Running head: CAUSES OF OBESITY

Causes of Obesity in Young People

Bridget Coffie
ESL 4230 Informative Paper (D3)
Madonna University
April 16, 2014

CAUSES OF OBESITY
Causes of Obesity in Young People
There is a worldwide concern about the growing prevalence of obesity in young
people in society. It is the most common nutrition disorder in developed countries, but not
as much in underdeveloped countries. It continuously rises at an alarming rate, which can
be considered as being an epidemic. Obesity is a serious disease which is the same as
being grossly overweight. That means people weigh a lot and this can be dangerous for
their every day life. This condition comes about when the body has an excessive amount
of fat. If an individuals amount of body fat becomes too excessive, he/she is at a much
greater risk of developing life altering diseases such as heart failure, hypertension, type II
diabetes, cancer, gallbladder disease, and osteoarthritis. This is because the heart is not
strong enough to deliver blood and micro-elements to every cell in the organism, which
has become bigger than is required. A person becomes obese when calorie intake is
consistently greater than the number of calories burned through activity based on
metabolic process. Many researchers have discovered that obesity is caused by factors
such as unhealthy eating, sedentary lifestyle, and medical conditions.
The condition of obesity occurs when there is an energy imbalance. Energy
balance means energy taken into the body is equal to energy taken out of the body.
Energy IN is the amount of energy the body receives from food and drinks while energy
OUT is the amount of energy the body uses for breathing, digesting, and being physically
active. A person is considered to be obese when the Body Mass Index (BMI) is 30kg/m2
or higher as Rennie, Jebb, Wright, and Coward (2005) explains in their survey. BMI is
calculated from the persons weight and height and provides a reasonable indicator of
body fatness which leads to health problems.

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Table 1 shows what could happen as a result of this daily energy imbalance for both boys
and girls in England. It gives the number of obese people and non-obesity related
problems reported at a hospital. The peoples ages range from 5-19 years old and the
participants were categorized into 5-9 years, 10-14 years, and 15-19 years. From 2000 to
2009, hospital admissions on obesity cases were 20,885. This shows that there is a high
prevalence of obesity in young people in England. This high prevalence is the same
around the world.
Table 1. Demographic Characteristics of Children and Young People Admitted with
Obesity-Related Diagnosis over the Entire Study Period, by Primary or Secondary
Diagnosis, 2000 to 2009.

Notes. From Rising Obesity-Related Hospital Admission among Children and Young
People in England: National Time Trend Study, by J. D. Jones Nielsen et al., 2013, Plos
one 8(6), p.3

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One trend that has attracted attention to the prevalence of obesity is the dramatic
increase in unhealthy eating habits. Unhealthy eating is eating food which has very little
or no nutritional value and can damage the body in some way. Today people do not want
to spend time cooking healthy food at home but prefer eating away from home,
particularly at fast food outlets where the food contains a lot of saturated fat and is far
from healthy. Rennie et al. (2005), of MRC Human Nutrition Research, Elsie Widdowson
Laboratory, explain Eating patterns may be less structured and may include more food
eaten outside the home, particularly snacks, for which both quantity and composition are
more (p. 246). The individual scientific case for fast food restaurants as a causal factor
in obesity is based on several observations. Data from many surveys have reported that
frequent consumptions of fast food such as hamburgers, pizza, barbecue, and fried
chicken which is cooked in the grease of the burger and then covered in ketchup, and
French fries have been shown to be associated with obesity. This is because the
nutritional analysis of products sold in fast food restaurants indicates that they are
typically high in energy density, which provides a plausible mechanism through which
they mighty promote excess energy intake to cause the prevalence of obesity in young
people. Energy density is the amount of energy in a given weight of food.
Even small amounts of fast food can increase the calorie intake considerably and
replace healthy eating. As Jones et al. (2013) observed, Obesity admission was
identified due to excess calories (p.2). People who consume fast food are less likely
to eat fruit, vegetables, and milk which help the body to get the necessary nutrients to
function well. This problem is worldwide, even affecting European countries. For
example, Serra_Majem, Bartrina, Perez-Rodrigo, Ribas-Barba, and Delgado-Rubia

CAUSES OF OBESITY
(2006) write, reported consumption of fruits and vegetables in Spanish children and
adolescents is among the lowest in Europe (p. S71). This change of eating habit can
easily lead to obesity. When the body gains a certain amount of weight, the metabolism
changes and begins to secret hormones that make it more efficient at storing energy to
cause obesity. Metabolism is the chemical reaction involved in maintaining the living
state of cells and organism.
In addition, another key factor contributing to a potentially devastating increase in
obesity among young people is large portion size. Sometimes the food is healthy but
young people are encouraged to eat more, making it difficult to balance the energy
equation. Meal size and frequency are crucial, partly because of the issue of protein. The
human body needs protein all day long but can only utilize a certain amount of it at a
time. Obviously, a large portion provides more calories so eating so much protein at a
sitting is a disaster because the body can not utilize more than 4-5 ounces of it and the
rest is stored as fat. Excess calories make it difficult to balance energy. The trend towards
larger portion size has occurred in parallel with an increase in the availability of energy in
food supply in the market. Larger portions are associated with higher intake. Moreover,
people with a higher BMI consume portions that are larger than those consumed by
people with lower BMI.
Another factor which causes obesity is a sedentary lifestyle of the present era.
Serious research from the past decades has reported that there has been an alarming
increase in obesity all over the world due to change of lifestyle in physical activities,
technological devices, and transportation. According to Maffeis et al., Changes in
environmental factors such as a sedentary lifestyle and their interaction on genetic

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susceptibility have been described as causes for the rise in the prevalence of obesity over
the last decades (as cited in Serra-Majem et al., 2006. p. S67). Today, modern mans
brain has to work more than his other parts of the body and this makes him more
sedentary because humanity has taken up a mode of living without much physical activity
and machineries have changed old methods of activity or exercise. Advances in
technology and invention have made life more sedentary. This type of living has been
developed because of the influence of modern forms of entertainment such as television,
video games, and computer programs. A sedentary lifestyle is blamed as the number one
culprit in causing obesity in young people. According to Serra-Majem et al. (2006) A
sedentary lifestyle, particularly spending more than 3 hours a day watching television, a
high consumption of sugared drink, a high fat intake and inadequate consumption of
vegetables have been identified as determinant for obesity (p. S71). Watching
television is more strongly associated with obesity than other sedentary behaviors since it
reduces energy expenditure by limiting the person from physical activities. Sedentary
people also develop a habit of snacking, especially with an inundation of junk food
enticements in the television advertisements. As Serra-Majem et al. (2006) note,
Likelihood of being obese was higher among those with more frequent usual
consumption of buns, cakes snacksand sugared drinks, most likely due to these items
being consumed while watching television (p. S69).
Unlike today, decades ago young people would play tag, ride bicycles and
participate in other outdoor activities after school or work to keep the body fit. Currently,
people are less likely to be required to participate in gym class at school or to engage in
physical activity outside of school and they are more likely to spend more hours on

CAUSES OF OBESITY
modern entertainments. As Rennie et al. (2005) note, physical activity levels must have
decreased between 1983 and 1997 by 8% and 9% in boys and girls respectively for 10-11
years olds and 14% and 11% for 14-15 years olds (p.244). Some decades ago, shopping
consisted of walking down the road to the high street where one could find grocery
stores, bakeries, and banks. As large out of town supermarkets and shopping malls started
to appear, people moved from using their feet to driving their cars to get their provisions,
even when their destination is only half a mile away. The less the body is moved, the
fewer calories the body burns. However, this is not only a question of calories. Physical
activity has an effect on how the body hormones work, and the hormones have an effect
on how the body deals with food. Several studies have shown that physical activity has a
beneficial effect on the insulin levels, keeping them stable. Unstable insulin is associated
with obesity.
Obesity, a major health problem worldwide, is also determined by health
condition as contributing factors. For example, research shows that a lack of sleep
increases the risk of obesity. People who sleep fewer hours seem to prefer eating foods
that are higher in calories and carbohydrates, which leads to overeating and causes
obesity. As Haghighadoost, Karimi, Esmaillzadeh, and Azadbakh (2012) remark,Several
cross-sectional and epidemiologic studies have reported that the concurrency of reduced
sleep duration could be associated with increased obesity rate over the recent decade
(p.1146). Sleep helps maintain a healthy balance of hormones that make the body feel
hungry (ghrelin) or full (leptin). When the body does not get enough sleep, it drives leptin
levels down, which means the body does not feel satisfied after eating. Lack of sleep also
causes the ghrelin levels to rise, which means the appetite is stimulated so the body wants

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more food. This makes the body feel hungrier than when it is well rested and causes it to
gain weight. This leads to obesity when the metabolism does not function properly. As
Haghighatdoost et al. (2012) add, Subjects in lowest tertile of sleep duration (sleep
duration lower than 6 h/d) in comparison with those in the highest (sleep duration more
than 8 h/d) had higher BMI values. Short sleepers were more likely to be obese
(p.1148).
Some hormone problems such as underactive thyroid, cushings syndrome, and
polycytic ovarian syndrome cause obesity. Underactive thyroid reduces the level of
thyroid hormone, which slows down the metabolism and causes obesity. Cushings
syndrome requires the bodys adrenal glands to make too much hormone which causes
the person have upper-body obesity. Intake of certain medicines like corticosteroids,
antidepressants, and seizure medicines also lead to prevalence of obesity. These
medicines slow the rate at which the body burns calories, increase appetite, and causes
the body to retain extra water. Woman who take oral contraceptive pills are also likely to
be obese because some of the pills contain higher level of estrogen and progestin than
body needs and increases appetite and fluid retention. Shi et al (2012) state, Obesity due
to known secondary causes, administration of endocrine hormones (including oral
contraceptive pills and glucocorticoids), anti-hyperglycemic or lipid lowing drugs is
also prevalent (P.2). Some people also gain weight and eventually become obese when
they stop smoking. This is because food tastes and smells better after quitting smoking
and cigarette contains nicotine which raises the rate at which the body burns calories. The
body burns fewer calories when the person stops smoking.

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There has been a trend towards building environments that discourage young
people from healthy eating habits and physical activities. The lifestyle of the recent time
makes young people prefer eating unhealthy food away from home to preparing
nutritious meals and eating at home. Fast food is addictive due to the immense amount of
sugar, fat, and salt packed into each greasy serving. These ingredients are highly
processed in the form of high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils which increase
cholesterol and increases the obesity epidemic. With the arrival of washing machines,
dishwashers, television, computer programs, video games, and other modern convenience
devices, the majority of young people are leading much more sedentary lifestyles
compare to their parents and grandparents which ancourages obesity in society. If the rate
of obesity in young people continues to increase at the level that it has been, it may not be
very long before healthy, average-sized young people walking around in society becomes
a rarity.

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References
Haghighatdoost, F., Karimi, G., Esmaillzadeh, A., & Azadbakht, L. (2012). Sleep
deprivation is associated with lower diet quality indices and higher rate of general
and central obesity among young female students in Iran. Nutrition, 28, 11461150. doi:10.1016/j.nut.2012.015.
Jones Nielsen, D. J., Laverty, A. A., Millett, C., Mainous III, A. G., Majeed, A., &
Saxena, S. (2003). Rising obesity-related hospital admission among children and
young people in England: National time trends study. Plos one, 8(6), 1-8.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0065764.g002.
Rennie, K. L., Jebb, S. A.,Wright, A., & Coward, W. A (2005). Secular trends in underreporting in young people. British Journal of Nutrition, 93, 241-247.
doi:10.1079/BJN20041307.
Serra-Majem, L., Bartrina, J. A., Perez-Rodrigo, C., Ribas-Barba, L., & Delgado-Rubia,
A. (2006). Prevalence and determinants of obesity in Spanish children and young
people. British Journal of Nutrition, 96, S67-S72. doi: 10.1079/BJN20061703.
Shi, J., Zhang, Y., Gu, W., Cui, B., Xu, M., Yan, Q., Wang, W., Ning, G., & Hong, J.
(2012). Serum liver fatty acid binding protein level correlated positively with
obesity and insulin resistance in Chinese young adults. Plos one, 7(11), 1-6.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0048777.g001.