Should Obesity be treated as a Disease

Should Obesity be treated as a Disease

Introduction

Obesity is one of the major health issues that are affecting the contemporary society; according to a recent research published by the Center for Disease Prevention and Control, the issue of obesity is an emerging global health challenge. The Center for Disease Prevention and Control define obesity as being overweight. It occurs when someone practices unhealthy lifestyle for instance, over-eating or lack of adequate physical exercise. In the current society, the major cause of obesity is ascribed to increased access to cheap food products that have high levels of calories, especially, food products offered in the fast food industry. These types of food products are also characterized with a high level of salt, fat or sugars and coupled with sedentary life styles mostly in urban areas, hence leading to rapid occurrence of obesity.

Obesity is a health issue that is not only affecting global adult population, but is also experienced among the younger generation, that is, children and youths. Researchers have indicated approximately 1.4 billion of the current global population, aged from 20 years and above are facing challenges associated with obesity or are considered overweight. Out of the 1.4 billion obese people, about 300 million are women, while men are approximately 200 million. Approximately 40 million children aged 5 years and below are overweight. The major purpose of this paper is to explore a variety of research articles published on obesity in order to determine whether obesity is considered a disease or not.

 Should Obesity be treated as a Disease?

According to Pamela Peeke, the President of the Peeke Performance Center for Healthy Living and Clinical Assistant, obesity should be treated as a disease. In her argument, Pamela provides the meaning of a disease indicating that: Disease is considered a condition of abnormality in the fundamental function involving part or any structure of an organism. She also asserts that a disease is disorder or illness characterized by occurrence of symptoms or signs that emerge as a result of heredity, diet, environment or even infection. Considering these two diverse definitions of a disease, Pamela Peeke is of the view that obesity is considered a disease. Moreover, in her argument, Pamela has indicated that people suffering from obesity have continued suffering mainly as a result of the high level of stereotype directed towards them from other members of the society: That is, obese people are generally lazy and careless with their lifestyles. In this perspective, it is crucial for medical health practitioners and other concerned members of the society to consider obesity as a any other disease and award a high level of respect towards those who might be suffering.

On the other hand, certain medical practitioners and relevant stakeholders within the medical industry have argued that obesity, just like depression, anxiety as well as alcoholism is a disease. This is majorly due to the fact that it is characterized by a definite medical pattern, which are: Nutritional exhaustion, hormone imbalance or even neurotransmitter deficiencies. A significant number of researchers have also agreed that there are certain behavior patterns that facilitate or contribute to the occurrence of obesity. However, such behavior patterns are rooted in other existing biological facets. High levels of stress and increased access to fast food products are some of the major factors that have been associated with the high level of obesity among the American populace. In as much as such factors contribute the occurrence of obesity, they also cause biological imbalances that affected people cannot deal with or may not possess the appropriate knowledge and skills to deal with. It has also been argued that obesity is a disease mainly as a result of the fact that regimes established to deal with it such as diet control and physical exercise have failed. This is majorly because the fundamental or underlying medical pathological factors have not been properly addressed.

In a report published by the World Health Organization, titled, Preventing and Managing the Global Epidemic, obesity is referred as a serious chronic disease that requires the attention of relevant stakeholders in the health sector. The World Health Organization in its report indicates that obesity as a chronic disease does not only affect under-developed and developing nations, but is also experienced in the developed world. Moreover, the World Health Organization has considered obesity as a chronic disease that affects both adults and children and is common in the contemporary generation to the extent that it is now replacing traditional health challenges, including infectious diseases or under-nutrition as some of the major contributing factors to ill-health.

Despite the fact that a significant number of practitioners in the health industry have indicated that obesity should be considered as a disease that require the attention of current global medical stakeholders, other experts in the medical field are of the view that obesity is not a disease. According to Keith Ablow, a senior Psychiatrist, the American Medical Association classifies obesity as a disease. In his perception, the classification of obesity as a disease by the American Medical Association is an effort to invent a disease. Keith argues that apart from the fact that obesity may be caused by pathological conditions such as hypothyroidism, it cannot be considered a disease when it is caused by factors such as; poor decision-making in relation o one’s diet . This argument is also based on the fact that there is no genetic condition that triggers people or individuals to consider consuming higher amounts of fast food. Keith also argues that obesity cannot be considered a disease owing to the fact that there are not genetic conditions that make an individual skip gym sessions or drive past several gyms, without considering working out.

In addition, researchers have argued that obesity cannot be considered a disease and if this is to occur, then approximately 80 million adults in the United States and 12 million children aged five years and below are considered sick. Richard Gunderman argues that the contemporary society ought to be sensible in regard to classification of obesity as a disease and making such a decision is a major mistake. He further argues that in simple terms, obesity is not a disease, although, it can be considered a risk factor to other diseases, specifically cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, the classification of obesity as a disease is a major flawed construct; this has been based on questions such as: Is a person that is slightly overweight considered slightly diseased? Or could someone come down or catch obesity? In the case that these questions cannot be answered comprehensively, then obesity cannot be considered a disease. The definition of a disease in accordance with the Stedman Medical Dictionary is that a disease is a disorder that negatively impacts the function of the. Considering this definition of disease, if obesity is to be considered a disease then an assumption has to be made that body fat is pathological. However, this assumption cannot be made based the fact that it is quite challenging to determine the exact amount of body fat or adipose tissue is harmful to human health. In regard to this argument, researchers have argued that obesity cannot be regarded as a disease.

    Conclusion

As aforementioned, obesity is one of the major health issues that are currently affecting the contemporary society to a great extent. There are have been discussions in regard to whether obesity should be considered a disease or not with major health stakeholders such as the World Health Organization indicating that obesity is a major chronic disease, which requires much attention as other major traditional diseases. Moreover, stakeholders have argued that obesity could be considered a disease, especially when it is caused by pathological conditions such as hypothyroidism. On the other hand, there are medical practitioners in the health sector that have argued that obesity is not a disease, although it could be considered a risk factor to certain cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressure et cetera. The argument that obesity is not a disease among certain stakeholders has also been based on the fact that it does not meet the criteria to be considered a disease for instance: Obesity cannot be transferred from one person to another or one cannot go down with obesity. Despite the fact that there is conflicting views on whether obesity should be considered a disease among various stakeholders, there seem to a unanimous agreement that obesity is a risk factor to other diseases.