The Correlation Between Urban Growth in Term of Population and Obesity in the United States

Introduction

The increase of obesity cases in the United States of America has increased at a very high rate over the last two decades. Towards the end of the 1970's, the country only registered 12.7 percent of men and 17 percent of women as medically proven to be obese (Eid et al., 2008, 385). However, by the year 2000, the percentages increased to 27.7 percent and 34 percent respectively. The concern over a growing number of obese people is because it poses a high risk of the dreaded chronic diseases such as hypertension, stroke, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes. Other effects of diabetes include birth defects, some types of cancer, impaired respiratory function, and immune response (Eid et al., 2008, 386). Besides, the cost of managing obesity-related illnesses in the United States of America has gone higher the costs of problem-drinking or smoking-related illnesses. Since the trend in cases of obesity has remained constantly on the increase, it has become one of the top public health concerns today. Today, many people understand the causes of obesity; however, control has been a challenge as it is a lifestyle health issue. In this paper, the contribution of urban growth to obesity in the United States of America is discussed in terms of passive transport, less open space, less work-related employment, and nutrition transition.

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Transportation has become more passive in the United States of America as opposed to active transportation. Passive transportation is more or less of an assisted transportation, in this case, the term refers to the use of comfortable transport vehicles, both public and private-owned. Since most of the days of the week are working days and people rush to work, they use their personal cars and public transport systems to reach their workplaces on time. More roads have been developed in the country; this makes transportation more efficient. In fact, in most cases, the comfort that comes with traveling on smooth roads make people choose the use of public transportation vehicles to biking or jogging to work. Mass transportation in the United States of America, also referred to as the public transportation system has become more advanced with time. People now use the more advanced automobiles on the road to go to work, connect from one city to another and to visit friends and families, even the ones who stay just a few blocks from them. Trackless trolleys, trolley busses, busses, streetcars, trains, rapid transit, also known as undergrounds, metros, and subways, as well as trains and ferries, have made many people forget about walking to their destinations. People forget that body exercise can be achieved through walking to work and to other places, walking within a town and using stairs in the office buildings. The growth in urban centers that have made transportation easier and cheaper has contributed majorly to the increasing cases of obesity in the United States of America (Zhao and Kaestner, 2010, 786). The adoption of commuter rail, light rail, airlines and intercity rail reduce the chances of people walking and burning the calories they take in their highly calorie-laden foods. If people could consider walking to work just two or three days of the week to the places they work, and use the stairs instead of the lifts, then the issue of obesity could possibly reduce to a significant percentage in the United States of America.

Secondly, due to urban growth in the United States of America, most of the lands have been developed by using them to build industries, roads, schools, residential, hospitals among other constructions. This has reduced open spaces within the urban setups making it difficult for people to find spaces to outdoor body exercise. The available spaces such as stadiums and fields are either inaccessible or are too far from residential areas. Hence, people resort to abandoning the important body exercise. The urban centers are most densely populated with crowded marketplaces and crowded buildings that discourage people from going for morning runs and jogs for fear of stumbling on people or moving vehicles. To some extent, it is not fair to blame the failure in people to participate actively in physical exercises on their reluctant nature. In some cases, the lack of space for outdoor and indoor spaces, due to urban growth is the major contributor. For instance, some of the ghetto neighborhoods in the United States of America lack fields and roads with footpaths where people can use morning jogs. It is important to understand that outdoor recreational activities, both as individuals and as groups, is one of the ways that people used to combat obesity in the past. In some cases, people did not associate the physical activities they engaged in the low percentage of obese cases in the country (Zhao and Kaestner, 2010, 782). That was possible because most of the people who walked to work or participated in some of the outdoor recreational activities did either because they had no other option or because the outdoor spaces existed and many other people took part in such activities as a culture. In as much as people should be blamed for participating less on the various outdoor physical activities, the government should also be blamed for failing to leave spaces for people to do their outdoor recreational activities that are very important in controlling obesity.

Again, less physical work-related employment in the United States of America is to be blamed for the increasing cases of obesity among the working mothers and fathers. Urban growth encourages the use of technology in achieving some of the manual works that people used to do. Today, even loading and offloading boxes from transit vehicles is done by the use of machines as people only sit down as they record the deliveries. Most of the works done in the offices today require people to sit on their desks and operate things through the computer. People have become less mobile and remain on their seats for most hours of the day, that way; they fail to engage in activities that expose them to body exercise (Ewing et al., 2014, 118). If people could be loading and offloading commodities from the transit vehicles, walking to the post office to pick up letters, walking from one office to another delivering and picking letters, then the cases of obesity in the United States of America would not be much a concern as it is now. Most of the bosses and politicians have the personal assistants who do for them most of the physical work as they rest on their seats. This reduces their activities in the offices. Even the secretaries at the front office do most of their duties in the comfort of their desks and computers. This makes it impossible for the employees to engage involuntarily in movements and activities that help their bodies to burn calorie (Eid et al., 2008, 401). With less physical activities, employees consume more of the calorie-laden foods and an increase in body weight risking becoming obese. Involuntary body activities are the most important in reducing the cases of obesity, as people have no control over them. By doing what they have to do to earn their pay, they end up exposing their bodies to some physical exercises that help reduce their body weight and keep it to healthy levels.

Lastly, urban growth that results in economic growth leads to a change in nutrition in most developed and developing countries. Due to urban growth, the United States of America has experienced increasing average income among people that leads to nutrition-related chronic diseases. Investigating the causes of the increase in obesity in the United States of America, like many other countries requires the analysis of the extent to which growth in income becomes a major cause of nutrition transition. Nutrition transition means the change in the types of foods that people eat or foods that are available to them. In the United States of America, people in the urban centers have more or less similar types of foods available to them de[ending on their social class and level of income (Eid et al., 2008, 388). With increasing household incomes in the urban centers in the United States of America, the demand for foods rich in carbohydrates reduces (Ewing et al., 2014, 123). On the other hand, the demand for foods such as dairy products, meat, and fruits increase. This observation is a clearer way of expressing what nutrient transition is in the United States of America.an overall observation is that with urban growth, nutrition transition leads to an increased demand for animal-based products than the demand for foods rich in carbohydrates. Some decades back, the discussion of increasing incidences of obesity and chronic diseases was not as much as it is rampant today, that is because the diets of the 1970's were not as a much associated to obesity as the types of foods people consume in the urban areas of the United States of America. From the 1970's, the shift in diet led to the consumption of processed foods, which increased the consumption of foods high in calorie (Zhao and Kaestner, 2010, 779). The changes in diet intake became more significant in the 1990's as urbanization took effect in most parts of the United States of America. People started consuming sugar-sweetened beverages, and edible oils. This coupled with reduced physical activity; the people became more exposed to unhealthy weight increase that leads to obesity and the development of chronic diseases.

Conclusion

In summary, obesity is a health condition that should worry anyone who wants to remain healthy and free from the dreaded chronic diseases. Observation of lifestyle as a way of managing a health issue is usually perceived as tedious due to the lifelong routine. What leads to the increased obesity cases in the United States of America is increased calorie intake with reduced physical activities among citizens. Children and women are the most endangered as they have fewer choices on the foods they have to eat. Understanding the issue of obesity in the United States of America requires one to look at the issues of urban growth, congestion, and its relation to lack of exercise. Another cause of obesity is the nutrition transition; for instance, increased household income results in less consumption of carbohydrates and more dependence on animal products. Increased consumption of red meat increases the chances of becoming obese and developing the chronic diseases.

References

Eid, J., Overman, H., Puga, D. and Turner, M. (2008). Fat city: Questioning the relationship between urban sprawl and obesity. Journal of Urban Economics, 63(2), pp.385-404.

Ewing, R., Meakins, G., Hamidi, S. and Nelson, A. (2014). Relationship between urban sprawl and physical activity, obesity, and morbidity - Update and refinement. Health & Place, 26, pp.118-126.

Zhao, Z. and Kaestner, R. (2010). Effects of urban sprawl on obesity. Journal of Health Economics, 29(6), pp.779-787.