The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

Daniel Benitez

Professor Andrew Golden

Exploratory essay

Is obesity a problem in the United States?

Nowadays, according to The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) there are 90 millions of obese Americans. It seems like obesity in the United States has become as common as the usage of iPhones in their society. These generations, and perhaps the ones in the future, at an early stage in their life, are and will struggle with an alarming health risk that comes with heart attacks, diabetes, blood pressure, and more harmful effects. The roots and consequences of this disorder are not widely express to its citizens, hence many people does not care about being obese. When searching on Google what causes obesity, you meet with some sources that say it comes from genetics, and others may tell, because of the lack of parent’s attention during a kid’s childhood, the lack of exercises, or the simple fact of eating a lot of junk food, and preferring pleasure rather than health. Either way, my exploratory essay will project the circumstances that contribute to obesity, and after being done with it, I intend to follow up with the strategies to prevent or end this epidemic disorder. Furthermore, in order to conduct an effective research that conveys accurate information, I decided to choose reliable sources from the Internet such as: an article from the FIU library “ What Causes Obesity? And why has it Grown So Much”, (WHO) World Health Organization official website, (CDC) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official website, an article of the American Diabetes Association called “Obesity in America: It’s getting worse’” and  “How to Avoid the Obesity Epidemic” from everydayhealth.com website. These sources would enlighten my research of whether obesity is a problem in the United States or not and what can we do about it.

Within my first source, from the FIU library, an article of John Tomer “ What Causes Obesity? And Why Has It Grown, So Much” it states many cause provoking factors; such as the types of food we eat (especially fast foods that are high in fat), physical inactivity, heredity, and medical conditions. Moreover, according to John Tomer, obesity also happens when there is an emotional disorder like anxiety, stress, depression or low self-esteem. The author, throughout his article goes deeply into the details on each root of the problem.  From this source I learned that many people have higher chance than other to be overweight, and the roots itself must be analyzed to have a wider comprehension on how to stop it. This article helped me describe the causes of obesity, and I think this article has a lot of credibility because it comes from a scientific publication. I will use this resource to my other studies because it contains much information about the roots of obesity, and besides it made me question myself, what are the right treatments to prevent this issue from happening.

Another source is World Health Organization official website, which gives good insights, and facts about obesity in the United States; it says that Obesity is a health disease, or disorder for several reasons. Obese people are more expected to acquire health difficulties that can damagingly affect how they live, or even lead them to harmful consequences such as diabetes, cancer, heart disorder, fertility complications, and stroke. Obesity is also high-priced, it costs annually about US $ 147 billion in medical support, according to their studies. WHO, also takes into account demographic circumstances showing that the highest rates are found in the poorest places, where there is less availability of healthy foods and less safe neighborhoods for people to exercise. For example, over 75 percent of African Americans are overweight or obese, compared to 67.2 percent of whites. The purpose of this source is to point the statistics of obese Americans, and how is a major problem in the United States. The source also reveals that the audience is usually low –income people. This source makes us understand that the United States has one of the highest obesity rates in the developed countries.  It made me wonder if obesity will continue to rise due to the current environment factors that produces risk from decreased physical activity and increased calorie consumption. This source is credible because it is obviously a well-known health organization that gives accurate information. I think I will use this source to explain in further research, how is obesity affecting obese people of the U.S.

Moving to the next source for my subject, which is a website from the government, called (CDC) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it describes the problems of childhood obesity in the United States. According to CDC, Childhood obesity is a growing problem in the US. About 17% of children and young people suffer from this issue, a percentage that has nearly tripled since 1980, according to CDC, US officials warn that unless the government does not act effectively with alleviating diseases associated with obesity such as heart disease, cancer and other health problems (not to mention the social and emotional problems associated) It could turn these children and youth in the first generation to die before their parents.  This source also expresses that bad eating habits that children develop during childhood can lead the child to suffer severe health consequences later. If the child does not get enough attention, and proper treatment, they may develop disorders during adolescence. This source made me question, what can we do about it? Is childhood obesity something the U.S. government should take action upon it? Should it be a worry about the government or is this simply a matter of the parents? However, this source offers good solutions on these questions, and I think it is a credible site because they are familiar on what is happening with obesity in their country.