The Newest World Epidemic

As we eat our way to the lunch counters at restaurants and commisaries, check out at fast food restaurants and munch our way to the movie theater popcorn stands and plop down on our couch to watch our favorite soap opera, reality t.v. show or sports event with a super sized soft drink and hot dog or pizza in hand ; a little unknown phenomena is taking place throughout the world. Millions-no actually billions of other people are doing similar things. This ritual of behaviors was once considered merely a western world act but, this habit is now seen world wide and is causing the fastest rising epidemic in the world called global obesity! Add the high rise of tech gadgets that only require sedentary modes such as your smart phone, tablet, lap top, game boys and desk computers along with you Ipad, plasma t.v. and Infnity system that allow your telephone, t.v., stereo and computer to be all put on one screen we begin to see the effects get from a very sedentary world. Kids do not have to play in real sports because virtual games have been created so all that have to do to play a sport is sit down at the t.v. or computer screen. This is occuring as many grammar schools are phasing out physical education as mandatory programs for their curricula. In the meantime fast food restarants such as McDonalds, Burger King and KFC are being introduced throughout the Americas, Europe Asia and Pacific realm countries. As these "mega" changes are occuring globally, the impact of lifestyle and behavior by fast foods and sedentary behavior begin to take affect world wide. The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) puts global obesity at about 2 billion and rising particularly in countries such as the United States, England, Mexico and New Zealand. But, countries in Africa ironically are seeing a rise in regions where the economy and convenience of fast foods are beginning to be a regular part of their daily routine.It's partly about being recognized as western, partly being seen as modern or "cool" and economically the most feasible way to feed a family. Countries such as Kuwait and Pacific Islands are seeing a vast rise. Kuwait has seen a rise in its economy and the luxury of having a large immigrant labor force to do physical or manual labor . In the Pacific realm western stylized living has become accepted as fashiionable or convenient which has attributed to obesity rising to 80% on some islands. Global obesity has risen by 200 % since 1980. When we look at obesity we must be aware that this is also atributing to one-tenth of the worldwide disease. Chronic disease rates will begin to rise for heart disease,diabetes and cancer. The economies of the world will no doubt be affected by the health of its subjects which means organizations such as the W.H.O.,CARE, Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF, World Bank, IMF will have to consider health first before it considers developing fast food restaruants in countries or importing soft drinks world wide. Developing countries already dealing with poverty issues of hunger are in a real dilemma because as they are emerging out of one devastating health condition such as infectious disease epidemics, they will soon encounter a new potentially devastating one just as dangerous of obesity. Newer health policies that look at preventing obesity will become evermore important as governments and corporations alongside NGOs look at newer regulations for farming, agriculture,food manufacturing and delivery systems. Food and beverage companies will have to pay more attention to constituents and consumers about there grievances about genetically modified foods, artificial food additives, food coloring, food dyes, aspartame, sucralose, high fructose corn syrup, and sucrose. Advanced education and prevention about caloric intake , diets and nutritional support most come with every development program in countries that are emerging with western-stylized social systems and markets. Understanding the need of organic , fresh and whole foods will become necessary to understand along with better farming methods . Better advanced measures to produce food naturally will also need to be undertaken at home and abroad. Even western countries must develop and utilize greenspace better so that activity is made attractive and people are motivated to become more active again .Worksite health promotion or wellness programs that have fitness facilities in communities, job sites or schools will also have to become utilized. Clearly, the chronic diseases associated with obesity such as high cholesterol, stroke, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, depressed immune system, liver disease, fatty liver, gallstones, pulmonary obstruction, pulmonary restriction, gout, osteoarthritis, reduced fertility, cancer of breast, cancer of prostate, cancer of ovaries, cancer of uterus, cancer of colon, depression, eating disorders, and low self-esteem all become a world health issue not merely a national problem. Healthcare systems will have to begin to work in tandem to try and prevent obesity as the population of western style eating and leisure of sdedntary life takes more of an acceptable way of living. But, with the technologogical gadgets that help us enjoy leisure comes new biomedical technologies that can also help us prevent disease . These new smart devices are now available as apps on the smart devices as well. New sensors in these bio-tech gadgets have already started "popping up" on smart phone applications to help you learn how many calories are in a particular food item of a particular weight. Some apps or devices help you count how far you need to walk to burn calories or even how many bites of food you need to chew to adquately digest. Other more intricate ones will take your blood pressure, heart pulse, view your brains activity, scan sleep rhythms, take sound waves of your heart, take a x-rays or even look at your blood chemistries and calculate your bone density and basal metabloic rate with body mass index .These gagets can be either worn on clothing or will allow and individual to interface their computer and permit the human body to be scanned just by a touch. Dr. Marcus Wells is a previous fellow from the National Institutes of Health(NIH) where he worked as a clinical associate at the Natinal Heart, Lung & Blood Institute. He also served in the U.S. Health and Human Services , U.S. Public Health Service. Doctor wells holds a Master's in Public Health from Emory University.