Obesity: A Growing Problem

When someone asks you to think of the stereotypical American, what is the first thing that pops into your head? If you’re anything like me, there will be a picture of an obese person walking down the street with a sugary soda in their hands. Obesity is a growing problem in America, and there are currently motions going across the nation trying to help reduce its severity. We all know that eating fatty and sugary foods is bad for you, but what chemically underlies the problem of obesity. This is the question we tackled this week in class.
Chemically, the problem of obesity lies within the chemicals leptin and insulin. Leptin comes from fat stores (adipose tissue) and insulin comes from the pancreas. These molecules are known for their signaling to the brain that conveys information about the fat stores within the body. These are released into the blood stream in proportion to the amount of fat and upon release, it will signal to reduce food intake. The problem of obesity comes in when they develop a resistance to these or there is an inherently reduced amount of signaling to begin with.
Since we know that there is a problem with the chemicals in the brain this leads us to wonder if there can be a drug that can help cure the obesity problem in America. To put it simply, there probably is. Nothing that has been used so far has been effective over long periods of time, but with more research done, there will probably be some “end all” pill on the market. Personally, I do not believe that this is the right step to take with this problem. Originally the problem still originates with us overeating unhealthy foods which will signal for more leptin leading to the resistance problem underlying obesity. In my honest opinion, I believe we need to redo how we eat. Stop buying the fast food and sugary snacks and start getting fruits and vegetables as well as becoming more active and getting off the couch. This may be a more expensive option, but in the end I believe that this will help stop the problem in a safer, healthier matter than using a magic pill. This solution may also help stop the corruption of the food industry and cause the government to stop subsidizing high fructose corn syrup and have them start subsidizing something a little healthier. This may be wishful thinking, but to me, this would be the best option.