The food we intake provides fuel for our bodies and the vitamins and minerals we need to keep our cells healthy. Eating can be done incorrectly, though, and it can lead to problems such as obesity, heart disease, anorexia nervosa, and bulimia if done consistently wrong. Obesity and eating disorders are prevalent around the world and some of the leading causes of death in the United States are directly related to obesity. This has led the CDC to consider obesity an epidemic. This is why people must be educated about the correct way to stay healthy.

The stomach sends signals to the brain whenever it detects that it is becoming full. This part of the brain is called the hypothalamus and is responsible for maintaining homeostasis, the tendency to for the body to maintain an ideal state, is signaled to release chemicals that gives the sensation of being full or of being hungry (Brownell 5). According to Brownell, the melanocortin pathway is how the hormones responsible for the sensation of fullness, or hunger are transferred between the hypothalamus and the stomach. Without this pathway, a person would continue to eat until their stomach is physically stretched until pain is what stops the consumption of food. This can lead to a large calorie surplus in the individual, leading to obesity (Brownell 8).

Insulin is a hormone that is secreted by the pancreas. It is used by the body to lower blood glucose levels. It does this by stimulating the liver to reduce glucose production and tells muscles and the liver to store the glucose (“Prediabetes & Insulin Resistance”). In his TED talk, Attia points out that there are over 30 million obese people in the United States that don’t have insulin resistance. He says that they do not have any greater risk of the diseases mentioned earlier as compared to lean people, but he says that there are over six million lean people that are insulin resistant. He states that this group of people have an even greater chance of the diseases discussed earlier as compared to other lean people. He points out that this is evidence that obesity is not the cause of insulin resistance, but the defense against it.

Body mass index or BMI is the weight of a person in kilograms over their height in meters squared (kg/m2). An example would be, if someone was 220 pounds or 100 kilograms and had a height of 6 feet or 1.83 meters, would have a BMI of 100 / 1.832, which equals 29.86. Being overweight is defined as having BMI greater than 25 and obesity is defined as having a BMI over 30 (Hurt et al.). Hurt and his colleagues discuss the potential ways that defining obesity using BMI is not the most accurate way to describe obesity. They believe that central adiposity, or the amount of fat accumulated in the waist region of the body, is a better indicator of obesity. They reference a study where individuals BMI’s were measured and then their waist to hip ratio was measured. They found that waist to hip ratio was a much better indicator of a healthy heart. This is important because the World Health Organization still uses BMI to define obesity and people might be getting some incorrect treatments due to their BMI.

The CDC states in its article, “Overweight & Obesity” that overweight people are at a larger risk for diseases such as, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, a number of cancers, and many more. This risk increases as the individual’s BMI increases into the obesity range (Adult Obesity Causes & Consequences). Of the top ten leading causes of death in the United States there are two that are related to obesity. Heart disease is the number one cause of death, and diabetes is the seventh leading cause (Leading Causes of Death). Heart disease is when plaque starts to fill the arteries where blood flows out of the heart. This makes it harder for the heart to pump enough blood through the smaller hole in the artery. Eventually, if this hole becomes to small the heart will not be able to pump enough blood through, and then the heart will not be able to function properly. This is the cause of a heart attack. (What Is Coronary Heart Disease?). Type 2 diabetes is the body’s inability to use the insulin that it produces to decrease blood sugar level. Having a high blood sugar level can cause damage to an individual’s nerves, eyes, and kidneys. These problems are not reversible either (“Diabetes | Type 1 Diabetes | Type 2 Diabetes”).

Biswas noted in his article that obesity is not just a first world problem. Large food corporations are moving into developing countries in South America, Asia, and Africa. These places are changing from active jobs, like farming, into more sedentary jobs like manufacturing. Due to both of these things, obesity is on the rise in many places around the world. Now, Singapore has laws that require soda producers to decrease sugar content in their drinks, and New York has tried to add taxes on sugary drinks. This tax is noted to have been ineffective by Hurt et al. The CDC, in its article, “Food Deserts,” explains that one reason this might be the case is that some poor regions in cities have a very long distance to travel to get to a grocery store, and convenience stores are the only option nearby. The CDC denotes these as a “food desert,” and most individuals that live in the food deserts have very poor diets that mainly consist of fast food, and convenience store food. Almost all food at these places would be taxed if a law like the sugary drink tax passed, and would make it even harder for people living in these areas to get enough food (“Food Deserts”).

Hurt et al. noted in their study that there are many reasons that people can become obese. They showed that fast food consumption has increased to 10% of the nation’s caloric intake in the past 20 years. Fast food has a large amount of trans fat, which is believed to make it taste better, and thus keep people coming back. Since almost all fast food has a very large caloric density, people gain weight. Their next concern has to do with portion size, according to them, McDonald’s portion sizes have increase anywhere from two times larger, to 5 times larger than when they were originally introduced back in the 50s. The last thing that they noticed was the lack of physical activity. In the study referenced, people were asked about their physical activity, and it was found that people who did a large amount of physical activity were much less likely to gain weight compared to those who did almost no physical activity.

Moore et al. states that another large concern about obesity has to do with children. Obesity in children has increased by almost 50% since the 1980s. They state that the three things that effect childhood obesity are: genetics, the child, and the family. Genetics cannot be controlled, but parents should be aware of their own susceptibility to obesity and therefore should be aware of what that might mean for their child. The child itself is important because the child must accept the given lifestyle before the child will act upon that lifestyle (Moore et al.). Most importantly is the family, Moore et al. states that the family is the biggest factor in what will decide what type of lifestyle the child will internalize. Moore et al. gives the example of parents that go out and eat fast food with their kids most days, and how they are teaching them that eating fast food every day is okay. They claim that this is important because children who become obese during childhood or adolescence, have a larger chance of becoming obese or staying obese during adulthood. Another example that is given is exercise. Generally, when parents work out a lot, their kids will develop the tendency to do the same

According to Adkins the American Psychiatric Association describes anorexia nervosa as an avoidance of calories through the use of over exercising and fasting. Bulimia nervosa is when a person goes through periods of fasting and binge eating, and then tries to get rid of the excess calories by vomiting or over exercising. Binge eating disorder is different than the other two in that most people who suffer from it are not underweight. Most people that suffer from this overeat and feel embarrassed about how much they eat and try to hide it from other people (Adkins). Individuals that suffer from anorexia or bulimia are much more prone to having broken bones because the lack of nutrients that they take in decreases the mass and the density of their bones (Nagl et al.). It was found that individuals that suffered from anorexia or bulimia suffer from many conditions such as low blood pressure, atrophy of parts of the brain, bruising easily and much more. Low blood pressure and the ease of bruising can be treated by intaking the correct nutrients and some time, but some things such as brain atrophy will stay with the individual permanently because the brain is unable to regrow the parts that were damaged.

Much less people will ever suffer from anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, but it is still relevant. Nagle et al. states that there is a very specific list that must be checked for a person to actually considered anorexic or bulimic, which makes it so that there are very few people who are treated for the illness. They found that almost no men will ever suffer from even the symptoms of anorexia or bulimia with less than 4% suffering from anorexia at one point in their life, and less than 2% for symptoms of bulimia. The number of men that actually cross the threshold to be considered anorexic or bulimic is almost non-existent. This is much different for women, as almost 23% of women will suffer from symptoms of anorexia at one point of in their life and 7% suffering from symptoms of bulimia in their life. 3% and 4% of women cross the threshold to be considered anorexic and bulimic, respectively.

In the article “Malnutrition” we can see that the distinction between malnourishment and anorexia has to do with the reasons a person is not taking in enough nutrients. Malnourishment is not getting enough nutrients to keep the body functioning properly. As stated previously in Adkins study, anorexia is a deliberate avoidance of calories. This means that all anorexic people are malnourished, but not all malnourished people are anorexic. This distinction comes from anorexia being a choice by the person to eat less to stay thin, while malnourishment is generally a product of circumstance. Malnutrition is most prevalent in homeless populations and in developing countries in Africa. Some diseases that are caused by malnutrition are Scurvy, and rickets. Scurvy is caused by a vitamin C deficiency and some symptoms of it are a reduced ability to fight infection or heal injuries. Rickets is caused by a lack of vitamin D and a symptom of it is the softening of bones (Adkins).

Proper nutrition and exercise must be maintained to keep one’s body functioning normally and healthily. If some individual eats too much, they will most likely develop obesity, and if some individual eats to little, then they will develop malnutrition. Both ends of the spectrum, whether it be obesity or anorexia, will lead to many health problems further in life. With obesity being the leading cause of death in the United States, proper nutrition must be taught to everyone.
