Obesity is a disease that affects one in three members of the American population. Non-Hispanic blacks have the highest age-adjusted rates of obesity (49.5%) compared with Mexican Americans (40.4%), all Hispanics (39.1%) and non-Hispanic whites (34.3%) [See JAMA. 2012;307(5):491-497. doi:10.1001/jama.2012.39] The trend of obese Americans has continually increased since 1960, and is not showing signs of slowing down. More than half of the adults in America are considered overweight or obese, and about thirty-four percent of the total population in the U.S is either overweight or obese. One is considered “overweight” if the body mass index, or BMI, is twenty-five to twenty-nine kilograms. “Obese” is any number thirty or greater. Obesity is the cause of at least 300,000 deaths in the U.S every year, second only to smoking. Obesity-related conditions include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer, some of the leading causes of preventable death.
What are some the causes of Obesity? Inactivity is one factor that can cause an individual to become obese. If a person is not very active, he/she will not burn as many calories. With a sedentary lifestyle, a person can easily take in more calories every day. People are not as physically active as they should be. With the advances in technology many people spend hours sitting at a computer on a social network sites, online shopping, skype, instagram facebook and etc. Children no longer go outside to play, instead they are inside the house playing video games (while eating junk food ), and not getting enough exercise.Having an unhealthy diet and eating habits can cause obesity. A diet that's high in calories, eating fast food, skipping breakfast, eating most of your calories at night, drinking high-calorie beverages and eating oversized portions all contribute to weight gain. Lack of sleep will cause hormones called leptin increase appetite, causing individual to crave foods high in...