Childhood Obesity

In the United States, obesity is a major health factor which is affecting many individuals regardless of age or sex. Dr. Jennifer Beshel's spoke about how the diet of our society has an impact on the rise of obesity levels. She highlighted how obesity can be caused by environmental factors alongside genetical factors. In the article, "A Leptin Analog Locally Produced in the Brain Actsvia a Conserved Neural Circuit to Modulate Obesity-Linked Behaviors in Drosophila," that the researchers looked at the upd1in the brain, which is a gene similar to the function of leptin, to look at the difference in weight gain in organisms. The flies which had the alteration in the brain were seen to have more weight gain those who were not altered showing that obesity can be caused by genetical processes in the body. If Drosophila is placed into an obesogenic environment with a high sugar/high-fat diet known as the knockout flies, while the wild-type flies were placed in a normal environment. This experiment resulted in knockout flies to have a drastic increase in body mass while the wildtype gained weight but much lower than the knockout flies. In our society, people who tend to surround themselves with a high fat/high sugar diet result to be more obese than those individuals who have a healthy well-balanced diet.

The New York Times article, "The Urgency in Fighting Childhood Obesity," presents the idea of how children who are in an unhealthy eating environment are more likely to be obese. The article and Dr. Beshel's talk correlated heavily on how the environment has an impact on weight gain leading to obesity; which was also supported by the article, "Parents' Denial Fuels Childhood Obesity Epidemic." In the article, the idea of exposing a child to an environment that has high fats and high sugar can lead to an obese child, but the identifications such as race, gender, status, or brith weight do not play a role in obesity. Researchers found that individuals ranging from the ages of 10 to 13 have an 80 percent chance to be an obese adult. This shows that weight gain at a young age can result in a higher risk for obesity that can cause other health issues along with diseases. Adolescents who are obese tend to have higher rates of depression, which can also result in overeating behaviors. The interesting part was that environmental and gentical factors go into weight gain but researchers have found negative verbal cues also contribute to the cause of weight gain. The article said that even being labeled as overweight or obese can result in a failure to lose weight.

Dr. Beshel and the article presented compelling data that showed how there is more than one factor that goes into weight gain. The Drosophila showed fairly similar results of weight gain when put into a high sugar and high-fat diet which was shown in humans as well. Therefore individuals should be informed of the dangers of obesity and the vital health conditions that can result from excessive weight gain.

WORKS CITED

Beshel, Jennifer, et al. “A Leptin Analog Locally Produced in the Brain Acts via a Conserved Neural Circuit to Modulate Obesity-Linked Behaviors in Drosophila.” Cell Metabolism, vol. 25, no. 1, 10 Jan. 2017, pp. 208–217., doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2016.12.013.

Brody, Jane E. “The Urgency in Fighting Childhood Obesity.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 July 2016, well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/07/05/the-urgency-in-fighting-childhood- obesity/.

Hoffman, Jan. “Parents' Denial Fuels Childhood Obesity Epidemic.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 15 June 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/06/16/health/parents-denial-fuels-childhood-obesity-epidemic.html.