Student: Antonio Gadaleta Premasters2 Coursework essay

Teacher: Sarah H. - EAP

Title: Obesity is a public health crisis in many Western countries, and increasingly in other parts of the world. Consider how this situation has occurred, outline the strategies for combating this situation in the UK, and the effectiveness of these strategies . Eating, for the human being, is an essential habit, consisting in introducing food into the body to satisfy the energetic needs and in consuming food for the pleasure of the taste. However, in modern times, for more and more Western inhabitants, this pattern of behaviour has derailed in a pathology, called obesity. Thus, this essay will concern a brief outline on what the obesity is and how it's developed, will underline the major plans considered or prompted in Great ritain and will e!plain roughly how these programmes are serving in combating the actual dangerous trend. "irst of all, it is important to define a standard value to define if a person is or is not in the state of more than overweight due to determine a standard procedure to deal with this illness and to supply medical treatments. #s a conse$uence, the %& has been introduced. This numerical scale 'also (nown as ody %ass &nde!) is an appro!imate indicator of a human physical state, displaying if the weight is compatible to a healthy ideal model. &n detail, the %& is calculated dividing the weight e!pressed in (ilograms by the height in meters raised to the power of two. #ccording to this inde! , people can be defined* underweight, if their %& is less than +,- healthy weigh, with the %& value between +, and ./- overweight, if the %& oscillates from ./ to 01- obese, if the ody %ass &nde! is e$ual or greater than 01 '#nderson, 2. '3repared by), .1+1 , p.04). &n conclusion, the function of this inde! is to distinguish the weight category a person belong to, and if this class can or can't contribute to develop a psychological disease 'The 3ractical Guide, .1+1, p.+).

5e!t, it must be understood that the human behaviours are the most comple!, composite topics to consider and fatness, as one of these, is not easy to be discussed. &n fact, it can be said that obesity is a physiological state caused by a massive number of factors such as neuroendocrine obesity, drug induced weight gain, cessation of smo(ing, sedentary life, diet, psychological and social factor, socio6economic and ethnic factors, genetic and congenital disorders ' ray, #.'.117) pp. +7 6.+). To conclude, the obesity is induced by several elements, and it is e!tremely difficult to determine the one that mainly contributes to this illness.

What is more, it has to be said that the 89 government has produced a systematic plan of actions to battle this disease mainly focusing on the influence of the diet and of the lifestyle on the population. :oncerning the attention on the influence on the diet, there were several strategies. "irst, it has encouraged a healthy nutrition attempting to reduce the calories consumption, as it is evident from the "ood ;tandards #gency's ;aturated "at and Energy &nta(e programme. This plan was set up with the intention of cutting down the inta(e of saturated fat and saccharide, limiting the degree of utili<ation of designed nutrient '5ational #udit =ffice, .1+., p.+4). ;econd, it has directed its effort toward enhancing of fruit and vegetables adoption in diet, starting the / # >#? programme. &t implicates cooperating establishments throughout all the social groups, licensing them to employ the / # >#? emblem, focusing population attention toward selected foods. This company symbol today can be seen on /11 different (ind of healthy foods. %oreover, it has been scheduled to improve the access to fresh fruit and vegetables for the population living regions not well6 nourished with high level aliments '5ational #udit =ffice, .1+., p..+ ). Third, according to the 'Traffic 2ight' programme, the food producers have been forced to apply nutrition labelling in a complete and undifferentiated manner on their merchandises ';cience and Technology committee, .1++, p.+0,6+@+). Aeferring to the action regarding the modification of the behaviours, the 89 government has adopted the usiness7life #ctivities main schemes. #ccording to this plan, the >epartment of Health has been commissioned to engage the people directly and to encourage them in acting in a proper way to reduce and limit the obesity. ;ome instances of this plan are* free ballet classes in the 89, a programme to help employees to become fitter, a campaign to stimulate the families to internali<e a healthier nourishment , and general incentive to let the 89's population ride their bicycles more often ';cience and Technology committee, .1++, p. .1 ). To sum up, the Great ritain's main strategies to limit obesity are aiming to challenge the derailment in diet and to convert the behaviour of the population through the usage of pressing campaigns. ;ubse$uently, it should be added that the 89 government's planning and conducting of the fight toward the obesity is having unali(e results* the strategy / # >#? is meeting the e!pected resultsthere are mi!ed outcomes from the the ;aturated "at and Energy &nta(e programme and 'Traffic light' labelling- the change in behaviours has not satisfied the outloo(s. :onsidering the full successes, the / # >#? programme has been fortunate since it has increased the consumption of fruits and vegetables in the 89. &n particular, everyday more than .,+ million students are supplied with gratis healthy foods '5ational #udit =ffice, .1+., p..+ ). 5e!t, regarding the first unsatisfactory result, the ;aturated "at and Energy &nta(e programme has meliorated the nourishment of the 89's inhabitants, for instance aiming the mil('s consumption toward the

s(immed mil( in place of the whole one- nevertheless, it has been suggested to reduce the fat ingestion that the food companies should enhance the taste of the aliments without e!ploiting the palatability of the suet 'Gerda, 9. , .1++). ;imilarly, as claimed by the ;cience and Technology committee the 'Traffic 2ight' programme has not been a complete favorable outcome, because, although it has altered the populace's perception of healthy and unhealthy food, it has not taught how to comprehend more comple! labelling, generally bringing the families to choose foods opposite to their intent ';cience and Technology committee, .1++, p.+7+6+7.). "inally, studying the failures, the strategies prompted in changing the people's behaviours has not led the e!pected results since the obese population, among adults and children, males and females, is foretold to increase. #s claimed by the Health and ;ocial :are &nformation :entre, B y .1./ it is estimated that 7CD of men and 0@D of women will be obeseE';tatistic on =besity, 3hysical #ctivity and >iet. .1+0, p..1). &n summary, the tactics triggered in the 89 has produced successes, failures and controversial outcome. &n brief, it is rather evident that the plague of obesity is spreading in the 89, as well as in all the Western countries, and the Governments' efforts seem to be without firm impression. "or many families, this disease is causing enormous difficulties, originating a huge deficit in ill people and e!acerbating the ill6people's care6givers. To overthrow this trend, it is necessary to research for new strategies and new policies to regulate the insertion in the mar(et of hypercaloric foods 'Gerda, 9., .1++). W=A> :=85T* +14/

ibliography +. #nderson, 2. '3repared by). '.1+1) F5ew Hampshire =besity >ata oo( .1+1F. 5ew Hampshire >epartment of Health and Human ;ervices 5ov .1+1. +7 5ov .1+0 Ghttp*HHwww.dhhs.nh.govHdphsHnhpHdocumentsHobesity.1+1.pdf I .. F#n update on the government's approach to tac(ling obesityF . '.1+.) 5ational #udit =ffice +C July .1+.. +7 5ov .1+0 Ghttp*HHwww.nao.org.u(Hwp6 contentHuploadsH.1+.H1CHtac(lingKobesityKupdate.pdf I 0. ray, #. George, ouchard, :laude. '.117) FHandboo( of =besityF. .nd ed. %arcel >e((er* 5ew ?or(. .117 7. Gerda 9. 3ot, :elia J. 3rynne, :aireen Aoberts, #shley =lson, ;onja 9. 5icholson, :lare Whitton, irgit Teucher, everley ates, Helen Henderson, ;arah 3igott, Gillian ;wan, and #lison %. ;tephen '.1++). F5ational >iet and 5utrition ;urvey* fat and fatty acid inta(es from the first year of the rolling programme and comparison with previous surveysF. 3ub%ed.gov +, July .1++. +7 5ov .1+0 Ghttp*HHwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.govHpmcHarticlesH3%:07.,,0@H I /. F5ational Health and 5utrition E!amination ;urveyF '.1+0). :enters for >isease :ontrol and 3revention 0+ =ct .1+0. +7 5ov .1+0 Ghttp*HHwww.cdc.govHnchsHdataHnhanesHdatabriefsHadultweight.pdf I @. F;cience and Technology :ommittee 6 ehaviour :hange 6 Written Evidence from #6:F '.1++) . House of 2ords. .0 %ar .1++. +7 5ov .1+0 Ghttp*HHwww.parliament.u(HdocumentsHlords6 committeesHscience6technologyHbehaviourchangeH :writtenevidence#toL.pdf I C. F;tatistic on =besity, 3hysical #ctivity and >iet* England, .1+0F '.1+0) The Health and ;ocial :are &nformation :entre .1 "eb .1+0. +7 5ov .1+0 Ghttp*HHwww.bhfactive.org.u(HuserfilesH>ocumentsHobes6phys6acti6diet6eng6.1+06rep.pdf I ,. FThe 3ractical Guide M &dentification, Evaluation, and Treatment of =verweight and =besity in #dultsF '.1+1). 5ational &nstitutes of Health M 5ational Heart, 2ung, and lood &nstitute. =ctober .111. +7 5ov .1+0 Ghttp*HHwww.nhlbi.nih.govHguidelinesHobesityHprctgdKc.pdf I