Read! Unsuspected Causes of Obesity.

What Tips the Scales Toward Excess Weight?

The causes of obesity are as varied as the people it affects.

At its most basic, of course, obesity results when someone regularly takes in more calories than needed. The body stores these excess calories as body fat, and over time the extra pounds add up. Eat fewer calories than the body burns, weight goes down. This equation can be deceptively simple, though, because it doesn’t account for the multitude of factors that affect what we eat, how much we exercise, and how our bodies process all this energy. A complex web surrounds a basic problem.

What are some of the factors that increase the risk of obesity?

Genes Are Not To Be Blamed.

Heredity plays a role in obesity but generally to a much lesser degree than any people might believe. Rather than being obesity’s sole cause, genes seem to increase the risk of weight gain and interact with other risk factors in the environment, such as unhealthy diets and inactive lifestyles. And healthy lifestyles can counteract these genetic effects.

Prenatal and Postnatal Influences

Early life is important, too. Pregnant mothers who smoke or who are overweight may have children who are more likely to grow up to be obese adults. Excessive weight gain during infancy also raises the risk of adult obesity, while being breastfed may lower the risk.

Unhealthy Diets

What’s become the typical Western diet—frequent, large meals high in refined grains, red meat, unhealthy fats, and sugary drinks—plays one of the largest roles in obesity. Foods that are lacking in the Western diet—whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and nuts—seem to help with weight control, and also help prevent chronic disease.

Too Much Television, Too Little Activity, and Too Little Sleep

Television watching is a strong obesity risk factor, in part because exposure to food and beverage advertising can influence what people eat. Physical activity can protect against weight gain, but globally, people just aren’t doing enough of it.

Lack of sleep—another hallmark of the Western lifestyle—is also emerging as a risk factor for obesity.

Toxic Environment—Food and Physical Activity

As key as individual choices are when it comes to health, no one person behaves in a vacuum. The physical and social environment in which people live plays a huge role in the food and activity choices they make.

And, unfortunately, in the U.S. and increasingly around the globe, this environment has become toxic to healthy living: The incessant and unavoidable marketing of unhealthy foods and sugary drinks. The lack of safe areas for exercising. The junk food sold at school, at work, and at the corner store. Add it up, and it’s tough for individuals to make the healthy choices that are so important to a good quality of life and a healthy weight.

Obesity and its causes have, in many ways, become woven into the fabric of our society.

To successfully disentangle them will take a multifaceted approach that not only gives individuals the skills to make healthier choices but also sets in place policy and infrastructure that support those choices.

Turning Around the Epidemic

The fact that the obesity epidemic didn’t flash over countries like a wildfire—rather it smoldered and then slowly grew year after year—has made it even more difficult to combat, since its causes have become so intertwined into the social, environmental, and governmental fabric. Yet efforts to combat obesity—primarily through prevention—are beginning to gain traction, if by a step at a time. To realize real strides, though, positive change must come to all parts of society: from governments and schools, businesses and non-profit organization, neighborhoods and communities, individuals and families.

It is needed of us to change policies and create an environment where the default option is the healthy choice. Evidence shows that obesity prevention policy and environmental change efforts should focus on facilitating a handful of key behaviors: Based on a review of expert guidance from major governmental, professional, and public health advocacy organizations.

Obesity prevention strategies, recommendations, and resources as more evidence emerges. Keep in mind that these obesity prevention recommendations as listed below are based primarily on a review of U.S. expert guidance, unless otherwise indicated; in other countries, different policy approaches may be needed to achieve improvements in food and physical activity environments. Choosing healthier foods (whole grains, fruits and vegetables, healthy fats and protein sources) and beverages.

Basic Obesity Prevention Strategies.

·         Limiting unhealthy foods (refined grains and sweets, potatoes, red meat, processed meat) and beverages (sugary drinks).

·         Increasing physical activity.

·         Limiting television time, screen time, and other “sit time”.

·         Improving sleep.

·         Reducing stress.

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Contribution: Harvard.edu