OBESITY AND GENERAL

UNHEALTHY LIVING – HOW DO

WE FIND A WAY AROUND IT
AND SHOULD WE BLAME
PEOPLE FOR IT?

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents.........................................................................................................2

Introduction.................................................................................................................3

Obesity – The BMI and list of diseases associated........................................................3

The Ideas of Healthy Eating.........................................................................................4

Problems associated with obesity................................................................................4

Are there treatments?..............................................................................................5

What are the fast food supergiants doing to help?.......................................................6

McDonalds................................................................................................................6

Burger King..............................................................................................................6

KFC...........................................................................................................................7

Summary..................................................................................................................7

General Advice from professional chefs.......................................................................9

Laziness.....................................................................................................................11

Is there perhaps another alternative?........................................................................12

Probiotics...............................................................................................................12

Synbiotics...............................................................................................................13

Legalities...................................................................................................................13

Conclusion.................................................................................................................14

Bibliography...............................................................................................................15

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INTRODUCTION

In this case study, I will be discussing the issues of healthy eating in

general and who is to blame for the cause of obesity. Alongside the
statements and assessing and evaluating the resources at hand, I will
give a balanced debate including arguments for and against as well as
a conclusion to finalize the case study. The orange coloured numbers
indicate source references. (see bibliography)

OBESITY – THE BMI AND LIST OF DISEASES ASSOCIATED

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), approximately 400

million adults in the word are obese – to put that in perspective, that is
one in three adults and to give an idea of how severe the degree of
obesity is, the body mass index (BMI) is calculated using:

Weight lb×703Height2 (in)

A person with a BMI of 30 is considered obese with 25 being

overweight.

As far as health goes for the obese, the risks are unpromising.
Common chronic diseases are:

• Cardiovascular disease - conditions related to the circulatory

system including heart disease, coronary artery disease (CAD),
and coronary heart disease (CHD) as well as peripheral vascular
disease. These diseases lead to heart attacks and strokes.

• Diabetes (type 2) - another chronic disease associated with

unusually high levels of sugar in the blood. Type 2 diabetes is
most common amongst the worldwide population. The WHO
estimates a double in numbers of people (300 from 150 million)
developing type 2 diabetes in 12 years time.

• Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) such as osteoarthritis and

bursitis.

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 • Most common cancers such as breast, colon, oesophagus and
gallbladder.

• Other diseases associated with obesity include sleep apnoea,

abdominal hernias, varicose veins, gout, gall bladder disease and
respiratory problems. ()

THE IDEAS OF HEALTHY EATING

The point of healthy eating is to maintain a sensible weight and to be

free of health risks. Getting into the habit eating healthily also
encourages one to exercise regularly maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

The problem today is that lots of people are making the wrong choices
when it comes to eating food. Recent results from a statistical
gathering in America have shown that 1 in 3 people are obese and
Britain is not much different with 1 in 4 being obese.

So the question is who is really to blame for obesity, should we blame

ourselves for making the wrong choices?

Are we to blame ourselves for our laziness of not exercising regularly

and undertaking recommended diets?

Or should we blame the food industries who are selling us this food to
start with?

PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH OBESITY

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 One in ten six-year-olds are
obese. The total number of
obese children has doubled
since 1975.

If a child becomes obese their

body processes can change.
Some of these may be difficult
or even impossible to alter in
As we see from this graph, adulthood.
the children from the UK
ages 6-17, each line is
proportionately apart
meaning that since the time
periods of 1905, 1925, 1975
and 1995, the BMI has
doubled between those
years meaning a
predictable, dramatic
outcome in the following
()

Fat cells (triglycerides) are developed in the first few years of life. If fat
is stored quickly, fat cells are then multiplied quickly. So an obese
child can have up to three times as much fat as a normal child.
Eventually, fat cells stop multiplying and an adult has a fixed number
of cells for the rest of their life.
A problem of obesity for children is the downgrading body image they
represent – this very often leads to continuous bullying and as a result
leads to depression and perhaps even more overeating.
Obesity is a big health problem for children because they will be at risk
to chronic diseases such as diabetes (type 2). Furthermore, children
can suffer from sleep apnoea - this is a condition where the normal
breathing pattern is disturbed during sleep because the airway
collapses and is blocked completely, cutting off the flow of air thus
respiration may be stopped up to a minute. This process can happen
frequently during the night, leading to cardiovascular disease, memory

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problems, headaches and fatigue.

ARE THERE TREATMENTS?

Currently, treatments are available for treating obesity but most of

these are amphetamine based (stimulant drugs). They increase the
amount of noradrenalin (a hormone made in sympathetic nerves and
the adrenal gland that makes the heart beat faster and harder) and
dopamine hormones in the blood (a chemical that transmits signals
between nerve cells), lowering appetite levels. However, they are not
suitable for long-term use and side effects can include high blood
pressure, anxiety and restlessness.

However, scientists are currently researching new ways to develop

weight-loss drugs that cause fewer side effects. Recently, scientists are
researching the links in different levels between fat and hunger. Fat
produces a hormone called leptin. They designate the degree of
hunger to the brain in order to control the storage of body fat. The
recent links between fat and hunger is if we have more fat inside our
body, we are less hungry and vice versa and since this link is not
functional in theory, scientists can find a way to produce a drug which
will be able to interfere with this phase.

The problem with using weight-loss drugs is that people have the
ability to lose weight but once they have an opportunity to put it back
on again without noticing, they do so. So therefore exercising is the
most sensible way to lose weight without problems developing.

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(), ()– information above based on sources

WHAT ARE THE FAST FOOD SUPERGIANTS DOING TO HELP?

Well, help may be at hand because the fast food chains have
announced that they will be introducing healthier menus which will
include a percentage rise in salads and a reduction in fatty foods.

Firstly, let’s take a look at three most popular fast food chains and

Tasty warm grilled or crispy chicken with Italian style

cheese flakes and garlic and herb croutons.

Did you know?

Our salad counts as 2 portions towards your 5 a day target
for fruit and vegetables. Choose balsamic dressing for
fewer calories.

study their menu:

MCDONALDS

In response to the obesity scare, McDonalds launched the healthy food

scheme, where they would serve “healthy” foods such as the Chicken
Caesar Salad shown below:

Additionally, McDonalds have introduced a fruit bag option a garden

side salad option each containing fresh fruit and vegetables - but I
believe this to be just words - who knows what has happened to the
foods between storage and serving? ()

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BURGER KING

Burger King has

tried to copy
some of
McDonald’s
ideas but yet
they still have
their burgers as
the promotional
head of the
menu. Their
cheeseburgers
(in 100g) contain
30g
() carbohydrates

KFC

KFC have not

attempted to
introduce a salads
range since the
whole menu has
been occupied by
chicken.

The Medium fries

alone contain
36.4g
carbohydrates
and 14.8g fat in

()

SUMMARY

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From what I have seen here, each of the menus have barely improved
with only McDonalds making a slim effort to try and introduce a salad
range but no better because they have not recommended their salad
range over the popular burger range. The overall calories loaded on
each of their menus are truly staggering. The statement referring to
the five a day portion of McDonald’s salad range is very untrustworthy
to stick by; for all we know, they have kept their lettuces refrigerated
over two months. Burger King and KFC are not any different; in fact
worse since a salad range has not been introduced at all.

A statement from Dr Steer concludes the improvement is as low as it

can be:

"The decision by McDonald's to introduce healthier foods in its

restaurants will not by itself solve the problem of obesity," ()

Although Dr Steer is not entirely against the fast food companies, he

does support them to some extent to find better ways of making
money. From what is being said here, McDonalds have only introduced
a healthier range in order to be free from the hassle of questions from
health care researchers.

So are fast food chains acting like this intentionally?

According to Knowledge Wharton News Weekly, McDonalds have

bought 54 million pounds of apples in 2005 making their company the
official highest buyer of apples.

It seems they wish to care about the people’s health but they seem to
be worried if they erase their whole stock of burgers from their menus.

Statistics of what is currently happening does not seem to help issues

either:

Over 30,000 deaths a year are caused by obesity in England alone.

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The number of obese children has tripled in 20 years. 10% of six year
olds are obese, rising to 17% of 15 year olds

An estimated 10% of America's preschoolers are dangerously

overweight, obesity rates for elementary school students have tripled
in the last three decades, and 31% of adults in the U.S. are now
considered obese (at least 30 pounds overweight). ()

This is obviously a critical issue concerning health risks for children

especially. A problem with the obesity statistics with children is that
potentially, parents do not have the time and money to prepare their
own food after work so therefore they order fast food.

Additionally, children are possibly not working hard enough in keeping

up their fitness regime therefore discouragement and depression and
deprivation often leads to engaging compulsive overeating.

GENERAL ADVICE FROM PROFESSIONAL CHEFS

Professional chefs such as Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver have

introduced different ways of improving the recipes of such foods such
as chicken legs and French fries, producing them with less fatty
substances such as reduction of cooking oil. Eating fresh organic
produce is also a factor to improve eating than pre-prepared foods.

One method to help reduce the need for fast food is to eat chips
without deep-frying like this recipe from Gordon Ramsay:

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Gordon Ramsay makes healthy and tasty chunky chips - without deep-
frying

Gordon Ramsay

34 ratings
Recipe by Gordon Ramsay; Tested
Tested
Leave a comment or rate this recipe
Difficulty and serving

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Prep 15 mins

Cook 20 mins

Vegetarian, Vegan
Method
1. Heat oven to its highest setting, ideally 250C/fan 230C/gas 9. Cut each potato
into 1cm-wide slices, then into 1cm-thick sticks. Blanch in a large pan of boiling water
for 3 mins, and then drain well.
2. Shake the potatoes out onto a roasting pan, drizzle with oil, ensuring each chip
is evenly coated, then season well. Bake for about 15-20 mins, turning the potatoes at
least twice, until golden brown and crisp. ()

As comments have shown, this obviously seems like the much better
alternative than the deep oil fried chips most are used to at fast food
restaurants. It is more convenient, much healthier way of eating food
since you can prepare it in the luxury of your own home without going
out and you will enjoy the food more.

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One chef in particular, Jamie Oliver, is
currently running a “School Dinners”
program in which schools would serve
much healthier food for students to eat
daily and getting rid of the junk food being
served in schools today. Jamie Oliver
suggests that children must eat more
nutritional foods to help our mood,
behaviour, health, growth and the ability to
concentrate in lessons. At the moment
Jamie feels that this nation will be full of
overweight underachievers if parents do not “switch on” about their
child’s diet or if the government does not pay full attention to funding
plans and schools must recruit more cookery teachers and put a ban
on the junk food children are bringing into school every day. ()

Obviously, these methods are the major helping hands to the ones that
actually care about their health but what about the ones who are not
bothered?

LAZINESS

Exercising is one of the key ways in life to lowering the risk of being
exposed to diseases since it lowers blood pressure and cholesterol,
helps us lose weight, increases stamina and contributes to a feeling of
general well being.

The effort applied to improve one’s health is currently appalling

because according to a study from Richard Hammond’s “Should I
Worry About……Exercise?”, he has recently compiled a list of
interviews of people in the UK who buy their exercising equipment, use
it once and store it away to collect dust and the result was 100% (as
shown in the programme). Additionally, he has found out that in the UK
alone, we waste £200 million a year on unused gymnasium
memberships. This evidently is a sign of
laziness in the population and the majority
is unwilling to change their lifestyles. This
clearly is a major issue to the population of
Britain and America is no different.

Thus Richard Hammond prepared a short

program in which a group of students

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would undertake a regular fitness regime in which they would take
10,000 steps everyday to monitor their heart rates. And after the first
day it was obvious that the students had poor fitness levels after
showing signs of exhaustion. This could noticeably be because of their
habits of eating unhealthily or not participating in a regular sport in a
school week.

But as progress developed, the students felt less fatigue after getting
used to the program after four days and Hammond proved that every
little exercise can help reduce the risk of obesity, heart disease and
stroke. ()

So far, the factors of obesity are many:

○ Overeating – especially fast foods.

○ The unawareness of parents about their child’s health.

○ The government and their inattentive actions to correct the

lifestyles of the public.

○ The laziness of the human population to not exercise vigorously.

All factors are viable and are carefully considered but perhaps there is
a much more scientific and trouble-free method of reducing obesity…

IS THERE PERHAPS ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE?

PROBIOTICS

Scientists have discovered ways of reducing one’s

risks to diseases such as introducing “Probiotic
bacteria” which is a dietary supplement – the goal
of the probiotic is to re-establish a natural healthy
balance of intestinal microorganisms in the body.

Scientists have used the term “Friendly bacteria”

to avoid any scare and to assure that this is no
harmful process:

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Jeremy Nicholson of Imperial College London and his colleagues fed
strains of "probiotic" Lactobacillus to mice whose gut microbes had
been replaced by those that usually live in the human gut. These mice
had different bile acids from the norm - favouring enzymes that reduce
the amount of fat digested. "More fat is available for the microbes, and
you then 'poo' the microbes out," says Nicholson.
The changes may only reduce fat absorption by a little, but this could
have an impact on obesity if sustained over several years.
This essentially is a biological alternative with these bacteria such as
Lactobacillus Acidophilus and Bifidus being inserted in foods. Also
nobody would notice the difference in taste which is all very promising.
Some probiotics naturally occur in foods such as yoghurts, cereals and
fermented milk. However one of the criticisms arises about whether
the probiotic can survive stomach acid and bile to reach the intestines
undamaged. (), ()

SYNBIOTICS

A way to increase healthy bacterial gut flora (microorganisms that

normally live in the digestive
tracts) is by increasing the
amount of prebiotics (indigestible
carbohydrates that invigorate the
growth and activity of probiotics
of the flora) in the diet. These
supplements are emulsified to
create synbiotics.
The main reason for using a
symbiotic instead of a probiotic is
that without its prebiotic food, it does not subsist well in the digestive
system. To increase its capability, not only on the shelf but also in the
colon (large intestine), the product must allow for much greater
attachment and growth rate of the healthy bacteria to reduce the
growth of harmful bacteria. ()

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LEGALITIES

The most important ramification is the legality of the products because

so many are being introduced and claim to be able to cure many
things but they are not legal due to the FDA’s (Food and Drug
Administration) rules:
Is it legal to market a dietary supplement product as a treatment or
cure for a specific disease or condition?

No, a product sold as a dietary supplement and promoted on its label

or in labeling* as a treatment, prevention or cure for a specific disease
or condition would be considered an unapproved and thus illegal drug.
To maintain the product's status as a dietary supplement, the label and
labeling must be consistent with the provisions in the Dietary
Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994.
*Labeling refers to the label as well as accompanying material that is
used by a manufacturer to promote and market a specific product. ()
Dietary supplements are permitted to make structure allegations.
These are claims that the supplement can help a function of the
human body, for example, the hormone melatonin helps establish
normal sleep patterns etc. The FDA must be informed of these claims
within 30 days of their first use, and there is an obligation that these
claims be verified.

CONCLUSION

After all of the evidence I have seen, it is a clear

point that humans are partly the problem with
obesity since we are not making the correct
choices. A major factor that is a cause of
obesity if the amount of laziness we are
encumbered with because we have no desire to
exercise since most assume that we are not
going to be happy with exercising and that
eating more will give us that sensational value.
So therefore attitude and efforts are the key
factors that affect one’s behaviour towards
making the right choice in life. Due to the
current statistics by scientists, it is believed
that since obesity will be triple the amount in

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the following years, the amount of deaths will be profound due to the
cause of overeating and laziness.
After studying my evaluation, it is clear now that the fast food
companies are ultimately trying to find ways to increase their financial
profits by introducing the new menus. Dietary supplements can be an
easy alternative but they can be dangerous if ingestion instructions are
not followed properly.
Furthermore, I can strictly say that blame does not fall on anyone else
more than ourselves thus giving us the privilege to get on with our
lives and to make things right by eating healthily and exercising
regularly which to most of us is the ultimate goal. Fast food companies
are the ones blamed for obesity inevitably but it is us who make the
choices therefore we are the ones bringing obesity towards us.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. [Online] http://www.who.int/topics/obesity/en/.

2. [Online] http://www.healthlit.org/featuredArticles/images/bmi.gif.

3. [Online]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/hottopics/obesity/children.shtml.

4. [Online]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/hottopics/obesity/treatment.shtml.

5. [Online]
http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/pages/eatsmart/saladsplus.html.

6. [Online] http://www.burgerking.co.uk/food/index.aspx.

7. [Online] http://www.kfc.co.uk/index/menu.php.

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8. [Online] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3501512.stm.

9. [Online] http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?
articleid=1149.

10. [Online] http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2515/chunky-oven-

chips.jsp.

11. [Online]
http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/J/jamies_school_dinners/camp
aign/index.html.

12. [Online]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/shouldiworryabout/exerci
se.shtml.

13. [Online]
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/mg19726395.000-
probiotic-bacteria-could-keep-us-slim.html.

14. [Online]
http://nccam.nih.gov/news/newsletter/2006_summer/bacteria.htm.

15. [Online]
http://www.innvista.com/health/nutrition/biotics/synbiot.htm.

16. [Online] http://www.myelitis.org/workshop2002/Overview%20of

%20Dietary%20Supplements.pdf.

17. [Online]
http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/calories/calorie_counter/fast_foo
d.htm.

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