Public Health Considerations Regarding Obesity

Aditi Tiwari, Palanikumar Balasundaram, Aditi Tiwari, Palanikumar Balasundaram

Excerpt

Obesity is an alarmingly increasing global public health issue. Obesity is labeled as a national epidemic, and obesity affects one in three adults and one in six children in the United States of America. Several countries worldwide have witnessed a double or triple escalation in the prevalence of obesity in the last three decades (Figure 1, Figure2), probably due to urbanization, sedentary lifestyle, and increase consumption of high-calorie processed food.

The alarming increase in childhood obesity foreshows a tremendous burden of chronic disease prevention in the future public healthcare systems worldwide. Obesity prevention is a critical factor in controlling Obesity-related Non-communicable diseases (OR-NCDs), including insulin resistance/metabolic syndrome, featuring hyperinsulinemia, type 2 diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and coronary artery disease.

The failure of the traditional obesity control measures has stressed the importance of a new non-stigmatizing public policy approach, shifting away from the traditional focus on individual behavior change towards strategies dealing with environmental change. The other big challenge related to overweight and obesity is weight bias and discrimination. In public settings such as work environments, healthcare facilities, and educational setup, obese individuals face discrimination.

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: Aditi Tiwari declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Palanikumar Balasundaram declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Copyright © 2023, StatPearls Publishing LLC.

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Source: PubMed

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