Obesity Epidemic

    Cards (52)

    • Excess adiposity is a high amount of body fat in relation to lean mass.
    • Overweight and obesity have cost the NHS £5.1 billion in 2006-2007. (Scarborough et al, 2011).
    • Obesity has been linked to systematic inflammation, insulin resistance, as well as anxiety and depression.
    • Globesity is obesity that affects a very large percentage of the global population.
    • Prevalence of obesity has doubled in more than 70 countries since 1980.
    • Obesity has been linked to reductions in physical activity due to higher rates of mechanised transport, people have stationary lifestyles and eat less healthy.
    • Evolution means that us as a species have been designed to store excess fat due to difficulties hunting and access to food in our ancestors' lives.
    • Cost of living crisis has fuelled global obesity, when people's living conditions worsen and inflation rises, health outcomes fall due to the accessibility of unhealthy food.
    • McKeown (1979) suggested that contemporary illness is caused by 'influences which the individual determines to be their own behaviour'.
    • Unhealthy food options are the least expensive, people can afford less healthy foods.
    • People skip meals, buy lower quality and processed foods that don't require cooking.
    • People do not think about health and living when they are trying to survive.
    • McBribe et al (2021) found that people ate more during the pandemic, snacked more and ate more unhealthy foods due to emotional eating. People also sat for longer and reported 25% less physical activity.
    • Scientists use BMI to score healthy or unhealthy weight, healthy weight is in the range of 18.5-24.9.
    • BMI only takes into account weight and height, and does not consider muscle mass which weighs more than fat.
    • Recent statistics suggests that over 50% of the population are living with obesity, this is higher for males (66%) than females (57%).
    • Energy balance states that to keep a stable body weight, we must consume the same amount of calories we burn.
    • If we consume more than we burn, we see weight gain. If energy expenditure is higher than what we consume, we see weight loss.
    • Biological aspects such as a single nucleotide protein in the first neutron of the FTO gene has been strongly associated with early onset and severe obesity in adults and children with European ancestry. (Dina et al, 2007).
    • Genetic variants in 127 biological candidate genes have been reported to be associated with obesity-related phenotypes (Yang et al, 2007).
    • Qi et al (2014) found there was an association between frequency of eating fried foods and genetic risks.
    • Stress has been associated with weight gain due to the consumption of comfort foods. Induced stress causes consumption of comfort foods or foods that are high in fat.
    • Stress eating has been found to be significantly more pronounced for people who are on diets and women (Zellner et al, 2006).
    • Mood can affect the way we eat and the way we eat can affect mood.
    • Eating food that we like leads to dopamine production, which activates reward and pleasure centres in the brain (Singh, 2014).
    • Highly palatable foods activate the same brain regions of reward and pleasure that are active in drug addiction (Volkow et al, 2012).
    • Obesogenic environment is designed in a way that promotes obesity and positive energy balance. Billboard and takeaway cultures contribute to the obesity epidemic.
    • Studies show people who watch more television are obese due to sitting down and not being physically active, indulging and snacking.
    • Developmental approach suggests we are exposed to, and what we associate with eating and positive and negative reactions suggests what we are more likely to eat. Children must be exposed to healthy eating habits.
    • Cognitive beliefs can predict eating behaviour. If attitudes towards eating fruit and veg is that is does not matter, you will not consume fruit and veg.
    • Psychophysiological approach suggests we should eat when we are hungry and stop when we are full. This is not taught in modern society.
    • Sensory attributes of food have a negative effect, and fatty foods are more likely to have positive reaction with senses.
    • Smoking, drugs, stress can also affect hunger and consumption.
    • Pinho et al (2018) found that among adult Europeans lack of willpower, time constraints, and taste preferences were barriers related to difficulties with healthy eating.
    • Hilger et al (2017) found students also struggled with lack of time, but also lack of healthy options in the university setting, higher prices of healthy foods.
    • Healthy food prices go up quicker than for less healthy options, Jones et al (2014) found the mean price/100kcal was £2.50 for less healthy items and £7.49 for more healthy items.
    • Recommended people are active for at least 150 minutes per week for moderate activity and 75 minutes of vigorous intensity per week.
    • On at least two days a week, it is recommended that people build strength.
    • Generally, around 2/3 of the population are active. Females are a little less active on average than males (23% inactive).
    • At least 1/3 of children are not active, people in lower SES environments are the least active which can be aided with interventions. (33% less active).