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Obesity and Healthy Ageing

Columbia Southern University

PUH 6301 Public Health Research

January 28, 2020

Obesity and Healthy Ageing

Forest Hill, Toronto is one of the most affluent neighbourhoods of the Canadian city, offering unique scenery and filled with expensive mansions. It is not all rosy however, since at least a third of all children who go to school are obese. Obesity is the existence of excess fats in one’s body,and this is an issue of health concern since statistics show that the average Canadian has at least three times more calorie intake than is recommended by health authorities and most of it can be attributed to unhealthy food choices (Burwell, 2016). This is similar to most other modern countries today and is the story of the urban North American adult.The average person living in the city and having poor dietary habits is not uncommon, and this is partly due to mainstream media propagating the narrative of unhealthy foods being cool for the mass population (Pi-Sunyer, 1993). The topic for my research therefore was obesity and its relation to unhealthy ageing with the research question being how and to what extent does obesity affect healthy ageing?

I chose this topic because obesity is a serious health issue in the modern world today. According to Whitaker (1997) , at least 97 million people in America are battling obesity and its effects.The result is an entire population in future that is characterized by unhealthy ageing.Its connection to adult life and childhood however draws some interesting findings.It is a well known fact for example that obesity at childhood can most likely cause obesity in adulthood. However the aspect of how a child becomes obese as a result of one or both parents being obese is unknown. In his article, research was conducted to understand what is the link between obesity during the subject’s young adult life and the genetic link to one’s parents. It was concluded as part of its results that there is a low risk for children under the age of three to become obese if they did not have any obese parent (Whitaker, 1997). However among older children they might most likely be obese in adulthood if one was obese in childhood. This was regardless of the fact that none of the parents may be obese.

Poor food choices have contributed to a large part of the urban adult and youth population being obese, as stated above. The average resident of the city is most likely to ask for a burger instead of a fruit, and this is where the problem lies. The medical hazards of obesity are highlighted (Pi-Sunyer, 1993). The potential dangers of obesity are highlighted as insulin resistance, diabetes mellitus, hypertriglyceridemia, decreased levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and increased levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. It is also mentioned as being linked with the disease of the gallbladder and various types of cancer.The other diseases linked with obese conditions in the article are sleep apnea, chronic hypoxia and hypercapnia, and degenerative joint disease. When it comes to coronary heart disease, obesity is termed as independent risk factor (Pi-Sunyer, 1993). The article further mentions that when fats are stored or concentrated in one place, this is likely to occur.

Macdiarmid (2013) on the other hand looks into another aspect of healthy dieting, which is if the diet itself is environmentally sustainable.It highlights the fact that at times, the food that may be termed as healthy or having the right calorie intake may not necessarily have low levels of greenhouse gas emissions. The article combines the two concepts of environmental and health impact which is a huge factor in food sustainability.

References

Burwell, S. (2016) United to Reduce Childhood Obesity in North America. Revista Panamericana De Salud Publica = Pan American Journal Of Public Health, 40(2), 78–79. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cmedm&AN=27982360&site=eds-live

Macdiarmid, J. I. (2013). Food systems: Healthy diet sustains the environment too.(Report)(Author abstract). Nature, (7556), 287. https://doi.org/10.1038/522287b

Pi-Sunyer, F. X. (1993). How Should We Reduce Obesity in America? [Ashland, Oregon]: National Issues Forums Institute. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1362437&site=eds-live

Whitaker, R. C. (1997). Predicting obesity in young adulthood from childhood and parental obesity. New England journal of medicine , 337(13), 869-873.