obesity rates have reached epidemic proportions.
define the claim and counter argument to this claim. who are the people and sources making this claim. with 3 supporting details, what types of information was transmitted about this claim. with 3 supporting details, what are the rhetoric or fallacies used to this claim, with 3 supporting details, what are scientific findings about the claim. with 3 supporting details, what are the best ways to assess the probabilities of this claim. does the claim conflict with your personal observation and background information. what are your conclusion of the claim
Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with more
than 1 billion adults overweight - at least 300 million of them
clinically obese - and is a major contributor to the global burden
of chronic disease and disability. Often coexisting in developing
countries with under-nutrition,
obesity is a complex condition, with serious social and
psychological dimensions, affecting virtually all ages
andsocioeconomic groups.
Increased consumption of more energy-dense, nutrient- poorfoods
with high levels of sugar and saturated fats,combined with reduced
physical activity, have led to obesity rates that have risen
three-fold or more since 1980 in some areas of North America, the
United Kingdom,
Eastern Europe, the Middle East, the Pacific Islands, Australasia
and China.The obesity epidemic is not restricted toindustrialized
societies; this increase is often faster in developing countries
than in the developed world.
Obesity and overweight pose a major risk for serious diet-related
chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular
disease, hypertension and stroke, and certain forms of cancer. The
health consequences range from increased risk of premature death,
to serious chronic conditions that reduce the overall quality of
life. Of especial
concern is the increasing incidence of child obesity.
The claim regarding obesity being in epidemic proportion is made by world health organization in an article published by it titled 'GLOBAL STRATEGY ON DIET, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND HEALTH'
The information regarding why obesity is a global problem, how can we define obesity and overweight , what is the extent of this problem, how body fat affects our health, and what can we do about it is covered in this claim.
According to an article namely The US Obesity “Epidemic”:
Metaphor,
Method, or Madness? By Gordon R. Mitchell and Kathleen M.
McTigue
In 2000, US Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy
Thompson mobilized the US public health infrastructure to deal with
escalating trends of excess body weight.A cornerstone of this
effort was a report entitled The Surgeon General’s Call to Action
to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity. The report
stimulated a great deal of public discussion by utilizing the
distinctive public health terminology of an epidemic to describe
the growing prevalence of obesity in the US population. We suggest
that the ensuing controversy was fueled in part by the report’s
ambiguous usage of the evocative term “epidemic.”
In some passages, the report seems to use “epidemic” in a literal
sense, suggesting that rising prevalence of excess body weight
should be defined technically as a disease outbreak. Other passages
of the report present the same key term metaphorically, leaving
readers with the
impression that the epidemic language is invoked primarily for
rhetorical effect. Here, we explore dynamics and implications of
both interpretations. This analysis sheds light on the ongoing
public argument about the appropriate societal response to steadily
increasing body sizes in the US population; likewise, it
capitalizes on the accumulated knowledge that the fieldof public
health has garnered from combating diverse historic epidemics. Our
interdisciplinary approach deploys critical tools from the fields
of rhetoric, sociology and
epidemiology. In particular, we draw from metaphor theory and
public address scholarship to elucidate how the Call to Action
frames public deliberation on obesity. We turn to the applied
public health literature to develop a reading of the report that
suggests a novel approach to the problem—application of the
Epidemic Investigation protocol to streamline the public health
response and reframe the public argument about obesity.
The scientific findings regarding by WHO is the article titled
global strategy on diet physical activity and health are Currently
more than 1 billion adults are overweight - and atleast 300 million
of them are clinically obese. Current obesity levels range from
below 5% in China, Japan and certain African nations, to over 75%
in urban Samoa. But
even in relatively low prevalence countries like China,rates are
almost 20% in some cities. Childhood obesity is already epidemic in
some areas and on the rise in others. An estimated 17.6 million
children
under five are estimated to be overweight worldwide. According to
the US Surgeon General, in the USA the number of overweight
children has doubled and the number of overweight adolescents has
trebled since 1980. The prevalence of obese children aged 6-to-11
years has
more than doubled since the 1960s. Obesity prevalence in youths
aged 12-17 has increased dramatically from 5% to 13% in boys and
from 5% to 9% in girls between 1966-70 and 1988-91 in the USA. The
problem is global and increasingly extends into the developing
world; forexample, in Thailand the prevalence of obesity in 5-to-12
year olds children rose from12.2% to 15-6% in just two years.
Obesity accounts for 2-6% of total health care costs in several
developed countries; some estimates put the figure as high as 7%.
The true costs are undoubtedly much greater as not all
obesity-related conditions are included in the calculations.
But in my view this claim poses various conflicting issues,
For some years now, obesity sceptics have argued against the mainstream medical and public health perspective on obesity. Writers such as Paul Campos (2004), Michael Gard and Jan Wright (Gard and Wright, 2005; Gard, 2011) have published closely argued critiques of the obesity science literature. They persuasively identify the many inaccuracies, distortions, misleading assumptions and generalisations made in scientific and epidemiological research which have contributed to the idea that obesity is at ‘crisis’ or ‘epidemic’ levels and that being over the arbitrarily defined ‘normal’ BMI automatically damages people’s health.
Some specific points obesity sceptics make are as follows:
So to further conclude
What obesity sceptics present, in essence, is a detailed critique of the ways in which political agendas and pre-existing assumptions shape the reporting and interpretation of medical and epidemiological data relating to body mass. Quite apart of its relevance to debate about whether the obesity epidemic exists and how serious it is, such an analysis is valuable in drawing attention to the work practices and knowledge claims of medical and public health researchers.
The assertions and critiques of obesity sceptics have failed to make an impact on mainstream obesity science, government health policy and anti-obesity public health efforts. Journal articles concerning the dangers of obesity continue to appear in medical and public health journals with monotonous frequency. Alarmist predictions continue to receive attention in the mass media. Governments in western countries have also continued to invest large sums to fund health promotion campaigns seeking to counter obesity. For example, the American ‘Let’s Move’ campaign, directed at controlling childhood obesity, was launched by First Lady Michelle Obama in early 2010, while on the same day President Obama created a Taskforce on Childhood Obesity. The Australian ‘Swap It, Don’t Swap It’ anti-obesity campaign commenced in early 2011. It would seem that there are powerful political and career investments in continuing to ignore the arguments of the obesity sceptics.
obesity rates have reached epidemic proportions. define the claim and counter argument to this claim. who...
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