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Article Review #1

Public Health Considerations Regarding Obesity

Kaylan Huff

Department of Health Science, California State University Channel Islands

Professor Blair Barker, MPH

April 28th, 2023

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Article Review #1

Public Health Considerations Regarding Obesity

Tiwari, A., & Balasundaram, P. (2023). Public Health Considerations Regarding Obesity.

In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing.

Article Summary

This article addresses the widespread issue of obesity throughout the globe by

highlighting specific areas of topic such as: public health impact on obesity, public health

policies, interventions, and predictions for obesity in the future based on clinical evidence.

Tiwari and Balasundaram collected research through over 25 evidence-based resources in order

to provide clinical evidence and suggestions for the topic of obesity. Enhancements of healthcare

workers, family, and friends can offer people suffering from obesity preventative options,

support, and assistance with behavioral changes.

The World Health Organization determines an overweight measurement resulting in a

body mass index of 25-30, and a diagnosis of obesity through a body max index of 30 or more. It

is no question that obesity is a major public health concern considering that 20% of all health

expenses in the United States are obesity related (Tiwari and Balasundaram, 2023). It is noted

that obesity is likely due to an expansion on inactive lifestyle, highly processed food intake, and

urbanization as a whole. Obesity influences the public through lifestyle changes that will affect

their daily routine. If an individual is morbidly obese, they will experience obstructions with

their quality of life; their life expectancy will be shortened due to the risk of health diseases and

their employment may be at risk due to the daily challenges their job brings that a healthy person

could easily manage. Control measures such as public health policies must be developed in order

to aid this public health issue.

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Article’s Purpose & Results

The purpose of this article is to spread awareness to the public health issue of obesity and

suggest public health policy changes and environmental changes in hopes to provide efforts in

decreasing obesity of individuals. Food labeling regulations have already been established as an

FDA requirement of providing all calorie and nutrition on each food label and banning trans fats

in all foods sold in restaurants and grocery stores. However, fast-food restaurants are the main

culprit for children with obesity, as many fast-food chains are seen by nearby schools and

neighborhoods. Tiwari and Balasundaram suggest incorporating healthy food options within half

a mile of local establishments and emphasizing a high focus on children by pushing children to

walk or bike to school (2023). Communities can be influenced by creating higher taxes on sugar-

sweetened beverages through state regulations. Lastly, parks and bike paths must be developed at

a higher rate in order to persuade people to resume and active lifestyle.

Healthcare workers and family can both partake in preventative changes to help decrease

obesity. Physicians, doctors, and other healthcare workers should be trained on obese patients, as

weight bias and discrimination is heavily prominent through a patient’s quality of care. Coaching

should include proper communication to obese patients and obscure from stereotypical

accusations that obese individuals are unintelligent and/or unsuccessful. Healthcare workers

must take additive measures on helping patients with obesity understand their situation in hopes

to improve their weight loss management. Lastly, a positive emphasis on how healthcare workers

are treating their patients with obesity; people with obesity must be motivated to lose the weight

themselves, therefore it is critical that healthcare workers use proper terminology and people-

first language. The article uses the example “patients with obesity instead of obese patients” and
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“high BMI instead of morbid obesity” when noting proper language use to patients (Tiwari and

Balasundaram, 2023). Family is one of the largest influences on people with obesity. Many

families can help their loved ones lose weight by taking preventative behavioral changes. With

family and social support, obese people can stay motivated to make positive changes on their

life.

Indications for Further Research

The authors could have expanded on their research by providing limitations that

regulations have. For instance, the University of Minnesota highlights how many food labels are

confusing to consumers and can often be misleading; the Food and Drug Administration only

regulates 80% of food products which results in imprecise measurements (Kincheloe, 2018).

Shoppers attempting to purchase healthier food options are often deceived regardless of the FDA

establishing calorie and nutrition requirements on each food label. Therefore, this article

could’ve pushed new regulations the FDA should establish such as an adequate system that

requires preapproval of all food labels that will stop misleading commercial speech. Other results

could’ve been expanded on such as the World Health Organizations outlook on obesity; body

mass index (BMI), is not a proper tool that healthcare workers should be using to diagnose

patients with obesity. Gutin supports this stance by noting that BMI only observes the height and

weight of an individual (2017), and does not consider race, muscle mass, or even bone mass in

the measurement. A diagnosis of obesity must incorporate all considerations in order to properly

diagnose patients. Further research must focus on how communities can increase the number of

physical activities, behavioral choices, and healthy opportunities for their society. Public health

policies and environmental policies should include mental health and psychological factors that

also contribute to obesity.

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Conclusion

I enjoyed how the authors included environmental policies that should be implemented to

help this public health issue such as public parks and bike paths. Obesity is undeniably a public

health concern that must be improved and attacked through all angles (family, doctors,

environment), in order to successfully be decreased across the globe. Public health policy

modifications can help society decrease obesity by managing communities through strategic

development. However, knowledge on government policies such as FDA and healthcare

diagnosis must be touched on to fully understand obesity.

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References

Gutin I. (2018). In BMI We Trust: Reframing the Body Mass Index as a Measure of

Health. Social theory & health : STH, 16(3), 256–271. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41285-

017-0055-0

Kincheloe, J. (2018, August 2). Weekly topic: Editorial - misleading food labeling. Center for

Animal Health and Food Safety. Retrieved April 26, 2023, from

https://cahfs.umn.edu/news/weekly-topic-editorial-misleading-food-

labeling#:~:text=To%20start%2C%20many%20labels%20have,or%20synthetic%20has%

20been%20added.

Tiwari, A., & Balasundaram, P. (2023). Public Health Considerations Regarding Obesity.

In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing.