多选题
Obesity
Obesity has reached epidemic proportions and current levels are reducing lives by four to nine months. If child and adolescent obesity continues to increase, life expectancy will be reduced by a further two to five years in the coming decades and will dramatically decrease in the foreseeable future. Today, two-thirds of American adults are obese or overweight, as are a quarter to a third of American children. This adds up to a 3.3-fold increase in childhood obesity over the past 25 years, mostly due to lifestyle and fast food.
Obesity has become a serious social problem affecting both developed and developing countries. The disease knows no bounds and has no preference for age, social class or color. According to WHO, in 1995, there were an estimated 200 million obese adults worldwide and another 18 million children under five years old that were regarded as overweight. More recently, the number of obese adults has increased to over 300 million, and the obesity epidemic is spreading to developing countries where it is estimated that 115 million people sufferer from obesity-related problems.
The causes of the epidemic are simple: food supply has changed along with modification in lifestyle. The more people depend on processed food and chemicals, the easier it is for people to gain weight. The chemicals used in food taste good, but most consumers often overlook the fact that some of the chemicals are carcinogenic.
While men may have higher rates of being overweight, women have higher rates of obesity. For both, obesity poses a major risk for serious diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and certain forms of cancer. Its health consequences vary from reduced life expectancy to serious chronic conditions that reduce the overall quality of life.
Traditional ways of preventing and treating weight gain and obesity put emphasis on changing the behavior of individuals. The approach has proven ineffective as both conditions have risen. Perhaps it is modern society that promotes obesity. After all, companies promote fast food, and most people in the West are far more likely to drive their cars rather than walk a few miles, and drive-ins are replacing conventional stores.
A multifaceted public health policy must be formulated, not to mention considerable funding put forth. To ensure the participation of experts from all walks of life and nonprofit groups, public health campaigns and government intervention are strongly recommended.
Companies that promote fast food should be taxed more, and these taxes should at least in part provide funds to obesity-prevention campaigns. In addition, since youths are very susceptible to advertising, some of the same techniques used in commercials could be employed to reverse the epidemic. By promoting healthy eating instead of junk food, impressionable youths can fully enjoy the gift of healthy and long lives.
Nutritionists caution, however, that overemphasizing the need for a leaner diet is in itself not sufficient to reduce the current trend towards obesity. A healthy diet must go hand in hand with a healthier and more active lifestyle should obesity become a thing of the past. One way to achieve this is to educate people about the necessity of improving their quality of life and making better living choices. Thus, along with a balanced and more nutritious diet, people must be encouraged to give up smoking and drinking.
These pernicious habits are not only at the root of many diseases, but also accelerate the formation of fat deposits in the body. Strong liquor, such as whiskey or rum, as well as more lighter choices, like beer and wine, contain as much calories in one glass in one serving as does one sizable meat chunk. Contrary to popular belief, smoking does not cut down on one"s appetite, but merely replaces one craving with another and promotes inactivity and a sedentary lifestyle.
In fact, sedentarism is at the root of obesity. More and more children nowadays are stuck behind a computer or TV screen for hours on end rather than move about outdoors in fresh air. Increased physical activity is demonstrated to get rid of fatty tissue even during periods of rest. That is because the body gets used to burning calories all the time and does not stop altogether when one is sitting or lying down. Furthermore, a daily dose of fresh air provides lungs with vital oxygen, which is a major fat burner. Therefore, specialists suggest that in order to successfully combat obesity, people must be encouraged to perform daily outdoor exercises that should promote calorie reduction through oxygenation and increased energy levels. A good start towards leading a more active life to reduce obesity would be to do an hour of fast-paced walking, which would then later be increased in both duration and intensity to maximize results.
Glossary
adolescent:
young people who are no longer children
cardiovascular:
relating to the heart and blood vessels
pernicious:
very harmful
sedentary:
sitting down a lot of time, not taking much exercise
dose:
a measured amount of which is intended to be taken at one time