Obesity: Epidemic or Excuse?
Obesity: Epidemic or Excuse? Dr. Meir Stampfer, of the Harvard School of Public Health, once said "It's a bitter truth toswallow: About every fourth person on Earth is too fat. Obesity is fast becoming one of theworld's leading reasons why people die." Most people would agree with this statement. Today,almost everybody needs a reason for why they are sick or have a medical problem. So, theeasiest thing to blame it on is a physical attribute that people have deemed unhealthy. In oursociety, excess weight often takes the fall for problems that it may not be responsible for. Jeffrey P. Koplan and William H. Dietz, the authors of "Caloric Imbalance and PublicHealth Policy," are two advocates of the story that obesity is an epidemic that leads to diseaseand death. In their article, they point out several statistics that state that society is getting fatterand that overweight people are more prone to certain ailments. Koplan and Dietz then use thesestatistics to push their campaign for a national comprehensive obesity prevention program thatincorporates educational, behavioral, and environmental components. In Koplan and Dietz's article, they state that more than 50% of US adults are now
It doesn't have anything to do with obesity. Their second suggestion is to replace the short automobile trips, like to andfrom the store, with walking or bicycling. According to Koplan and Dietz, approximately 60% of overweight 5- to 10-year-oldchildren already has one associated biochemical or a clinical cardiovascular risk factor. And itgets worse as you age; Almost 80% of obese adults have diabetes, high blood cholesterol levels,high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, gallbladder disease, or osteoarthritis and almost40% have two or more of these ailments. People need to look past this excuse and research the real problems that are ailingAmerica, or better yet that some things are just inevitable. Some people are just destined to getcertain ailments. The first suggestion in this program is to make changesin the community environment to promote physical activity, such as improving the location andappearance of stairwells, and putting work-sites, schools, and shopping areas in close proximityto residential areas. So, less than 10% of the national health care budget is actually usedto treat obesity. Ten percent of the budget! What? If someonehad 10% of a dollar, they would have ten cents. Their last suggestion is to createmore community recreation areas, such as parks, playgrounds, and outdoor swimming pools. We go to the doctor to treat the ailments that Koplan andDietz associate with obesity. But obesity scaresand Koplan and Dietz have tipped the scale against common sense because they use obesity as anexcuse.
Common topics in this essay:
Koplan Dietz,
Koplan Dietz's,
Health It's,
Health Policy,
BMI Secondly,
koplan dietz,
Tom Cruise's,
obesity epidemic,
Tom Cruise,
location appearance stairwells,
William Dietz,
health care budget,
health care,
national health,
appearance stairwells,
location appearance,
national health care,
care budget,
,
Public Health,
indirectly spend money,
spend money obesity,
money obesity,
koplan dietz's,
ailments koplan,
|
Acceptance Essays
