Obesity & Diabetes in America

Obesity & Diabetes in America

Obesity & Diabetes in America Lisa Murphy Everest University Online

Obesity & Diabetes in America Abstract Obesity statistics are growing rapidly every year, in every state. A lot of people have a lot of questions regarding obesity. Questions such as: What is obesity? Who can become obese? How does one become obese? What are the risks associated with obesity? How does a person cure obesity? What are the guidelines of a persons height & weight & the point of obesity? No one is safe from obesity. A lot of people think theyre just gaining a little bit of weight. Diabetes is a health flaw that can usually be found in obese people. Some questions folks have about diabetes are: What is diabetes? How did I get diabetes? What does diabetes do to the body? How does diabetes affect a victims daily life? What treatments are available? Will I ever be rid of diabetes? A lot of people think that just because theyre not obese, they wont or cant get diabetes those folks are sadly mistaken. Diabetes will make victims of the non-obese people as well. Diabetes can make a victim of anybody even YOU.

Obesity & Diabetes in America Are you obese? No?? Are you sure about that?? A lot of people are so close to or actually are

obese that they dont even realize it. Obesity is a condition that easily sneaks up & makes a victim of all of us. It commonly starts at a very young age. Children only want to eat sweets, cakes, chips, & french fries. Their parents will usually give in to their incessant crying & begging for the unhealthy choices that can ultimately hurt them later in life. Once they start to gain the weight at a very young age, by the time theyre teenagers, their weight is already & out of hand & practically uncontrollable. According to donnorschoose.org, the percentage of overweight children and adolescents in the US has nearly tripled since the early 1970s. More than one in five children between the ages of 6 and 17 are now considered overweight. During the past 20 years there has been a dramatic increase of obesity in children, adolescents & adults in the United States. In 2009, only Colorado and the District of Columbia had a prevalence of obesity less than 20 percent. Thirty-three states had a prevalence of obesity equal to or greater than 25 percent; nine of these states (Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia) had a prevalence of obesity equal to or greater than 30 percent. What is obesity? Obesity is a state of excessive body fat accumulation that is associated with negative health consequences. Obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater. BMI is calculated by dividing the weight of the patient (in kilograms) by the squared height of the patient (in meters). Nearly 30 percent of the population in all industrialized countries is either overweight or obese, and obesity has now surpassed malnutrition and infectious disease as the most prevalent cause of health-related problems in industrialized and developing countries. So what causes obesity? Obesity researchers have discovered a complicated picture of the underlying causes of the condition. The simple cause is ingestion of more calories than are needed for the energy used in a persons daily routine, the extra calories being stored in the body as fat. Inactivity and lack of exercise can be contributing factors; the less active the person, the fewer calories are needed to maintain normal body

Obesity & Diabetes in America weight. Overeating may result from unhealthy patterns of eating inherited by the family and cultural environment, perhaps triggered by depression, an emotional attachment to food, or the kitchen full of high-calorie foods. A lot of people blame depression over the shape our economy is in, financial

problems, the break-up with a significant other, the death of a family member, the worries over a loved ones bad health issues, the loss of a job, & everybodys favorite excuse boredom. Nonetheless, over the past 5 10 years, peoples weight has been increasing rapidly. When a persons eating habits become so careless & unhealthy, they stand to risk getting diabetes, a dangerous disease that ultimately can wind up totally controlling their life. They also risk hypertension, high blood pressure, stroke, and coronary artery disease, gallstone disease and endometrial. Obesity has also been associated with an increased incidence of certain cancers, notably cancers of the colon, rectum, prostate, breast, uterus, and cervix. How do you treat obesity? Treatments for obesity & weight loss have included wiring the jaw shut, stapling the stomach, & intestinal bypass operations removing a large area of the small intestine, limiting the area where food is absorbed. The diet pills of the 1960s, essentially amphetamines such as Dexedrine, are not prescribed for weight loss like they were back then. Fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine, drugs that were used to achieve short term weight loss, were taken off the market after concerns that they could cause heart valve damage. Drugs available by the late 1990s included sibutramine, known as Meridia, which is an appetite suppressant, & orlistat, known as Xenical, which blocks the absorption of dietary fat in the intestine. Although researchers & scientists are still discovering more possible treatments, their main focus remains on a persons diet, especially a diet limiting fat calories, & exercise, mostly with emotional & behavioral support. However, the long term weight loss success of most dieting attempts is notoriously low. Groups such as Overeaters Anonymous, modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous, give great support to people with weight problems & eating disorders.

Obesity & Diabetes in America There are rigid guidelines to measure a persons body fat. As indicated before, Obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more. BMI is calculated from a persons weight (measured in kilos) & height (measured in meters) that gives us a reasonable indicator of body fat & weight categories. For example, if youre 510 (1.78 m) in height, your obesity point is 209lbs (95.0 kilos). A person whos height is 55 has an obesity point at 180lbs. (see included chart for other heights & weights)

No one is safe from obesity. A lot of people think theyre just gaining a little bit of weight. That little bit of weight gain can easily lead to obesity, which then most commonly leads to diabetes. Diabetes is a more common health issue that can usually be found in obese people. There are many types of diabetes, but the three most common are type 1, type 2, & gestational. All are a little different. But everyone with diabetes has one thing in common: Little or no ability to move sugar or glucose out of the blood into the cells where it becomes the bodys primary fuel. Everybody has glucose in their blood, whether or not they have diabetes. This glucose comes from food. When we eat, the digestive process breaks the food down into glucose, which is absorbed into the blood in the small intestine. People who dont have diabetes rely on insulin, a hormone made in the pancreas to move glucose from the blood into the bodys billions of cells. But people who have diabetes either dont produce insulin or cant efficiently use the insulin they produce. Without insulin, they cant move glucose into their cells. It then accumulates in the blood a condition called hyperglycemia - & over time, can cause very serious health problems. Scientists don't know exactly what causes diabetes, but it appears to result from a combination of genetics and environmental factors, including viral infections, poor diet, and inactive lifestyle. Currently, diabetes cannot be cured, but the good news is that the disease can be managed. People with diabetes can live fulfilling, healthy lives. People with type 1 diabetes (also called insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus or IDDM) don't produce insulin and need regular shots of it to keep their blood glucose levels normal. Type 1 diabetes

Obesity & Diabetes in America was once called juvenile-onset diabetes, but that name has been dropped because type 1 diabetes also

strikes young and older adults alike. Type 1 diabetes accounts for about 5 percent to 10 percent of those who have the disease. Most children of parents with diabetes do not develop the disease. However,
scientists have long suspected that heredity plays a role because type 1 diabetes tends to run in families. Researchers have identified several genes that appear to increase risk of type 1 diabetes. But they haven't yet found a single gene that causes the disease. Type 1 diabetes often strikes shortly after a viral infection, and doctors sometimes notice a sharp jump in type 1 diabetes diagnoses after viral epidemics. Which viruses? Candidates include those that cause mumps, German measles, and a close relative of the virus that causes polio.

Approximately 95 percent of people with diabetes have type 2 disease (also called non-insulindependent diabetes mellitus or NIDDM). Those with type 2 produce insulin, but the cells in their bodies are "insulin resistant" -- they don't respond properly to the hormone, so glucose accumulates in their blood. Some people with type 2 diabetes must inject insulin, but most can control the disease through a combination of weight loss, exercise, a prescription oral diabetes medication, and tight control. Scientists are not certain, but type 2, like type 1 diabetes, runs in families, which suggests some genetic connection. In fact, a genetic link seems even stronger in type 2 diabetes than in type 1. Scientists have not yet put their finger on a single gene that causes the disease, but they are finding errors in several that may contribute to the disease. Researchers also suspect a genetic susceptibility to obesity. Age also plays a role in type 2 diabetes. Half of all new diagnoses are in people age 55 and above, and nearly 11 percent of Americans ages 65 to 74 have type 2 diabetes. However, researchers don't know if age is a cause of type 2 diabetes or simply a reflection of the fact that people tend to gain weight and become less physically active as they grow older. Gestational diabetes develops only in pregnant women with no previous history of diabetes. Nearly 135,000 U.S. women develop gestational diabetes each year. Typically, gestational diabetes clears up on its own after women have delivered their babies. But studies show that about 40% of

Obesity & Diabetes in America

women with gestational diabetes go on to develop type 2 diabetes within 15 years. All pregnant women should be tested for gestational diabetes between their 24th and 28th weeks of pregnancy. Keeping a healthy weight, eating healthy food and regular exercise during pregnancy may help prevent insulin resistance and gestational diabetes. Hormones may play a role in the cause of gestational diabetes. Pregnant women produce various hormones essential to their baby's growth. However, these hormones may interfere with the mother's body's ability to properly use insulin, causing insulin resistance. All pregnant women have some degree of insulin resistance. But if this resistance becomes full-blown gestational diabetes, it usually appears around the 24th week of pregnancy. That's why all pregnant women should be screened for gestational diabetes around that time. Obesity, the main cause for diabetes, has been getting out of hand for several years now. The best way to avoid it is to eat a healthy diet & get plenty of exercise. The proof of this crisis is in the included charts.

Reference sources include: http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html http://www.donorschoose.org/blog/2011/02/15/teachers-vs-childhood-obesity/#comments http://www.annecollins.com/weight-loss/obesity-chart.htm

Obesity & Diabetes in America