The mixture of undernutrition with overconsumption is a key factor of the development of obesity in developing countries. The first part of the equation of obesity is undernutrition. Most developing countries were faced with lack of food but are now becoming accustom to having the over accessibility of food. Because of this food becomes a major want from the people inhabiting the developing countries, but this does not mean that they are making the right food choices. What I mean by right food choices are healthy food options that the human body craves. For example, protein, vegetables, fruit, and carbohydrates are key components in contributing to the energy that our body makes on a daily basis. When there is a lack of consumption of one of these elements, our body reacts by storing fat for energy to overcompensate. Even though, people who are obese may be consuming plenty of food, the fact they are not eating the proper food for the human body is one of the factors that leads to obesity. The second part to the equation is living a sedentary life. A sedentary lifestyle is characterized by lack of physical movement or exercise. Most developing countries still follow the the social norms of women staying at home while the men work. Because of this it was found that most women, in comparison to men in developing countries, were obese. (1) This is attributed to the fact that women being cooped up in their homes all day are much more sedentary than the men. These are just a couple of factors that help explain the prevalence of obesity in developing countries.
Works Cited:
1. Misra, Anoop, and Lokesh Khurana.
"Obesity and the Metabolic Syndrome in Developing Countries." :
The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism: Vol 93, No
11_supplement_1. N.p., 02 July 2013. Web. 28 Sept. 2014.
2. Schmidt, Maria Inês, and Bruce Bartholow
Duncan. "Diabesity: An Inflammatory Metabolic Condition." Clinical
Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine 41.9 (2003): 1120-130. Web.
Hey Killian!
ReplyDeleteI am really glad you touched on this topic because that aspect of this paper was also very interesting to me. When you think of developing countries from the American standpoint I know I myself think of children that are completely underweight and malnourished, but I guess I have never stopped to think that malnourishment includes being fed the wrong foods. I think sometimes when a country has an entire demographic that is struggling just to make the means to get by, they're not as conscious about what they put in their bodies because they have much more pressing matters. When I was in Africa I know that the friends I made there were perplexed about to why I would want to go for a run after working all day. Its a completely different lifestyle! A good place to start with trying to alleviate this epidemic would be to focus on educating the younger generations.
I think you meant to post this on to Killian's post and not mine :)
DeleteYou bring up a valid point about sedentary lifestyles, Rebecca. Though, women were not always obese from staying home. A little chunkier maybe, because women need more fat than men do, but not obese. The modern-day conveniences that help some of these women do chores, such as washing machines and water that doesn’t need to be drawn from a well, require less time and manual work to be carried out. These may also contribute to obesity, in addition to the change in diet. Children are also being affected by these cultural changes. Children are not playing outside as much anymore. We see this especially in the United States, where children play videogames and computer games indoors. Many more children are obese today than were in the past. What is worse is they are developing habits that will be difficult to undo in their adult lives.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up some great points that I did fail to mention in my post. The development of dish washers and laundry machines could definitely be a key contributor to the increase in obesity seen in developing countries. I think that the United States is doing a much better job at aiding in the change of children's lifestyles and helping them become more active. I think that the United States will be able to come back from this epidemic and hopefully we will be a good example for developing countries of how to change to a healthier/more active lifestyle.
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