': governing
bodies (Vol. 3). Routledge.
6