Introduction:
Obesity is currently considered as a chronic and dangerous disease that threatens humanity (RIPPE, CROSSLEY and RINGER, 1998). Whereas the number of obese people worldwide has tripled since 1975 and 2016 (World Health Organization, 2021). Efforts are joining hands in various industries to try to alleviate this global problem, as doctors, dietitians, sports specialists, psychologists, life coaches and other specialties. Many people believe that the food industry is one of the main causes of obesity, and that institutions and companies are responsible for this.
Before starting research, we should first know what obesity is: It is considered as an abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat in the body (World Health Organization, 2021). The food industry includes many elements, such as: food, the consumer, the food maker, the farmer, the distributor, the marketer, the supplier and more.
In this paper we will attempt to answer whether the food industry is responsible for obesity or whether it is part of a large complex structure, and we will try to consider more questions.
Food Industry and Diseases:
There are people with physical or psychological diseases that make them binge eat, whether there are institutions and companies that promote food or not, this is due to a physical or psychological illness, but at first glance it may come to mind that the food industry helped in making the patient eat more, and this is somewhat true. Therefore, eating is one of the most common mental illnesses with a rate of 5% in the world (Rittenhouse, 2019). And there are those who help him in that, so he produces delicious food for him, even if the main cause of this person’s obesity is not the food industry but mental illness!!
On the other hand, we see another disorder (Anorexia Nervosa), which makes you refrain from eating and lose appetite. With all this industry around people with anorexia, they did not engage in eating, but this obsession turned into a disease with serious symptoms. There are also many physical diseases that cause obesity, such as the thyroid gland (Laurberg et al., 2012).
Food Industry and genetics:
When we talk about food, we must see is this eating a natural result of the marketing and promotion of food everywhere? Or is it due to another factor in the genes of some people, no matter how much this person reduces his eating, and no matter how much he takes his eyes off all the appetizers, his body remains obese, and this is considered obesity syndrome (Thaker, 2018). Here it becomes clear to us that the food industry does not interfere in this part of obesity.
On the other hand, when the genetic thing combines with food, here the food industry intervenes in the problem, and it aggravates. coordinated with food (Kendall and Cooke, 2021). For instance, in the fifties, fast food restaurants provided one size for meals, but today the sizes have ballooned a lot, for example, a large McDonald's meal contains 1500 to 2000 calories, all the calories most people need for an entire day! and not only fast food, but it extended to snacks to get bigger and bigger (Harvard Health, 2019). This exacerbates the problem between food promotion and a person's struggle with their genes.
Food Industry and Sports:
Many people intentionally or unintentionally practice this common mistake, which is eating without exercising, for this reason they become obese, and then we say that the food industry is responsible for this, but look at the young man when he goes to the gym, and he wants to build muscles and a beautiful body, He eats a lot until he reaches the body he wants, and they eat three meals a day and up to 6 meals, and there is a specific calculation of the calories that you eat, each person has a specific account according to his body mass (Brown et al., 2016).
However, when we say that we need to exercise, we run into a certain problem, as it turns out that eating high calories limits physical activity (Office of Science, 2013), When a person eats fast food, for example, he feels lethargic, and here the food industry may become not only responsible for obesity but also for lack of exercise.
Conclusion:
Obesity is not just a form that you would not prefer to become, but rather a disease that harms health, and it must be combated systematically, with an insightful look, and expansion of more research. There are many reasons that are not visible as we have shown. Do sports as well, People's diseases may be a cause, genes are another reason, and lack of exercise as well.
In my opinion, the food industry should not be linked to obesity, because when we link the food industry to obesity, our view will be short-circuited, and the problem will not be radically solved. This association is considered incorrect because the issue is not only related to food, but to very many factors, as we have discussed.
The food industry is not solely responsible, as there are many factors. In order to treat obesity, it must not be limited to food, but rather an integrated unit that includes doctors, food specialists, behavioral psychological treatments, lifestyle changes, and sports specialists in order to treat obesity. But when we cast the reason only on the food, the view becomes deficient, and we wrong the people when we tell them not to eat much food, and we do not look at other factors that may be the cause and not the food.
References:
Brown, R., Canning, K., Fung, M., Jiandani, D., Riddell, M., Macpherson, A. and Kuk, J., 2016. Calorie Estimation in Adults Differing in Body Weight Class and Weight Loss Status. [online] ncbi. Available at: <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5055397/> [Accessed 1 November 2021].
Harvard Health ed., (2019). Why people become overweight. [online] Harvard Health. Available at: https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/why-people-become-overweight [Accessed 9 November 2021].
Kendall, C. and Cooke, J., 2021. Living with obesity: The people who are hard-wired to store fat. [online] BBC News. Available at: <https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-57419041> [Accessed 1 November 2021].
Laurberg, P., Knudsen, N., Andersen, S., Carlé, A., Pedersen, I. and Karmisholt, J., 2012. Thyroid Function and Obesity. [online] ncbi. Available at: <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3821486/> [Accessed 1 November 2021].
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RIPPE, J., CROSSLEY, S. and RINGER, R., 1998. Obesity as a Chronic Disease. [online] Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics home. Available at: <https://www.jandonline.org/article/S0002-8223(98)00704-4/fulltext> [Accessed 1 November 2021].
Rittenhouse, M., 2019. What is Binge Eating Disorder: Symptoms, Risks, & Causes. [online] eating disorders hope. Available at: <https://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/information/binge-eating-disorder> [Accessed 1 November 2021].
Thaker, V., 2018. GENETIC AND EPIGENETIC CAUSES OF OBESITY. [online] ncbi. Available at: <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6226269/> [Accessed 1 November 2021].
World Health Organization, W., 2021. Obesity and overweight. [online] World Health Organization. Available at: <https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight> [Accessed 1 November 2021].
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