Maitha Mohammed

Sociocultural Paper
on Obesity

ECE-207-503
Course Instructor: Sana AL Maktoum
Spring 2019
Maitha Mohammed

Introduction

A disorder in which a person has an excessive amount of weight is known as obesity. A global

fact is that obesity is a major risk for health in children and adults. As well as, it increases the

risk of physical diseases such as heart diseases, blood pressure. Obesity is associated with poor

quality of life and it shortens the potential lifespan of an individual. It is a common fear in almost

everywhere around the world. In the last few decades, this issue has risen and doctors/public

health practitioners view this as an urgent public health emergency. Therefore, it's important that

the general public has an understanding of this issue. According to (Butalia, 2014) children who

are overweight are considered obese. Childhood obesity is an issue growing rapidly and leading

to major health concerns among children, which can cause problems like diabetes, high blood

pressure, and cholesterol. This may affect the child's self-esteem and cause depression at a young

age.

Obesity in the UAE

According to (Butalia, 2014) in the UAE, doctors have warned parents that a modern and easy

going lifestyle is posing a health concern regardless of their gender or age. Furthermore, high-

class lifestyle has led to obesity in children from a very young age. The reasons for obesity in the

UAE are poor diet and physical inactivity. In the last few decades, obesity has been rising more

and more in the UAE.

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The UAE has been facing the problem of obesity since the last few decades because the mindset

of people has changed with the advent technology and the range of fast food chains. Moreover,

The boom in transportation and automobile industry made people slaves to automobiles and

transportation is so easily available that people don't need to walk. Nowadays, Children don't

play outdoor games. According to(Zain, 2018) due to, having the latest mobile phones, tablets,

and laptops to play with, while the number of gyms is equal to the number of fast food chains but

their status is not as much as the fast food chains. In the past decades, people have changed their

eating habits.

Obesity in the USA

People in the USA have a lot of access to all types of food at their doorstep, they are living a

lavish lifestyle. Fast food chains have changed the mindset of people, they believe that they

should spend their money on all kinds of food. A normal humans body needs a certain amount of

calories to perform his/her activity in an effective manner but too much calories may lead to

According to (Seidell & Halberstadt, 2016), serious health issues such as obesity, hypertension,

diabetes, high cholesterol level, stroke, different types of cancer, arthritis and kidney failure.

obesity has aggravated with changes in lifestyle and many other factors; it is important to study

the concept in order to have more awareness.

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(The State of Obesity , 2018)

In the USA, the common belief is to eat and consume food in order to get rid of worries of life.

The whole consumer market in the USA inculcates in the minds of the citizens to consume food

and spend money to make themselves happy and to compensate for their leisure time with food

after work. This led to obesity in the USA.

Especially, because Children are not taught to eat healthily. The USA culture is a big cause in

promoting obesity among children, adolescents, and older-age people as Junk food is very

popular in the USA. There aren't many media campaign or training programs in school to make

children aware of obesity which makes it hard for the USA to resolve this issue.

Obesity in UAE and USA

If we compare the UAE to the USA, they are the most obese nations all over the world and their

major causes are similar. People in the USA have access to food all over the country and They

are living an over the top lifestyle. They have a lot of food chains that changed their mindsets.
Maitha Mohammed

This mindset has increased obesity in both countries. The advancement in technology has made

both nations lazy.

Both the UAE and USA are countries where people have easy access to the latest technology and

the internet, thus the people sit and play with their devices rather than go to the gym or join a

sport’s club. People have no awareness regarding the issue. On the other hand, according to (The

State of Obesity, 2018), in the USA the sugar content is higher in products more than the UAE.

2/3 of the people in the USA are obese, but in UAE this ratio is less. Therefore, it can be

controlled easily. Mindless eating is when people eat whatever they want has increased in the

USA and UAE.

Obesity in Japan

Less than 4% of the Japanese are considered obese and this is a target for another high per capita

countries. The reason Japan has this much lower ratio of obesity is because of their lifestyle and

culture which makes them less prone to fat and obesity. In Japan, people have a good diet and the

traditional food is less costly hence people consume healthy food more often. In addition,

according to (Kubota,2015), Walking is a healthy physical activity and Japanese walk more

because the facility of private transport is very expensive. So, People use public transport which

means they need to walk to reach public transport.

Obesity in Japan as compared to the UAE and USA

In Japan, unlike the USA the motto is not to consume more and more food after work. Japanese

people don't eat mindlessly like people in the USA and the UAE. They are traditional in food
Maitha Mohammed

choices and fast food is not as popular. Japanese people consume less than 200 calories per day

as compared to the USA and the UAE people, (Buehler & Pucher, 2016). The difference of

obesity seen in USA, UAE, and Japan is more of a mindset difference than a real one.

The consumption of junk food and lack of physical activities along with eating disorders attached

to stress which has a great role to play in obesity. Japanese people believe that they can control

their body weight and work hard to gain appropriate body weight. This effort saves them from

obesity and they can control health problems associated with it. Another theory states that people

view complex issues based on how people narrate them or extended metaphors used to describe

the situation (Kubota, 2015). For example, the condition of obesity is generally not attractive so

people avoid being obese. The way we consider a problem helps us deal with the problem

effectively.

Recommendations

During the last decades, obesity levels have increased all over the world. The reasons are

unhealthy food and physical inactivity. It is required that people should be informed about

healthy diet plans and the importance of exercising and having a healthy lifestyle. If the number

of fast food chains has increased as much as the number of fitness clubs the only reason why

people are still not going to these clubs is that they are not well aware of the fact that fitness is

important to avoid obesity and problems associated with it. Social media campaigns can be

helpful in this regard. Moreover, people should be informed about the harmful effects of junk

food on their health and appearance. Childhood obesity can be controlled by educating parents

about healthy food and diet plans. Parents must encourage their children to participate in sports,

and physical activities to avoid being overweight or obese. According to (McLeod, 2016) Albert
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Bandoura social theory shows that children often copy the things their parents or the people

around them do, which leads the child to follow a specific lifestyle or behavior such as eating

disorders and eating unhealthy food.

References

Buehler, R., & Pucher, J. (2016). Trends in Walking and Cycling Safety: Recent Evidence From

High-Income Countries, With a Focus on the United States and Germany. American

Journal of Public Health , 281-287.

Butalia, N. (2014, June 1st). Obesity a burden of disease in UAE: Expert. Retrieved from

khaleejtimes.com: https://www.khaleejtimes.com/nation/general/obesity-a-burden-of-

disease-in-uae-expert

Kubota, (2015). Underweight and Obesity in Low Birth Weight Children in Early Infancy in Japan.

Semantic Scholar .

(McLeod,2016).Bandura:SocialLearningTheory

Retrievedfromhttps://www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html

Seidell, J. C., & Halberstadt, J. (2016). The obesity epidemic in the USA — no end in sight?

Natuaral Review Endocrinology , 499-500.

The State of Obesity . (2018, August). Adult Obesity in the United States. Retrieved from

stateofobesity.org: https://www.stateofobesity.org/adult-obesity/
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Tim Althoff, R. S., Hicks, J. L., King, A. C., Deph, S. L., & Leskovec, J. (2017). Large-scale

physical activity data reveal worldwide activity inequality. International Journal of

Science , 336-339.

Zain, A. A. (2018, February 3rd). Obesity's rising social and economic burden needs new

approach: experts. Retrieved from khaleejtimes.com:

https://www.khaleejtimes.com/nation/dubai/obesitys-rising-social-and-economic-burden-

needs-new-approach-experts