Americans are at a downhill as obesity rates continue to increase in the U.S. According to the NCHS from 2021-2023, there was a 40% chance for an American to be obese. People 40-59 years of age are more likely to be obese than other age ranges. This is all caused by high-calorie, processed diets, sedentary lifestyles, and more.
There are multiple causes as to why the U.S. has such a high obesity rate. In fact, the U.S. has about the tenth highest obesity rated country in the world.
Some people like to think that being obese is okay and they’re comfortable staying the way they are, but this won’t change the fact that they are putting themselves at risk of many health issues. A student at Pasco High School has family members with diabetes.
“They are suffering but it’s for a good purpose because the suffering serves as a warning to stop with the unhealthy habits,” he said. “I’ve seen someone using a patch pump in class and it just sucks to see they have to live like that.” (Editor’s Note: Diabetes and the use of an insulin pump are not always due to one’s diet and may be required due to genetics or an immune system issue.)
Things like these are just the start, sure you might enjoy eating whatever you’d like, doing whatever you want, but if you keep it up, you’ll pay the price for it later in life.
Another student was asked why they think the obesity rates in the U.S. are so high.
“Cuz our food is processed and I believe there are too many loopholes in the FDA which companies can just go around making these bad ingredients,” they said.
One of the largest factors is ultra-processed foods. Ultra-processed foods are industrial food products made from refined ingredients and additives rather than whole foods. They usually contain ingredients you wouldn’t typically use in home cooking, like preservatives, artificial flavors, emulsifiers, and sweeteners. These foods are designed to be cheap, convenient, and highly palatable, which often makes people eat more of them than intended. Common examples are soda, packaged snacks, instant noodles, fast food items, and many frozen ready-to-eat meals.
High fructose corn syrup is one of these refined ingredients commonly found in things like soda, snacks & desserts, and breakfast items like cereal, granola bars, and yogurt. One of the main reasons why HFCS is unhealthy is because Americans consume an unnatural amount of it every day because it is in many of the foods Americans consume daily. According to a study from Healthline, HFCS on average increases an American’s caloric intake by about 500 calories a day, along with other health issues that come with it. HFCS can cause heart disease, fatty liver disease, diabetes, and dyslipidemia.
Ultimately, obesity rates are high in the U.S. because of food quality and the lifestyles Americans live. Many people choose to eat unhealthy foods because a lot of the time it is what the U.S. has to offer and when that is combined with, for example, desk jobs and getting little exercise, this just adds on to the problem.
