Obesity as a Public Health Issue

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The website of Obesity in America (n.d.) defines obesity as “an excessive amount of body fat in relation to lean body mass”. To put it in the words of a layman a person has declared obese if his or her body weight is approximately 30% above the ideal weight for his or her average height. There are a number of factors that are responsible for obesity. The most prominent ones include eating a diet rich in fat and calories, leading a sedentary life, or both. Others include genetic, hormonal, behavioral, and environmental factors that can also cause obesity.

There has been a strong debate over the issue of obesity being a public or private matter. Americans appear to be ambivalent over the issue. According to Balko (2004), obesity is a private matter and not a public one. Balko is of the view that everyone should be responsible for his own actions and criticizes the involvement of the government in this issue. Balko points out a number of ways adopted by the government to overcome the problem of obesity. These include setting up a budget of $125 million for adopting a healthy lifestyle, banning snacks and sodas from schools and vending machines, and even introducing a “fat tax” on high-calorie foods. Taxing and depriving those with the food of their choice is actually a demotivating factor. Balko states that instead of adopting all these measures the government should encourage a habit of a moral, financial and personal sense of responsibility. In that way, all the costs, concerns, and worries will be left for only those who are actually obese.

While respecting Balko’s viewpoints let us examine Brownell and Nestle’s (2004) viewpoints who believe that obesity is a public issue.

Brownell and Nestle put the blame on the food industry for promoting unhealthy habits among children. The food industry attracts children towards unhealthy food through ads on TV and hoardings. At the same time, its budget is a lot higher than the budget spent on healthy nutrition education by the government. If the government spends $2 million, Mcdonald’s spends $500 million on the promotion of “We love to see you smile”. Today the teenagers consume sodas twice as much as milk. Furthermore, a survey had shown that French fries comprise 25% of all vegetables consumed by teenagers.

To support their methodology the food industry declares obesity to be a personal responsibility. They support their argument on three points. Firstly they state that people are overweight because of their own negligence, secondly the food industry responds to the demands of the consumers and does not create their demands, and thirdly not to market food to children and displaying calories on food is an attack on freedom.

Brownell and Nestle do not support the above arguments. Firstly since obesity is increasing every year so does that mean that people are becoming less responsible? Or is lack of responsibility becoming an epidemic? Secondly, humans are naturally attracted to high-calorie food. Thirdly the experiment of encouraging people to eat less and exercise more has not been successful. Fourthly eating being a personal responsibility is like the argument put forward by the tobacco industry which has done havoc all over the world. Brownell and Nestle are of the view that obesity is a public problem and that the government should do all efforts to eradicate it by all possible means.

While the arguments of Balko and Brownell both appear valid Americans seem to be split over the issue of obesity is a public or private matter.

In a survey carried out by Lake, Snell, Perry, and Associates (2003) 48% of Americans were of the view that obesity is a private matter and that people must deal with their own problems. 47% stated that it is a public health issue and that society needs to work together to eliminate this problem. About 81% of Americans are of the view that government should play its role in eliminating obesity. 35% stated that the government should play a major role. On the contrary, 18% of Americans were of the view that the government should play its part in this issue. Other than that 74% of the people believed that the healthcare providers and 65% believed that the schools should play a major role in this regard.

At the same time, a lot of people do not support some of the steps taken by the government to curb obesity. 62% of Americans expressed their disapproval for the government’s order of displaying calories on food items. 59% were against the food tax. Majority of the Americans are enthusiastic about educating their children about healthy food. At the same time, 84% supported the idea of banning junk food in school cafeterias.

To conclude it seems that Americans are ambivalent over the issue of obesity. We respect the ideas of Balko and Brownell and they both are true in their own ways. Both agree on the fact that obesity must be taken care of. Obesity is a problem that needs to be taken care of. It is up to the people to decide how to deal with it either privately or at the mass level through government intervention.

References

Balko, R. “Are You Responsible For Your Own Weight?”, TIME Magazine, (2004). Web.

Brownell, K. Nestle, M. “Are You Responsible For Your Own Weight?” TIME Magazine, (2004). Web.

Lake et al. “Obesity as a Public Health Issue, A look at Solutions”, Harvard Forums on Health, (2003). Web.

“Obesity Basics”, (n.d.). Web.

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Obesity as a Public Health Issue

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