Careless Consuming and Lazy Living: Obesity in America

Humans possess the abity of free will - that is, to voluntarly choose a specific course of action. However, some choices lead to undesirable consequences, especially choices dealing with food and physical activity. Obesity rates in the US have steadily climbed for decades, with percentages reaching epidemic proportions. These rates did not rise due to a hard-to-control factor such as a communicable disease; they have risen due to personal decisions. In America, the overwhelming amount of sodium, sugar, and fat in food, as well as the sedentary lifestyle of many Americans, has caused a rise in obesity; as a result, individuals must take a stand by changing their dietary and exercise choices.

To begin, Americans simply consume too much sugar. This inborn craving for sweet foods stems from humans’ prehistoric ancestors. Before modern technology, fruits were scarce compared to vegetables, and pre-human primates sought after these sweet, energy-filled morsels for their nutritious and high-caloric properties. “Because it is more difficult to retrieve a fruit from a high tree than to just eat whatever grass or leaves are sitting around, an intense, innate craving for sugar was needed to drive early primates towards this food”. However, advancements in agricultural processing allowed individuals to grow fruits easily and without costing a fortune. The rarity of fruits disappeared, enabling humans to succumb to their sweet-tooth and consume as many fruits as they pleased. Technology has also evolved enough to permit filtration and concentration of the sugar from fruits, typically through juicing and the creation of fruity candy. Unfortunately, both developments quickly led to over-consumption of sugar- the latter more so than the first. An individual still receives the benefits of the pulp and skin when eating whole fruits, but loses those aspects when consuming fruit juices.

Furthermore, because corporations know that humans yearn for sugar, they add it to the majority of food products they produce. “In fact, manufacturers add sugar to 74% of packaged foods sold in supermarkets”. These processing companies use a whopping 61 different names for sweeteners, including: cane juice, dextrose, high-fructose corn syrup, maltose, rice syrup, and many more. Although the majority of added sugars comes from soft drinks and desserts, added sugars are also present in unsuspecting places such as cereals, pasta sauce, energy bars, ketchup, and salad dressing. For example, one cup of a specific kind of bran cereal with raisins contains 20 grams of sugar per serving, and one type of breakfast bar contains 15 grams of sugar in one serving.

Due to so many items having extra sweeteners, it becomes easy for individuals to quickly consume over their recommended daily amount of sugar. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that adults and children should consume no more than 10% of their daily calorie amount in sugars with the ideal amount being less than 5%. This means that an individual with a 2,000 calorie diet should consume less than 50 grams (12 teaspoons) of sugar per day with less than 25 grams (6 teaspoons) being the ideal amount. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends similar amounts for adults: less than 25 grams (6 teaspoons) of added sugar per day for women and 38 grams (9 teaspoons) for men. Sadly, the average American ingests about 82 grams (19.5 teaspoons) daily, which adds to about 66 pounds per year.

Another aspect of sugar dependency comes from its addictive properties. A study by Avena, Rada, and Hoebel found that “intermittent access to sugar can lead to behavior and neurochemical changes that resemble the effects of a substance of abuse. ...intermittent access to sugar and chow is capable of producing a ‘dependency.’” Additionally, the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that “animal data has shown significant overlap between the consumption of added sugars and drug-like effects, including bingeing, craving, tolerance, withdrawal, cross-tolerance, cross-dependence, reward and opioid effects.” Numerous other studies have highlighted a correlation between sugar and addition; thus, if humans are over-consuming sugar on a daily basis, it is likely that many individuals exhibit symptoms of sugar dependency.

How does all of this relate to obesity? Over time, overconsumption of sugar can change the balance of hormones in the body. When an individual consumes sugar, glucose amounts in the bloodstream increase, leading the pancreas to release insulin. With these heightened levels of insulin, the body begins to store more food calories as fat (SugarScience Team). Thus, as individuals consume more and more sugar, they are likely to gain more weight.

The simple way to avoid excess weight gain and other ill effects by sugar consumption is to find out how much sugar is present in every product. On the back of most processed food lies a nutrition facts label; by reading this, individuals can see how much sugar corporations added to the product. Located below the nutrition label resides a small-print text of the ingredients in descending order by amount. The higher the ingredient, the more of that ingredient the product has. Moderation is key. Through the small effort of reading a label, individuals can see just how much sugar they are consuming, and can easily put a product back if the sugar quantity exceeds a healthy amount.

Similarly, fast food also contributes to the obesity problem in America. By definition, fast food is just that - quick meals. Employees make the food rapidly, cheaply, uniformly, and give the item(s) to the customer almost instantaneously. Millions of Americans eat at fast-food restaurants each month, with a majority of the customers pulling through the drive through for their meals. The pervasiveness of fast-food restaurants proves itself to be a worthwhile contender for why so many individuals choose to dine at places like McDonald’s or Subway. Currently, around 160,000 fast-food restaurants exist in the United States. As well as as their ubiquity, fast-food restaurants typically serve large portion sizes. Food portions have doubled or even tripled over the last 25 years. For example, a cheeseburger in 1993 was 4.5 ounces; now, it stands proudly at 8 ounces. These larger portions skew an individual’s vision of what a normal portion size should be, contributing to an extra 1,595 more calories in comparison to the same foods at portion sizes from 25 years ago. This totals to over 500,000 extra calories per year. Plus, the costs for these meals are not necessarily high. Fast-food restaurants plaster value menus inside each of their stores, enticing customers to buy entire meals for very little. For most individuals, paying a total of less than three dollars (without tax) at McDonald’s for a cheeseburger and a large heaping of fries seems like a better deal than buying groceries and cooking for themselves. Although these items cost little in terms of money, they might come with a high cost to one’s health.

For one, fast food such as fries and burgers typically contain high amounts of sodium. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one cheeseburger from a fast-food restaurant contains anywhere from 710-1,690 milligrams (mg) of sodium. The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that individuals consume no more than 2,300 mg per day; however, American adults consume more than 3,400 milligrams (mg) of sodium each day. This means Americans are ingesting around 1,100 mg more than they should. According to a study by Ma, He, and MacGregor, high salt intake might have a link to obesity. They stated, “The results showed that salt intake as measured by 24-hour urinary sodium was higher in overweight and obese individuals. . . . Higher salt intake was also significantly related to higher body fat mass in both children and adults…” Therefore, reducing fast food intake (and thus, sodium intake) can help overall cardiovascular health as well as lessen chances of obesity.

As well as high amounts of sodium, fast foods typically contain high amounts of fat and sugar. For instance, a Burger King Whopper contains 48 grams of fat, a McDonald’s medium fries contains 19 grams of fat, and a Quizno’s regular tuna melt contains 94 grams of fat. The Cleveland Clinic recommends that twenty to thirty-five percent of an adults’ calories should come from fat. In a 2,000 calorie diet, this amounts to about 44 to 77 grams; however, individuals must discern between types of fat, as only 10% or less should come from saturated fat. This means individuals who often consume fast food are likely consuming too much fat. Then, as mentioned in the section on sugar dependency, the main source of sugars comes from sugary beverages such as soda. High amounts of sugars and fat in foods leads to high amounts of calories. If an individual consumes more calories than they burn off, their body will end up storing it as fat. The more fat the body stores, the more an individual will weigh, leading to obesity.

In order to reduce risk of obesity and other adverse conditions due to consumption of fast food, individuals must limit the amount of times they consume fast food, if at all. Moderation is key. Eating fast food once every couple of months might not be harmful, but eating fast food once a week could end up taking a toll. Another way to reduce risk of obesity due to fast food consumption is simply to cook for oneself. This allows for direct control of what goes into the food one consumes. Some individuals might not have time to prepare meals daily; therefore, meal-planning and cooking extras for an entire week helps tremendously in this aspect.

Moreover, most Americans do not exercise enough. This lack of movement stems from the omnipresence of sedentary activities such as television and video games. As technology has advanced, it has taken over free time across all age groups, especially children. Kids, from a young age, begin to watch YouTube on their parents’ smartphones and play games on the family computer. They sit indoors for hours, blankly viewing whatever colorful video plays next on their small screen. In contrast, children in previous generations went outdoors to play with the neighborhood kids, exploring and creating expansive, imaginative worlds in which anything could happen. Although some kids still do the latter, a majority of a child’s time now is spent interacting with whatever technology they have in front of them. The CDC found that children typically spend more than 7.5 hours in front of a screen per day, which takes away from time that could be used for exercise or outdoor activity. If a child sits for the majority of their days, regularly consumes too many calories, and does not burn them off through aerobic or anaerobic exercise, they will likely gain weight.

Teenagers also do not get enough exercise. They too have fallen victim to overexposure to technology, texting and tweeting rather than going out and socializing with their peers. According to Common Sense Media, teenagers typically spend around nine hours a day with digital devices, doing activities like watching Netflix, listening to music, and playing online games. Furthermore, teenagers spend roughly 7 hours a day in school, likely sitting in a classroom for most of that time. Then, as teenagers become adults, school hours become work hours. Many jobs in the United States involve long periods of sitting, such as software developing or accounting; in fact, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that civilian workers in 2016 averaged sixty-one percent of the workday standing or walking and thirty-nine percent of the workday sitting. Although thirty-nine percent might seem relatively low, that equates to sitting for a little over three hours in an eight hour workday. “One of the primary risk factors of heart disease and premature heart aging is being sedentary - sitting for hours at a time,” says the American Medical Association. As well as hurting the heart, sitting for hours at a time reduces the amount of calories an individual burns in a day. The Harvard School of Public Health mentions, “Physical activity increases people’s total energy expenditure, which can help them stay in energy balance or even lose weight, as long as they don’t eat more to compensate for the extra calories they burn.” Hence, getting the proper amount of exercise leads to a healthy lifestyle, and likely, a healthy weight.

Individuals can increase their amount of exercise during the work day by choosing to stand when applicable (such as when taking a call), taking the stairs rather than an elevator or escalator, and walking or biking instead of driving. When at home, individuals can perform exercise moves while doing habitual tasks. For example, doing squats while waiting for food to heat up in the microwave or doing calf raises while ironing are easy ways to add resistance training without going to the gym. Additionally, individuals can jog around their neighborhood, do a yoga session in their living room, or go outside and simply play catch with a friend rather than occupying themselves with television or cell phones. Just like sugar and fast food, moderation is key for screens.

One might object here that individuals who are obese are predisposed to be so on the basis of their genetics and not their personal actions. In monogenic (single-gene) disorders, only one gene causes obesity. Researchers have found a couple examples where mutated genes have caused severe obesity, one of which involving the protein leptin. A mutation to this gene results in faulty leptin receptors, resulting in the inability to suppress hunger. This leads to overconsumption and weight gain. A more common type of monogenic condition happens when a mutation occurs of the receptors for melanocortin, an appetite-regulating hormone. When this mutation occurs, an individual cannot control their hunger, also leading to overconsumption and weight gain. Additionally, Bardet-Biedl Syndrome (BBS) and Prader-Willi Syndrome are monogenic disorders that can cause obesity from a young age. Similarly, polygenic causes (more than one mutation) are thought to add up and result in increased risk of obesity. For example, mutations to the genes UCP, NOB1, and GAD2 can lead to obesity.

Indeed, many cases exist in which individuals gain severe amounts of weight due to their genetic makeup. But, although some cases of obesity might be caused solely by genetic factors, they are not typically the only cause. Genetic changes cannot explain the worldwide spread of obesity. The world’s gene pool at any given time remains fairly stable for many generations, as it takes years for mutations to spread. Therefore, over the past 40 years of rising obesity rates, the environment has been the only thing that has dramatically changed. Years ago, highly processed, sugar-laden foods did not cover the supermarket shelves; fast food places did not exist on a majority of street corners; absurd amounts of screen time did not pervade the American lifestyle. It is a choice to consume those sugar-filled products or a value meal from a fast food, and it is a choice to sit and occupy one’s time with screens. Thus, albeit genes do play a role in some cases of obesity, the environment and lifestyle in which a person lives truly impacts their risk.

Obesity remains a dangerous problem in America. Although instances occur in which individuals become obese due to genetic causes, they do not constitute the majority of obesity cases. Individuals can diminish chances of health risks associated with obesity by choosing to reduce their consumption of sugar and fast foods as well as maintaining a balance of exercise and screen-time. Reading a nutrition fact label, cooking for oneself, and opting to stand at work rather than sitting can greatly benefit one’s overall health. Remember: for sweets, burgers, and screens, moderation is key.

Works Cited

• Avena, Nicole. Hoebel, Bartley. Rada, Pedro. “Evidence for Sugar Addiction Behavioral and Neurochemical Effects of Intermittent, Excessive Sugar Intake.” NCBI, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Review, 18 May, 2007, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2235907/.
• Baird, Christopher. “Why do Humans Crave Sugary Foods? Shouldn’t Evolution lead us to crave healthy foods?” WTAMU, West Texas A&M University, 17 Aug. 2015, http://wtamu.edu/~cbaird/sq/2015/08/17/why-do-humans-crave-sugary-foods-shouldnt-evolution-lead-us-to-crave-healthy-foods/.
• Castaldy, Daniel, and Linda Rice Collins. “Counterpoint: Overexposure to Media and Technology Deprives Children of Healthy Outdoor Recreation.” Points of View: Outdoor Recreation, Mar. 2016, p. 1. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pwh&AN=84783555&site=pov-live&authtype=cookie,ip,custuid&custid=infohio.
• DiNicolantonio, James. O’Keefe, James. Wilson, William. “Sugar Addiction: Is it Real? A Narrative Review.” BMJ Journals, BMJ Journals, 23 Aug. 2017, https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/52/14/910.info.
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• Edwards, Erika, and Maggie Fox. “Teens spend ‘Astounding’ Nine Hours a Day in Front of Screens: Researchers.” WVEA, West Virginia Education Center, https://www.wvea.org/content/teens-spend-astounding-nine-hours-day-front-Screens-researchers.
• “Exercise Can Help Control Weight.” HSPH, Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health, https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-causes/physical-activity-and-obesity/.
• “Fat: What You Need to Know.” Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, 28 Nov. 2014, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/11208-fat-what-you-need-to-know.
• “Genes Are Not Destiny.” HSPH, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-causes/genes-and-obesity/.
• “Get the Facts: Sources of Sodium in Your Diet.” CDC, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Apr. 2017, https://www.cdc.gov/salt/pdfs/Sources-of-Sodium.pdf.
• “High Salt Intake: Independent Risk Factor for Obesity.” NCBI, US National Library of Medicine, 3 Aug. 2015, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26238447.
• Hunter, William. “The Genetics of Obesity.” Destined Body: How Genetics & Environment Shape Us, Feb. 2005, p. 36. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pwh&AN=15690042&site=pov-live&authtype=cookie,ip,custuid&custid=infohio.
• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; National Institutes of Health; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Larger Portion Sizes Contribute to U.S. Obesity Problem.” NHLBI, National Heart, Lung,and Blood Institute, 13 Feb. 2013, https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/wecan/news-events/matte1.htm.