Essay: Obesity – prevalence, effects on health

Medical definition of Obese: well above one’s normal weight. A person has traditionally been considered to be obese if they are more than 20% over their ideal weight. That ideal weight must take into account the person’s height, age, sex and build. (MedicineNet, 2016). There are many factors causing people to become obese, some being genetics, lifestyle and how your body uses energy. Obesity was selected as an NHPA in 2008. Obesity in Australia and many other parts of the world is a massive issue, it is defiantly a high profile as it has had a lot of media coverage and often talked about. In 2011-12, 62.8% of Australians aged 18 years and over were overweight or obese comprised of 35.3% overweight and 27.5% obese. A further 35.5% were of normal weight and 1.7% were underweight. The prevalence of overweight and obese has increased in Australia overtime, from 56.3% in 1955 and 61.2% in 2007-08. (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013). Obesity can put you at greater risk odd developing serious conditions, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and bone and joint disease. There are many negative affects obesity has on your health, effects associated with obesity are: high blood pressure – added fatty tissue needs more oxygen in order to live which then requires blood vessels to circulate more blood to the fat tissue. Which leads to increase the workload of the heart as it must pump more blood through extra blood vessels. More circulating blood means more pressure on the artery walls increasing blood pressure. Others are, diabetes, sleep apnoea, cancer, metabolic syndrome and psychosocial effects.
Overweight and obesity was responsible for 7% of the total health burden in Australia in 2011, 63% of which was fatal burden. In 2011-12, obesity was estimated to have cost the Australian economy $8.6 billion. (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2017). In 2014-15, nearly two-thirds 63% of Australian adults were overweight or obese. The prevalence of overweight and obesity has steadily increased, up from 57% in 1995-which has largely been driven by a rise in obesity. The prevalence of severe obesity among Australian adults has almost doubled over this period, from 5% in 1995 to 9% in 2014-15. In 2014-15, 71% of men were overweight or obese, compared with 56% of women. A greater proportion of men 42% than women 29% were overweight but not obese, while a similar proportion of men 28% and women 27% were obese. (Australian Breuer of Statistics, 2017).
Short term effects may include:
– Difficulty standing and walking
– Shortness of breath
– Difficulty sleeping
– High cholesterol
– High blood pressure
– Increased joint pains
– Gestational diabetes
– Blood clots
– Fertility issues
– Increase of C-section deliveries
% Overweight/obese by state/territory
State/territory %
South Australia 65.8%
Western Australia 60.3%
Queensland 63.6%
Tasmania 67.5%
Australian Capital Territory 63.5%
Northern Territory 64.3%
New South Wales 63.2%
Victoria 63.3%
Source: Australian Heart foundation
It shows here that between the multiple states in Australia most of the obesity percentages are almost the same, the lowest ranging from 60.3% in Western Australian and the highest of 67.5% in Tasmania. The average is around the 63%-64% range.
Things that make your overweight and obese are: eating more than is needed to meet the energy requirements and needs that your body has to have. Eating foods and drinks with lots of kilojoules which include, McDonalds, KFC (fast food) sugar filled foods such as donuts, lollies and energy drinks and other deep-fried foods. Not being physically active and possibly genetics. Genetics plays a role in your chances of becoming obese, but some rare genetic diseases make it impossible to avoid obesity. Trying to lose weight and stay healthy is not the easiest thing unless there are guidelines to follow and things to help you. The changes you make to your lifestyle must be realistic, achievable and be able to be followed in the long-term. Turning your life into a active lifestyle when you’re at the point of obesity is the best possible thing for your body and it will reduce many risks that obesity puts into your life and your body. Eating more fruit, vegetables and whole grains will help your body to lose weight or avoid becoming obese. Exercising for at least 30 minutes a day and cutting our sugary and fatty foods. Once fat cells form they remain in your body forever although you can reduce the size of them, so it is important to watch your weight and body.
A body mass index (BMI) is a method of defining a heathy weight. It should be used as a guide and to help estimate the amount of body fat. It estimates a healthy weight estimated on your height. A BMI of more than 30 defines obesity. It means your body weight is 35% to 40% more than your ideal body weight. People who carry most of their weight around their waist are more prone to heart disease and diabetes. Women with a waist circumference of more than 35 inches and men more than 40 inches are at increased risk. By working out your BMI you divide your weight in kilograms by your height in meters, then divide the answer by your height again.
There are many programs to help reduce obesity in children. Australia is increasing their community awareness and education in being active and eating healthy foods. The ‘healthy school canteen strategies’ are putting more healthy foods into their canteens and Australia is beginning to introduce healthy canteen guidelines. The ‘active kids’ initiative aims to bring more children out and participating in physical activity. Shape up Australia will assist Australians to identity credible sources of information on healthy weight, diet and physical activity. The initiative will be being an integrated approach to the efforts of range of partners across government and non- government sectors to obesity prevention and physical activity promotion. One of Victoria’s health strategies promotions is the ‘H30 challenge’, it is a campaign of which you switch out every sugary drink they would normally drink with water for 30 days. It is trying to promote healthy eating and wanting people to choose the healthier option every time.
Obesity has effects on the five dimensions of health in many ways. Your physical health is in jeopardy because of your body being overweight resulting in you not being able to do normal things as many normal people would, it puts your body under large amounts of stress including things such as your sleeping and active lifestyle. Being overweight has many issues with your mental health as you can often feel very different to ‘normal’ weighted people, mental health issues is a problem in the world as it is but having other factors added into that is a bigger problem. Mentally you may not be strong enough to stop yourself form indulging on sugary foods which your body does not need. Emotional health is similar thing to mental health, your mood can change dramatically due to your body image. Your social health is often changed due to not being able to do normal activities with people or just feeling possibly very self-conscious and it would stop you from going out and doing things to help your body be healthy and to change the way you are currently living your life. Biological factors can include your genetics, genetics sometimes plays a large role in obesity and can often be the cause of not being able to lose weight. Behavioural factors can include indulging on bad foods and making bad decisions for yourself which could include alcohol use. Obesity in children can often be caused by parents not showing a healthy active lifestyle to their children and feeding them with sugary and fatty foods. Which in the long run could result the children in growing up indulging in bad foods and showing their kids the same thing. It’s a cycle of bad healthy living which needs to be reversed.
Obesity Australia’s mission is to drive change in the public perceptions of obesity, its prevention and its treatment. We will do this by:
Providing leadership and independent advice to inform sound policy. Building recognition of the personal, social and economic effects of obesity. Changing entrenched attitudes. Independently evaluating what works and what doesn’t work in the Australian context. Showcasing the best science on how and why obesity occurs. By virtue of the board, sees OA work to influence corporate Australia and government to act on the challenge of obesity. OA has two distinctive roles. Helping Australia beat obesity. (Obesity Australia, 2018).