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Over the past few years, obesity has been an issue in not only the United
States, but world-wide. For instance, in the United States alone, the number of
teens that had to have surgery has nearly tripled and they’re looking at
possibly reach over 1,000 operations on teens this year. Reporters say its more
common to get the procedure done when you’re an adult, but it is less risky when
you are a teenager. This, based on teens ages 12-19 years of age who had the
surgery from 1996 through 2003.
There have been studies that show that when a teen gains weight at a rapid
pace, they have a short life span. They need to get on a diet, get special help,
get surgery, or something. A recent study from Journal of the American Medical
Association they wrote The formulas very, very effectively show that the younger
you are, and the more obese you are, the more years of life you lose at the
end," says Dr. Ranveig Elvebakk, a bariatric physician. "It is anywhere from
three to 20 years on the person who is 20 years of age and overweight”.
Not only is your life expectancy cut, but there are many health
complications that come with being obese; heart disease, diabetes, stroke and
other chronic problems that cause premature death. If you catch a weight
problem, the easier it will be for your child to change and the less damage the
weight will cause on his or her body.
Some people also seem to think obesity comes from genes passed down from your
parents, but doctors and health specialists say its our culture that makes us
fat. They say our gene pool has remained unchanged over the past 59,000 years
There is no change in genes over the past 10 years, so what makes us overweight
is our lifestyle, how active we are, and how often we think of food.
In closing, obesity is indeed a big issue. There are parents that have kids
at 3, 4, 5 years old who already weigh over 200 lbs. It's quite sickening, but
at the same time, sad that a parent that says they're responsible enough to have
a kid, but yet, they feed them whatever they want. Obesity is always going to be
a world-wide issue but hopefully they keep studies going to try and reduce the
number of obese people around the world. It's increasing at a rapid pace, and
the number of kids that need gastric bypass surgery is too.
Tanner, Lindsey. Fox News. 6 Mar. 2007. <http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Mar06/0,4670,DietTeenSurgery,00.html>.
Web MD. 6 Mar. 07. <http://www.pamf.org/teen/health/diseases/obesity.html>.
Wilkenfeld, Adam. "Medical." Web MD. 3 Mar. 07. 6 Mar. 07
<http://www.connectwithkids.com/tipsheet/2003/109_jan29/cut.html>.
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