Obesity a Serious Challenge to Public Health
Obesity is one of the most challenging issues in the contemporary public health. Today, a large part of the population suffers from obesity with the age of people suffering from this problem growing younger. In a long-run perspective, the problem of obesity can have extremely negative effects on individual and public health because patients suffering from obesity develop numerous chronic and dangerous health problems, such as cardio-vascular diseases, diabetes, and other health problems. However, obesity is not only the matter of the individual health but also the matter of the public health because the deterioration of health of a large part of the population leads to the rise of costs of health care services and deterioration of the quality of the public health.Obesity a Serious Challenge to Public Health
Risk factors
Risk factors associated with the development of obesity is two-fold. On the one hand, obesity is the health problem that increases under the impact of heredity or genetic factors. Therefore, the risk of obesity increases if patients have family members, who suffered from obesity. In such a way, some researchers (Dubovsky 1000) insist that obesity is genetically predetermined but such a view is quite superficial because genetic factors rather increase the risk of the development of obesity but they are not necessarily the primary cause of obesity.Obesity a Serious Challenge to Public Health
In this regard, it is worth mentioning another group of risk factors, which are external and determined by environmental issues that arise in the course of the personal development of individuals (Christer 4). At this point, the major risk factor is the poor food culture and nutrition. In fact, the major nutritious cause of obesity is misbalanced and irregular nutrition which leads to the overconsumption of food rich in fat and carbohydrate and low in protein and vitamins. Another key risk factor that triggers the development of obesity is the sedative lifestyle and low physical activities.
In such a way, there are three major risk factors contributing to the problem of obesity: genetic factors predisposing individuals to the development of obesity, poor food culture, and sedative lifestyle.
Prevention
The prevention of obesity starts with the development of the healthy food culture and active lifestyle. Individuals practicing sports on the regular basis are less vulnerable to the development of obesity compared to individuals, who lead the sedative lifestyle. Sport and physical activities lead to the body fat burning out that decreases the risk of obesity consistently. In a combination with the healthy food culture the physical activities make the risk of obesity is minimal.Obesity a Serious Challenge to Public Health
Treatment
The treatment of obesity involves the development of the diet specific for each patient. The diet should be balanced and provide patients with all essential nutrients and vitamins. In addition, the nutrition should be balanced and regular. Moreover, patients should have the regular physical exercises which help them to decrease their weight faster. Patients can increase physical activities as their physical shape increases. The growth of the muscle weight accelerates the decrease of the fat weight in the total weight. However, in the most severe cases, surgery is required to help patients to lose weight fast but surgery still needs rehabilitation based on the healthy nutrition and physical activities.
Conclusion
Thus, the problem of obesity is a serious challenge to the public health but this problem may be resolved through the improvement of their nutrition and development of physical activities.Obesity a Serious Challenge to Public Health