Introduction
The rising number of the people who are seriously overweight has triggered intense debate among the scientists, advocacy groups, federal agencies and the government. The biggest challenge however has to classify obesity as either a clinical condition or as a medical condition. Obesity is a clinical condition associated with high intake of foods rich in cholesterol. The extra energy is stored in the human body in the fatty tissues. Poor dietary habits are the main cause of obesity. However, failure to exercise has also worsened the situation. Obesity is common among children and young people due to eating foodstuffs with high levels of unsaturated fats. This clinical condition is commonly evaluated in terms of body weight. The body becomes excessively big and poses serious health problems to the person with this condition. Some of the diseases that a person is predisposed to arte cardiovascular, diabetes mellitus class 2, osteoarthritis and sleep apnea. This condition is evaluated in terms of Body Mass Index, for example, measuring the circumference of the waist and waist hip (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, 2006).
Obesity in UK
Obesity in UK has brought about concerns since it has become prevalent among the adults and children. It has brought about untold health complications and health challenges. (Janssen, 2004)According to a survey which was conducted in United Kingdom, the revelations were shocking. A prediction has been made that around twelve million adults and over one million children are expected to be obese by the year 2010 if measures will not be taken to control the situation (Agnes, 2007). People were urged by the prime minister to be responsible for fitness and taking the right diets and cultivate good eating habits.
Contributing Factors
Some of the contributing factors are eating foods rich in energy and fats, lack of exercises, changing work forces whereby people spend the whole day sitting down in the offices, urban sprawl, advertisements of foods rich in calories and fats such as sweets and biscuits, the agricultural policies which encourage growth of foods rich in energy and fats, there change in social settings whereby both the parents spend most of the time working and therefore do not have time to spend with their children or even attend to them (Christakis, 2007). Urban sprawl; many people have moved to towns and therefore do not engage in strenuous activities, increased restaurants and fast food shops which specialize on selling cakes, breads, sweets and biscuits. (Zagorsky, 2004) Many people have also engaged in confectionery business which normally sells foods rich in calories and starch. People have also become lazy and therefore refuse to cook and they result to carrying takeaways home (Truby, 2006).
Strategies to Overcome the Challenges
The government has intentions of changing the work force to encourage movement at work places. This will ensure that they remain active physically and therefore not susceptible to obesity. Outdoor work will be encouraged and employees will be working on outdoor jobs. The marketing firms are also targeted so that they stop placing advertisements for children on food. This is expected to limit food marketing especially in schools since students are the most vulnerable (Dansinger, 2007).
The government has made plans to put up more facilities to encourage exercises as well as build more gyms and encourage people to exercise regularly and encourage people to walk more and cook more. This is a method applied to promote and confront the physical activities (Flier, 2004). This strategy however will cost the government a lot of money and the entire process will be time consuming. In addition, before rolling out the project, a lot of education will require to be done to sensitize the people. Unfortunately, due to the nature of their jobs, not everyone will have enough time to go to the gym.
The policies which govern which agricultural production of sugar will also be reviewed to prevent excessive sugar production and encourage growing of other foodstuffs rich in vitamins and other nutrients with low sugar content. To review these policies is a tedious and lengthy process. It would require the will of the government and that of the people. It might therefore take years before the policies are reviewed and implemented. Plans are also underway, to promote meal programs at schools so that the students are not attempted to carry packed lunch which is usually comprised of snacks and other fatty foodstuffs. The meal programs however, may be unsuccessful since it will place an extra burden on the parents who will have to add some extra money to meet the budget. Plans are underway to teach students on the importance of taking healthy meals and the importance of taking balanced meals. The children are the worst hit and they need to be informed about the serious health complications they are exposing themselves to by eating foods rich in fats (Agnes, 2007). The children however, do not have understanding regarding the whole issue of obesity. The programs may therefore not be very effective since they would sneak and buy some of these foods. Besides, it would require parents’ input yet most parents are too busy to even afford time for their children.
There are strategies which have been put into place to ban children and adults from accessing sugar and other beverages which have been sweetened. This strategy may prove difficult to implement because majority of the beverages in the market have been sweetened and have higher demand. Failure to produce them is likely to have adverse effects on the economy.
References
- Agnes, J (2007) Behaviorial Habits in Primary Care to Promote a Healthy Diet: Recommendations and Rationale, Palgrave Publishers, United Kingdom.
- Christakis, N. (2007) The Spread of Obesity in a Large Network, Misnin, US.
- Dansinger, M. (2007) Meta Analysis: The Effect of Dietary Habits for Weight Loss, United Publishers, UK.
- Flier, S. (2004) Obesity Issues: Molecular Progress Confronts an Expanding Epidemic; Saunders, UK.
- Janssen, I. (2004) Waist Body and not Body Mass Index Explains Obesity-related Health Risks, American Publishers, US.
- National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, (2006) Clinical Guidelines 43: Obesity: The Prevention, Identification, Assessment and Management, London.
- Truby, L. et. al (2006) The Randomised Controlled Trial of Four Commercial Weight Loss, Fret Publishers, UK.
- Zagorsky, J. (2004) Is Obesity As Dangerous to Your Health, Harvard Press, United Kingdom.