...Introduction I will address the following question: How does poverty affect obesity? I will use three articles that will support my answer as to why I think poverty affects obesity. First, I will discuss the articles. Second, I will state the author’s main points and identify how they address my research question. Next I will discuss the evidence does he/she use to make this point and discuss what research method they author used to gather data and address the which sociological perspective the author would state their viewpoint to fit and discuss the authors finding support contradict and/or complement one another. Authors Main Point Article Summary One In childhood and adolescent obesity, which is defined as body mass index at or above...
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...Health Term Paper: Childhood Obesity in Low Socioeconomic Status Communities Jordan Landers Florida State University Abstract Obesity is at an all time high in the Unites States, affecting 35% of adults and 17% of children. Childhood obesity can be very detrimental causing emotional, physical, and social strain on the lives of adolescents. Those that are affected the most are citizens that live in low socioeconomic status communities due to lack of education and lack of resources. There are shortages of grocery stores and markets that offer fresh fruits and vegetables thus communities rely on fast food restaurants and convenient stores for food. Furthermore lack of fresh food coupled with physical inactivity is the main reason for the rise of childhood obesity and obesity in general in the past 30 years. Creating safe places for children to play as well as providing food and resources is the only way to eliminate the ongoing obesity epidemic. Growing up there has always been a certain degree of importance placed on the diet and living a healthy lifestyle to live a long and successful life. As of late there has been a boom in fitness sales, gym memberships, and importance on diet and quality food consumption, yet in the past 30 years the United States has seen a drastic increase in the amount of obese individuals. With social media and so many other health initiatives taking place across the country, why is there still a rise in obesity levels amongst adolescents and...
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...Poverty and Childhood Obesity Linda Weems English 122 Instructor: Craig Smith October 5, 2012 Poverty and Childhood Obesity Over the past years, more people have become underprivileged. America used to have a strong middle class, but now the middle class is gradually retreating due to many jobs going overseas and local companies closing due to the 2007 economic crash. Because of the state of the economy, people will have to make tough decisions about what to spend their money on. Childhood obesity in America is an increasing ailment that has become an epidemic that has lasting emotional effects, because of the limited access to healthy foods. In more recent months, middle class families have been finding it hard to keep up with the rising cost of food and many of them have turned to the State for public assistance. In Nevada, “The picture of the food stamp spike is framed by the recession: About 145,000 Nevadans were collecting food stamps in fiscal 2007; in March of this year, the government counted almost 354,000 recipients statewide”. (Demirjian, 2012) In my neighborhood, I look around at the kids surrounding me. More than half of these kids are what one would consider “obese”. Childhood obesity is increasing in the United States – and the kids that I see today are a direct result of America’s unawareness to this crisis. The key causes of childhood obesity are a deficiency of exercise and deprived nutrition; these contributors must be conquered...
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...living under the poverty line* (Bureau U. S., 2014). That same year it was estimated that women accounted for 30.6% of those living in poverty, while men only accounted for 15.7% (Bureau U. S., 2014). Women living in poverty have become a prevalent trend due to the feminization of poverty* and the glass ceiling* that they face when attempting to achieve upward social mobility*. As a result women and children often account for majority of those who are poor. A whopping 50.7% of those living in poverty today are women and children (Bureau U. S., 2014). Occurrences such as racial discrimination, low educational skills, single parenting, low paying jobs, and lack of opportunities...
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...September 20, 2013 sally kohls Health Campaign on Obesity Health Campaign Part 1 Summary In Part 1 of this paper, the issues of obesity and some of the initiatives implemented nationally ad locally was examined in the state of Texas. Due to the in depth concern of the growing effects on obesity, the initiatives of this paper focused on the impact of obesity for children on all levels of communities. Furthermore, the paper also pointed out the importance of addressing the importance of fight on obesity. This paper identified the statistics of this disease from data gathered from Healthy People 2020 showing that the obesity rate has increased by 57% amongst adults ages 20 and over from 22.8% to 35.7% between 1988-1994 and 2009-2010. Also during the same time frame, children and adolescents obesity rate climbed the charts for ages 2 to 19 by 69% from 10.0% to 16.9%. Health Campaign Part 1 also explored the prevalence to how in the state of Texas the range from 20.5% in Colorado to 34.7% in Louisiana in 2012. This identified that no states had a prevalence of obesity less than 20% (CDC, 2012). In the continuing efforts of addressing the pubic health issues, community organizations, the state and federal governments have implemented a serious role in taking steps to help with the concerning disease of obesity. Local communities and agencies have collectively come together to help with the fight on adult and childhood obesity. The community outreach has involved parents, teachers...
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...The Relationship between Obesity and Poverty Obesity in the United States and similar societies is a socioeconomic problem. Obesity is defined as an abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to one’s health. The energy intake coming from food is stored as fat since the body does not use it. This ultimately impacts one’s physical health that many degenerative diseases are directly and indirectly linked to obesity. Throughout the history of obesity, its reputation varies from appreciation and the opposite among cultures over time. For instance, Ancient Egyptians are said to consider obesity as a disease, having been drawn in a wall of depicted illnesses. The Aztecs believed that obesity was supernatural, an affliction of the gods. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, was aware of sudden deaths being more common among obese men than lean ones as stated in his writings. In certain cultures and areas where food is scarce and poverty is prevalent, obesity is viewed as a symbol of wealth and social status. Throughout the history of obesity, the public’s view and status of obesity started to considerably change in the 1900’s. During this time the government started to become more involved by initiating campaigns against the problem and publishing ideal weights for various heights. In 1996, the Body Mass Index (BMI) was published, which was a statistical calculation and index to determine if a person is obese or not. In the 21st century, obesity is considered an epidemic...
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...Connection between Poverty and Obesity The connection between obesity and poverty has become a very common topic of debate especially in America where obesity has come up as a major health risk in the population and an area which contributes to a major chunk of health expenses. One would expect intuitively that poverty and obesity are inversely related since it is commonly thought that obese people are better nourished and hence can afford to eat a lot, however this is not so. In an analysis of data collected through interviews by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention it was found that obesity was directly linked with poor socio economic as well as educational status. Thus contrary to public opinion we find that people from the lower socio-economic strata of society are at more risk of becoming overweight and obese than wealthier individuals. Also many obese individuals are malnutrition. Contrary to popular belief malnutrition comes in two types; macro malnutrition and micro malnutrition. Macro malnutrition is the one which most people know about and in this form a person does not eating enough to support his dietary requirement which leads to a significantly lower than optimal weight, deficiency and other complications associated with malnutrition. On the other hand micro malnutrition is the form of malnutrition in which an individual is not meeting his nutritional requirement (although they might be eating enough or even over eating) and this is because they are eating...
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...issues in the US Obesity has gradually become a major health issue in America and the statistics, which I am going to talk about later, is frightening. To understand how large the health issue is, we have to understand what obesity is. Obesity is a condition where someone has so much body fat that it might damage their health. We define this amount of body fat by at least 20% or higher according to http://www.medicalnewstoday.com. According to http://www.businessinsider.com USA actually has some of the highest obesity rates in the world, and in this text I am going to look at some of the reasons why. The obesity does not just harm a specific part of the people, it harms everyone. Over a third of the American adults and almost 20% of the teenagers is obese. (http://edition.cnn.com) All this obesity has to come at a cost, not only personally but also economically. In this text I am going to look at some reasons to obesity, look at statistics and also talk about the future of obesity. For major parts of the American people, obesity is not a choice. Many are raised up in a poor family who do not have the resources to buy their kids or themselves healthy meals. 14,8 % of the American population live in poverty, that equals to around 47 million people. (http://talkpoverty.org/basics/) This is one of the biggest causes to obesity. Poor people have a lot less access to healthy and nutritious food. (http://frac.org/) Therefor I would say that obesity and poverty is strongly connected...
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...To fight the growing trend of childhood obesity many countries have implemented measures or programs to help reduce this serious public health challenge. A National Nutrition and Health Program (PNNS) was established in France in 2001 and later extended to 2010. The main objectives of this policy were based around the improvement of health by focusing on nutrition and physical exercise (Hercberg, Chat-Yung & Chauliac 2008). The actions implemented by the PNNS included the development of nutrition guides for the general population and more specifically children. The PNNS also took aim at the schooling system developing a nutritional education program that focused on increasing physical exercise and the promotion of healthy food consumption. Since the implementation of the PNNS the Ministry of Health has successfully accomplished more than 75% of the actions developed. While the success of the PNNS is not yet fully known it should be noted that the obesity epidemic has decreased or stalled in France since its implementation (Salanave et al. 2009). Similarly United States congress amended the child nutrition act to implement nutrition standards for foods available in schools. The policies introduced also focused on a need for nutrition education and an increase in physical activity. It is not known however, how many school districts actually established or implemented that policy (Friedman and Schwartz 2008). Despite the fact obesity is a major health issue in the USA no sizable...
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...“deserts” can usually be found in the southern parts of the U.S. where poverty is more of an issue. For the past few decades, the consumption of unhealthy meals has increased. Social media plays a huge part in this recent spike of bad diets; Trends are set using social media, which influences many day to day decisions made by today’s youth. Education can also be considered a reason for such poor dieting. Children in the inner city are not taught about healthy dieting from elementary through high school. Instead, children are taught how to say ‘a’ for ‘apple’, but not that apples are a healthy alternative compared to McDonald’s French fries. As time progresses, these same children grow older and carry their bad eating habits along with them and completely disregard healthy eating. The fact that food deserts are practically abundant in their neighborhoods does not make this any better. In Chicago alone, minorities make up the majority of low-income neighborhoods, and in these neighborhoods, grocery stores are miles away from homes where fast food restaurants are thriving. The city is purposely constructed this way as a scheme to keep the health of minorities down, especially African Americans. This way, the minorities become dependent upon the system. African Americans who are faced with poverty are not able to afford constant medical bills as well as treatment, or they have no transportation. When poverty strikes it is very hard to progress, making it easier for us to be killed...
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...(UNICEF) is a body of the United Nations Program that provides assistance to children and their mothers in the developing countries. The organization helps in building a world where every child enjoys the liberty and freedom. The organization believes in the fact that a today’s children will determine tomorrow’s world. Thus, nurturing the children in a positive manner will help in the betterment of the world in the future. The organization was established with the purpose of working with others in order to overcome problems faced by social and economic issues like poverty, violence, ill health discrimination among the children based on race, ethnicity etc. I - UNICEF span and work focus The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) takes a large number of measures to provide the best start for a child’s life as a good care in the initial stages of an individual’s life ensures the best foundation for its future. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) encourages education for girls making sure that they at least complete their primary school education in order to learn to read and write. This is applicable to boys as well (David Gorski, 2012). But, the organization stresses more upon the girls’ education as an educated girl can be and help one to be a better thinker, a better citizen and a better parent in the future for their own children. The organization takes necessary measures to keep the children away from the common diseases that are faced during childhood. Extra care...
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...HCS/465- Health Care Reseach Studies to prove childhood obesity is a disease are conducted often. The studies that are conducted are to help prevent and cure childhood obesity. There are several ways each study is conducted. Throughout this paper one will learn of at least one way a study was conducted, and the results of that particular study. One will learn of the information that was collected as well as the procedure to keep the results and information private. The study that one will learn about throughout this paper on childhood obesity will give one some basic information that was used to show what areas are affected by childhood obesity and will also show one that childhood obesity not only starts at home but carries over into the school life of a child. The data collected in the study of childhood obesity was collected by the use of the telephone; this method is called survey research. This type of research was appropriate for the study because it reached more subjects for the research, and the questions asked in the survey were specific. Since there are many people who believe that childhood obesity is not a real or serious problem, the survey did not require millions of dollars to conduct making the survey important at the same time reducing the amount of funds required to conduct this survey. Also, this survey and research done on childhood obesity did not require children to be seen by a physician or to be studied like guinea pigs and being poked...
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...Obesity in America June 6, 2014 ENG/215 Paul Korzeniowski Obesity of the main causes of malnutrition in children and adults in America is mainly because caused of cheap foods that are low nutrition unhealthy and that are usually full of calories and fat. Obesity is eventually what will be the outcome. Poverty is the main factor of obesity. Factually speaking, Obesity and poverty without a doubt are interconnected. If Americans can actively become involved in their health and diet obesity could be eliminated. According to a recent poll, it has been stated American adults and American children are either obese or overweight adults raking in two-thirds while children are more than one-tenth on this spectrum. Hunger and obesity are about what one-tenth of American families suffer from, this happens when there is no access to safe foods that are nutritionally satisfactory. Statistics states children from low income families are half way as their affluent counterparts to become obese. When it comes to obesity low income families are in very unfavorable conditions when it comes to obesity. Unfortunately, the average American family does not have the financial capabilities to prepare healthy meals, find suitable housing, or access to appropriate medical care, and other everyday necessities. Low income family tend to buy less expense food which is not the healthiest choice vs. spending money on more healthy food because they just can't afford it. In doing so, families choose...
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...What about having the medicine cabinet of a senior citizen at the age of 20? Can this happen to anyone you ask, the answer to this question is yes and it has happened to a Valerie Moore of Holmes County, Mississippi. Valerie unfortunately lives in one of Mississippi’s poorest areas. Valerie weighs 241 lbs. and contributes her weight gain to eating unhealthy foods. Obesity is a major public health problem in the U.S. While all segments of population are affected, low-income and food insecure people are more vulnerable due to risks associated with poverty. In Valerie’s case that is what happened. Since having the stroke Valerie has lost 70lbs but says it’s a struggle to provide whole nutritious meals if you have only $5.00 and you need to stretch it to feed yourself and 2 children. (Elliot, 2011). Obesity occurs in many households in America due to a lack of resources such as income, affordable foods and opportunity for physical activity. According to Center for Disease Control over the past 20 years there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in the United States. More than one-third of Adults and 17% of children in the U.S are obese. Americans find it easier and cheaper to provide filler foods loaded with high fructose corn syrup and other additives for their family so they can be full. In America 14.5 percent of people are struggling to put food on the table. (Coleman-Jensen, Nord, Andrews & Carlson, 2011). Food insecurity is a condition that exists when people lack...
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