Running head: PREVENTION OF OBESITY

Prevention of Obesity in Young People by Society

Bridget Coffie
ESL 4230 - Persuasive Paper (D 3)
Madonna University
April 16, 2014

PREVENTION OF OBESITY

Prevention of Obesity in Young People by Society

Each individual plays an integral part of society and social problems are the root cause
of many other problems. Being an obese person is not a personal problem anymore. It has
ripened into a huge social problem and society needs to eradicate the causes of obesity in
today's modern world. This is the age of modern living, superior technology, luxurious day to
day activities, exaggerated money and, last but not the least, trending obesity. The growing
number of cases of obesity has made it into a fully grown social problem. Obesity in young
people is a much talked about topic in today's era. Although some people think not enough is
being done to lower obesity rates in young people, many governments and organizations pay
significant attention to obesity and have put in place a number of effective strategies to combat
the rising rate.
Obesity is caused by the changing lifestyle which has brought people into a world of the
so-called junk food and sedentary lifestyle. Obesity has a far ranging negative impact on an
individual's health and academic success. It also has a huge societal effect on the economy and
national productivity. Because society spends money on medical care and prescription drugs
related to obesity, the cost of a loss of days' work; higher employer insurance premiums and
lower wages. An obese individual faces social apathy and he or she is highly prone to shyness
and health problems such as heart disease, hypertension, stroke, and diabetes. When a child
faces this kind of ridicule, he or she is subjected to be grown with a disturbed self; it is very
difficult for an individual to attain a happy life. Thus, a part of society is being disturbed.
Keeping this in mind, young people should be taught in school as well as home about a healthy
lifestyle and the importance of keeping themselves fit. The eye of the future society is the youth
of today. If the young people of society continue to be obese, what is the future going to be like?
Several studies have provided evidence that prevention of obesity in young people is possible
through interventions aimed at modifying eating habits and increasing physical activity.

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Educators use significant strategies to develop and implement school-based programs to

promote physical activity and healthy eating to eradicate the prevalence of obesity, which has
become an epidemic in young people. The school plays a crucial role in prevention of the rising
rate of obesity. Strong wellnesses policies required by child nutrition are made for effective
school health programs. These wellness policies mandate physical education requirements,
health education requirements, the type of food and beverages sold on campus and many other
important practices that promote physical activity and healthy eating. As Dodson et al. (2009)
discover in their research in the U.S., "between 2003 and 2005, over 230 pieces of legislation
addressing school nutrition standards and... 190 addressing physical education and physical
activity were introduced at the state level" (p. Sl62). The state trains staff in order to implement
effective school physical activity and nutrition programs at all levels. Every student is required
to participate in quality physical education classes for specific time periods resulting in
meaningful and consistent contributions to help the total physical activity that young people
need to enhance their health. The timetable is structured to give sufficient time in physical
education that can enable students to develop the knowledge, attitudes, skills, and confidence
needed to adopt and maintain physical active lifestyles. Dodson et al. (2009) list topics covered
in proposed legislation, "ensure schools have a physical education program, set time and
frequent requirements for physical education classes... [and] promote physical activity in other
classes" (p.Sl64). These help children to burn the accumulated fat in the body to prevent obesity.
Curriculum frameworks are developed to reinforce nutrition education to teach students
in the classroom with a school nutrition environment. This makes it easy for students to make a
healthy choice. Neira and de Onis (2006), of the Spanish Food Safety Agency, Ministry of
Health and Consumer Affairs and the Department of Nutrition for World Health Organization,
note, "School policies and programs should support the adoption of healthy diets and physical
activity by including in the academic curriculum knowledge and skills related to diet and
nutrition" (p. S10). Some of these subjects are home economics, which teaches students to
prepare healthy meals for themselves. Agriculture science exposes students to planting to get

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natural and healthy crops for healthy foods. These subjects help to eliminate the consumption
of food and beverages low in nutritional value and high in calories, fat, sodium, and added
sugar. These education practices do not only prevent students from being obese, but also
improve students functioning in a broad range of psychosocial and academic measures. The
government provides grants and technical assistance to help schools to implement high quality
recess, intramural sport programs, after-school physical activity clubs and campaign to
encourage walking to and from school to promote prevention of obesity. Dodson et al. (2009)
suggest that schools "provide bicycle facilities (such as paths), sidewalks, crossing guards, and
traffic-calming measures to enable children to bicycle or walk to school" (p. Sl64). These
practices promote a healthy lifestyle to combat the epidemic of obesity.
In addition, a number of policy interventions have been made to improve access to
healthy and affordable food. These policies require food industries, including processors,
marketers, and retailers, to produce nutritious food available in market places to reduce the
prevalence of obesity in young people. Communities have brought supermarkets to
underserved neighborhoods, helped smaller groceries expand their stock of healthy and
affordable food, and develop other retail outlets such as public markets, and mobile vendors to
reduce unhealthy food in the marketplace. Neira and de Onis (2006) denote in their research
that it is important "to establish a framework of collaboration with the food industries to
promote the production and distribution of products which contribute to healthier and more
balanced diets" (p. S9). A number of communities have undertaken this kind of effort through
projects, for example, the Fresh Food Financing Initiative. In this program, some organizations
send food in a number of trucks to areas where people do not have access to healthy food to
promote obesity prevention for a healthy lifestyle.
Nonetheless, it is not disputed that prices of unhealthy foods have fallen, and that prices
play a significant role in consumer choice. Policy makers have implemented a tax strategy to
discourage consumption of foods and beverages that have a minimal nutritional value as a
step to fight against obesity in young people. State and local sales taxes imposed on

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unhealthy foods, such as soft drinks, candy, and snacks raised their cost relative to other food
purchases. Nutritional assistance programs subsidize healthy foods for millions of lowincome people, reducing the relative prices of food compared to other consumer needs to
manage obesity in society. Studies have discovered that if the price of a particular food
increases or decreases, consumption will decrease or increase consecutively. Research has
found an increase in purchase of healthier foods when prices are reduced, and a decrease in
purchases of less healthy food as prices increased. The potential influence of food prices on
consumption necessitate policy makers to increase taxes on unhealthy food in markets to
deter consumers from buying it to reduce the rising rate of obesity in society, as described by
Brownell and Frieden (2009) in their research. This is based on the notion that the high rate
of tax will not only deter consumers from many purchases, but it could also yield income to
fund obesity prevention programs. Brownell and Frieden (2009) write:
Although a tax on sugared beverages would have a health benefit regardless of how
the revenue was used, the popularity of such a proposal increases greatly if revenues
are used for programs to prevent childhood obesity, such as media campaigns,
facilities and programs for physical activity, and healthier food in schools. (p. 1807)
Revenue generated from the tax is used to promote obesity prevention programs, especially in
schools.
Farm policy is enacted to alleviate obesity by discouraging farmers from overproduction
of crops that are the base ingredients for unhealthy food. This policy has been designed to
stabilize crop prices, keep farmers producing food and fiber, and provide people with an
abundant, affordable, and reliable healthy food supply. Agriculture programs are structured to
ensure that society gets a healthy food supply with the needed nutrition standard to lower obesity
in young people. These programs help rural communities to grow local fruits and vegetables.
Eligible farmers receive support through federally funded programs to allow planting of
crops, fruits, vegetables, and nuts without the use of any chemicals for healthy produce. The

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program increases access to, and affordability of healthy food in urban and rural low-income
communities, by subsidizing healthy food in the market to promote obesity prevention
programs for healthy lifestyle in young people.
Moreover, several steps have been made to ban unhealthy food advertisements to
make a meaningful contribution to curbing the international obesity epidemic besieging
children throughout the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended
the reduction of both the exposure of children to and the power of marketing of food. Many
countries have taken a direct stand against certain advertising practices targeting children
more forcefully, and completely banning the advertising of unhealthy food to children.
Other countries have addressed the concern of obesity prevention by completely banning all
advertising of less nutritional food directed at young people to fight the prevalent obesity
trend. U.S. policymakers have begun discussing the implementation of similar methods to
help young Americans from being obese and manage the disadvantaged individuals. State
governments and other organizations have set a nutritional standard for products advertised
on all children-focused television channels, radio stations, and web sites. As Hardus, van
Vuuren, Crawford, and Worsley (2003) identify in their findings, "these were government
actions which included five items concern with taxation, banning advertising, provision of
safe recreational facilities and community-wide prevention initiatives" (p.1467). Federal
legislation has directly addressed childrens programs as part of their obligation to serve the
public interest. Television station operators, in addition, should provide programs that serve
special needs of children to deter them from unhealthy food to combat the obesity epidemic.
Hospitals and medical centers have designed a comprehensive program to help
obese patients to overcome their problem. The program offers nutritional and exercise
intervention as well as surgical intervention. After a comprehensive physical and
psychological evaluation, a plan is developed for each patient that meets his or her needs.
Jebb, Rennie, and Cole (2003) write, "Identifying those children at greatest risk of
developing obesity is important for the development of effective public health strategies to

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prevent and treat excess weight gain and its associated co-morbidities" (p. 461-462).
Medical centers in many countries have been offering safe and effective surgical treatment
to many obesity patients over the years. Jones Nielsen et al. (2013) point out that the cost of
obesity treatment in the U.S. has been well documented while obese people in the U.K. get
free medication.
Table 1 shows that society is offering many opportunities for young people to deal
with their obesity and many youth are coming to hospitals for treatment. Patients are given
both surgical and non-surgical treatment to manage their weight to fight the prevalence of
obesity.

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Table l. Age and specific hospital admission rates per million children for obesity as a
primary diagnosis and where obesity was comorbidity, 2000-2009.

Note: From "Rising obesity-related hospital admission among children and young people in
England: National time trends study," by J. D. Jones Nielsen et al, 2003, Plos one, 8(6), p. 4.
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) also use significant strategies to
eradicate obesity in young people. For example, grants are given from the National

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Institutes of Health to train personnel on obesity prevention. Trainees give sessions to

communities and schools about eating healthy and staying active. NGOs give funds to
ensure that sufficient skilled staff is employed within the prevention workforce and that
sufficient training opportunities are put in place to guarantee a sustainable supply of
necessary skills. NGOs also provide quality training and continuous professional
development to update staff to keep them abreast with the current strategies. This is
strongly practiced in Scotland, as Thompson (2010), of the Scottish Intercollegiate
Guidelines Networks, writes, "'Better Health Better Care' set out the Scotland
Government's programme of work for National Health Service Scotland . . . to deliver a
healthier Scotland by helping individuals to sustain and improve their health especially in
disadvantaged communities" (p. 196). There are a lot of programs going on worldwide to
promote the obesity prevention strategy.
Public awareness campaigns have also been the key to supporting and enhancing obesity
prevention worldwide. These public awareness campaigns actively engage broad stakeholders in
its design, develop a common prevention message that includes obesity prevention logos, enlists
support from local media, businesses, community groups, and health care professional
organizations. These groups establish web sites as an integral part of the campaign to provide
information and links to other web sites to promote physical activity and healthy eating to fight
the epidemic. A campaign also allows individuals to measure and track their own physical
activity, food consumption and other healthy lifestyle activities. Health care professionals and
health care systems are increasingly involved in obesity prevention activities. These people
encourage communities to engage in physical activity and promote healthy eating habits to
eradicate the obesity epidemic. Neira and de Onis (2006) point out, "at the family and
community level, the action focuses on information and media campaigns, the production and
distribution of materials aimed at promoting improved eating habits and active lifestyles" (p.
S9). Local governments give support to encourage a broad community participation to ensure
successful implementation of the public awareness campaign to reduce obesity in young people.

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Hardus et al. (2008) detail how governments have funded strategic programs to promote obesity
prevention in schools.
Local gym centers have been established in various communities with the provision of
facilities such as treadmills, elliptical trainers, and stationary bicycles, but this requires
individual participation in physical activity. Going to a gym improves health and helps to burn
fat and calories, strengthens the heart and prevents risky medical conditions like hypertension,
type 2 diabetes, cancer, and stroke. Playgrounds are provided to ensure the participation of
young people in community sport teams and athletic leagues. Individuals whose efforts
improve health and wellness are recognized and rewarded to encourage the youth to fight
against the prevalent pattern. Professionals are there to guide individuals who go there to
exercise. Gym centers do not only permit individuals to exercise their bodies, but also give
nutritional education. Neira and de Onis (2006) describe, "symbols of the leisure and
entertainment industry will be used to promote a positive image of active lifestyle and healthy
eating. The strategy also stresses the importance of creating green areas and sport facilities in
neighborhoods to promote the regular practice of physical activity" (p.S9).There are obesity
treatment centers attached to gym centers in many countries to offer a comprehensive program
with a dedicated team of health care professionals including surgeons, nurse practitioners,
physician assistants, dietitians, and exercise psychologists. This team provides an
individualized treatment plan designed to empower obese people towards healthy lifestyles.
Nutrition service is also organized to offer one-on-one counseling to disadvantaged individuals
to manage the existing obesity.
NGOs also secure funding for a number of medical centers to manage obesity cases to
help the disadvantaged individuals. A specific training course in obesity prevention funded by
NGOs is developed for government bureaucrats, researchers, and public health practitioners to
deal with the epidemic to promote a healthy diet. Brownell and Frienden (2009) state, "the
contribution of unhealthy diet to health care cost is . . increasing - an estimated $79 billion is
spent annually for obesity alone and approximately half of these costs are paid by Medicare and

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Medicaid" (p. 1806). The cost of obesity treatment is very expensive, but since each individual
plays an integral part of society, some organizations put in more effort in obesity prevention
programs to make the disadvantaged individuals happy.
Some people believe that not enough is being done to prevent obesity because the
amount of obese teens keeps rising. These people argue that the marketing of unhealthy food to
children is the key factor contributing to the rising rates of childhood obesity in society. Young
people are obese, and just as many are at risk of becoming obese. Brownell and Frieden (2009)
comment that multiple studies have found that unhealthy food sold in markets are
systematically concentrated within short walking distance of schools, giving the future life of
society greater access to low quality food to promote obesity. But they should know that food
and drug boards have made it mandatory for food industries to display nutritional information
on their product packaging, including level of energy, protein, total fat, carbohydrate, sugar, and
sodium to encourage more healthy diets among people who read labels to make healthier food
choices. For example, Rolls (2009), of the Department of Nutritional Science at the
Pennsylvania State University recommends, "labels that direct the public towards healthier
choices, as well as those to change food intake behaviors through early exposure to healthy
choices and nutrition education. Another possibility is to modify the environment so that it
encourages appropriate levels of energy intake" (p. 70). Parents are being educated with their
obese children to change the mindset from the very beginning. Parents are taught what food to
buy and how to prepare it for good health to avoid obesity. Even though these foods are
available, children are less likely to eat the unhealthy food because they are now more
knowledgeable about healthy eating habits.
Other people might say teens will continue to be obese because society is condoning
obesity. Some argue, however, that the lifestyle factors are the biggest contributors to the

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increase in obesity. This is because the nature of recent lifestyles is not oriented towards
physical activity, so it is easier for people to eat unhealthy foods than to prepare nutritional
meals. Schools are often charged with the task of helping children to avoid obesity or teaching
them about nutrition, but there is an obstacle to this plan. Many schools have been forced to cut
off physical education due to budgetary restraints. For example, Hardus et al. (2003) describe
in their research that Australia could not implement an obesity prevention program because
they did not get financial support from the government. However, these people should note that
genetically engineered food has been banned because it is unhealthy. Many countries have
taken action to stop the import of genetically engineered crops. Others have introduced a new
bill to label genetically engineered food sold at market for greater transparency and choice in
the food system. There has been cooperation between consumers and farmers who grow nongenetically engineered crops to ban cultivation of genetically modified food in local areas to
rescue people in both industrialized and developing countries from obesity and other dietrelated illnesses. Indigenous crops are being improved for food security to prevent obesity
worldwide. In addition to this, some companies have invented gym equipment such as
treadmills, elliptical trainers, stationary bicycles, and rowing machines and made them
available in markets for individuals who do not have access to gym centers. They can use them
in their homes to prevent sedentary lifestyle and promote obesity prevention. All these plans
work together to combat the prevalence of obesity to make young people feel better and happy.
In conclusion, school wellness policies ensure that unhealthy food and beverages are not
marketed to children in schools and on media in order to reinforce physical education they
provide to promote healthy lifestyles for young people. Additionally, several steps have been
recommended by society to increase food industry support for healthy eating and working with
the food production industry to bring healthier food to market. The fast food industry is also
being encouraged to promote healthier choices, advocating for the food industry to market
healthy food to children while decreasing advertising of less nutritious food choices to combat
this rising obesity. As the obesity issue continues to be a problem for young people, more and

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more hospitals and medical centers have been joining the fight by offering prevention strategies
and treatment programs to combat the existing epidemic. Therefore, people should admit the
fact that society has done enough and is still doing enough to lower the prevalence of obesity in
young people for a brighter future.

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References

Brownell, K. D., & Frieden, T. R. (2009). Ounces of prevention the public policy case for
taxes on sugared beverages. The New England Journal of Medicine, 360(18), 1805-1808.
Dodson, E. A., Fleming, C., Boehmer, Haire-Joshu, D, Luke, D. A. & Brownson, R. C. (2009).
Preventing childhood obesity through state policy: Qualitative assessment of enablers and
barriers. Journal ofPub1ic Health Policy, 30, S161-S176. doi:10.1057/jphp.2008.57.
Hardus, P. M., van Vuuren, CL., Crawford, D, & Worsley, A. (2003). Public perceptions of the
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Jebb, S. A., Rennie, K. L, & Cole, T. J. (2003). Prevalence of overweight and obesity among
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Neira, M., & de Onis, M. (2006). The Spanish strategy for nutrition, physical activity and the
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Rolls, B. J. (2009). Dietary strategies for the prevention and treatment of obesity.
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