Question

In paragraph form how enviornmental consequence affects obesity?

Also find 3 in-text citation (quotes) related to environmental consequnce of obesity and explain each of them

Answer 1

Obesity is a complex health disorder that affects both adults and children. Being obese puts people at risk for many health problems. The more body fat a person has and the more they weigh, the more likely they are to develop diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, arthritis, and some cancers.

There has been a growing concern that urban sprawl and the structure of the built environment have an impact on the escalation of noncontagious health disorders. Studies have shown that obesity has become increasingly prevalent in both people and animals such as pets and laboratory animals (Klimentidis, ey. al. 2010, Canaries in the coal mine: a cross-species analysis of the plurality of obesity epidemics). There have been no linkages found between this obesity trend and diet and exercise. According to Professor Robert H. Lustig from the University of California, San Francisco, "Even those at the lower end of the body mass index (BMI) curve are gaining weight. Whatever is happening is happening to everyone, suggesting an environmental trigger."(Lustig, 2006, Childhood obesity: behavioral aberration or biochemical drive? Reinterpreting the First Law of Thermodynamics).

While sprawl is a somewhat imprecise and difficult to measure phenomenon, it is often characterized by low-density urban development that consumes land faster than the growth of the population. More specifically sprawl environments are characterized by (1) a population widely dispersed in low-density residential development; (2) rigid separation of homes, shops, and workplaces; (3) a lack of distinct activity centers, such as strong and thriving downtowns or suburban town centers; and (4) a network of roads marked by large block size and poor access from one place to another. This redistribution of population to suburbs and away from central cities and rural areas has given rise to undesirable impacts on metropolitan residents and communities.

A multitude of studies show that members of racial and ethnic minority communities are disproportionately obese. A recent study in the American Journal of Public Health found a strong correlation between community demographics and the likelihood of inhabitants being obese. In this study, non-Hispanic Blacks (36.1%) and Hispanics (28.7%) were shown to have higher percentages of obesity than non-Hispanic Whites (24.5%) and non-Hispanic Asians (7.1%) (Kirby, et. al., 2012, "Race, place, and obesity: the complex relationships among community racial/ethnic composition, individual race/ethnicity, and obesity in the United States).

Public health policies, according to the Charter, should itemize the prevention of mental illness and weight-concerned disorders, and recognize the relationship of both conditions to cultural, gender, socioeconomic, and other health elements. In order to create a type of cultural change, training as well as collaboration of health professionals, focusing on interventions, support, preventions, and collaboration with related specialties is crucial. Health Professionals need be more aware that anyone with one of these health issues, (obesity or mental illness), is automatically more susceptible to develop the other one.

Rural areas are associated with 1.36 higher odds of obesity compared to urban areas; however, mediation analysis shows that individual educational attainment, neighborhood median household income, and neighborhood-built environment features reduce these odds by 94% and render the relationship statistically insignificant. Rural areas tend to have farther distances between residences and supermarkets, clinical settings, and recreational opportunities, which may be impacting the ability to practice healthy behaviors that prevent obesity.