Cause and Effect- Obesity

Everything is bigger in America than in other countries. America has the biggest cars, the biggest houses, the biggest servings of food, and the biggest people. The movie Supersize Me tells us that America has become the fattest nation in the world. However, not only America but also Taiwan suffers the problem of obesity. In fact, obesity is a growing problem among children in Taiwan. In 2007, one in ten children between the ages of 7 and 18 was overweight, triple the rate of 10 years ago. Therefore, studying the causes of obesity is an important issue. According to experts' observations, obesity, which causes some serious effects in Taiwanese people, may result from dietary habits and lack of physical activity.

To start off, it has obvious effects. Obese people easy suffer several physiological diseases and psychological conditions. The first effect is that obese people are more susceptible to several diseases—such as heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes—than others. For example, diabetes has risen dramatically among not only in adults but also in children in the past few years. Experts believe that this increase is due to the high rate of obesity. Another effect is that obese people are more vulnerable to some psychological conditions—such as depression and identity problems—than others. Indeed, obesity has social, psychological and emotional consequences. Since Taiwan's society over-emphasizes slimness, many people have some misconceptions about being overweight and obese. As a result, obese people often are treated differently. This may be the most devastating effect of obesity. Obese people may feel isolated and lonely. This can lead to depression and identity problems.

Since obesity causes some severe physiological and psychological effects in adults and children, Taiwanese people should pay more attention to this critical issue, understand more about the causes, and learn how to prevent the problem of obesity from getting worse.

The first cause of obesity is that Taiwanese's dietary habits have changed significantly over the past few decades. Over-nutrition has replaced under-nutrition, eating out has replaced eating at home, and eating meals at irregular times has replaced eating meals regularly. These huge changes are the major causes of Taiwanese people becoming overweight or obese. For example, the proliferation of fast-food restaurants has made it difficult for Taiwanese to eat healthily, and the booming consumption of soft drinks also has added more calories to Taiwanese people's diets. Furthermore, when Taiwanese people have reunions with family or friends, it is so prevalent for them to eat at all-you-can-eat buffets; therefore, they often eat so much food that it is hard to metabolize these extracalories.

In addition to poor dietary habits, the lack of physical activity may play a role as well. Studies have indicated a strong correlation between obesity and lack of physical activity, which shows that the less physical activity people do, the more obese people become. Today, most people in Taiwan do not spend their free time doing physical activity. They usually do activities which consume less energy and lead to low metabolic rates and the accumulation of fat, such as watching TV or surfing the Internet.

To sum up, Taiwanese people have become obese as a result of the changes in dietary habits and lack of physical activity. Although the obesity problem in Taiwan is less severe than that in America, recent research has indicated that the number of obese people in Taiwan is increasing. Therefore, it is important to focus early on healthful behaviors to stop this serious problem. Correct dietary habits and regular physical activity will help people to avoid obesity.