In the US, obesity is seen everywhere you look. In this map, shown below, you can see a high prevalence of obesity for adults in the South and the Midwest.
In seven states, 35%, OR MORE, of the adult population is considered obese. That is outrageous! The numbers for childhood obesity are no better. The data for childhood obesity varies from race and gender, but overall, 18.5% of children are obese in America, equating to around 13.7 million kids.
How is obesity happening?
If a person mainly consumes a high-fat diet, full of saturated fats, it causes neuronal inflammation of the hypothalamus. The inflammation causes insulin and leptin signaling resistance, which increases the amount of AgRP and decreases the amount of alpha-MSH being released and absorbed by the MC4R neurons. The opposite signaling leads the body to believe that it needs to save energy and eat more food to store MORE energy.
Why is obesity dangerous?
The chronic inflammation that leads to obesity can also cause an array of terrible diseases, such as, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular diseases, and a wide variety of neuronal diseases. Each one of these diseases can lead to complications and death. Cardiovascular diseases are the top natural killer in the US. Once the heart is not able to pump blood to the body, the body starts to die. A high fat diet also stimulates an activation of IKK/NF-κB, which then leads to an increase of death factors and more expression of pro-apoptotic genes. By eating a high-fat diet, a person is literally killing themselves.
What do we do?
As a nation, we need to learn at a young age to eat healthy and exercise for 30 minutes every day. If we steer away from a high-fat diet, then the neuronal inflammation does not occur and the cascade of unfortunate events can be prevented. This is easier said than done. Our foods are full of saturated fats. We have technology that assists us in being lazier and lazier. I have a relative that is 350 pounds and orders delivery every single day. It is slowly killing her and it is heartbreaking. How do we completely change our society to make it so a 25% obesity rate is NOT the norm?
There are programs that are helping to reduce the obesity epidemic. Salad bars to Schools is a partnership that is promoting the establishment of salad bars in schools to encourage healthy eating in the public school system. These salad bars give children access to vegetables that they may not have, otherwise. Besides salad bars, schools are completely changing their menus to introduce more whole grains and less saturated fats in the food that they’re offering. Schools are switching out the items in their vending machines from sugary drinks and chips to sparkling water and apples. Another great opportunity is Fuel Up to Play. Fuel Up to Play 60 is a program initiated by the NFL to encourage children to get outside and play for 60 minutes to help reduce the childhood obesity issue. Together, with healthy eating and exercise, we can become a healthier, happier society that can live longer lives.
https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/index.html
