Obesity in American in Relation to Increasing Healthcare Costs Research Paper

Obesity in American in Relation to Increasing Healthcare Costs - Research Paper Example Obesity in America has a direct coloration to the rise in healthcare costs today. Obesity related illnesses Diabetes, heart disease, and sleep apnea, are all obesity related illnesses. Diabetes â€Å"Type 2 diabetes develops when either the body does not produce enough insulin in the blood or cells ignore the insulin produced† (Obesity-Related Diseases, n.d., para.2). Obesity causes insulin’s effectiveness in controlling the body’s blood sugar to decrease. Blood sugar is overproduced to keep up with the increased intake and the body, not being able to keep up with that, causes the blood sugar levels to become high (Obesity-Related Diseases, para.2). The resistance factor of insulin in human body is exponentially increased with the presence of extra muscles. The exact link between these two factors, obesity and diabetes was clearly explained in a research conducted in 2009 by the Salk Institute researchers (Sciencedaily, 2009). The researchers found out a new cond ition in people who are obese called as the endoplasmic reticulum (Sciencedaily, 2009).This condition could appear at a higher rate in people who have very high fat percentage and because of this condition, the segregation of glucose in liver increases dramatically and hence increasing their potential to become a patient of diabetes. The presence of excessive artificial additives in many of the cheaply available foods that are mostly consumed by people who are involved in sedentary work can effectively increase the fat content of those people. This makes them obese and hence luring them to have diabetes (Sciencedaily, 2009). Cancer Several studies conducted in the past have shown that overweight could increase the percentage of people getting affected with cancer. In particular, the most common type of cancer that is exhibited in obese people is the liver cancer. Researchers from University of California, San Diego has found out through their research that one major cause for the in troduction of cancer in obese people is due to a chronic inflammation (NewsWise, 2010). In generic terms, it could be described as a state where the cells of human body interact between each other in an unruly and disordered manner causing a lot of discrepancies to occur in their working. Any kind of mismanagement of communication between the cells and in their movement leads to the advent of cancer. Such an improper metabolism could occur in a higher percentage in obese people and hence the relation between obese people and cancer has come to the fore. Cancer is not a direct result of this state but is the culmination of series of secondary problems caused by this chronic inflammation (NewsWise, 2010). Heart disease Obesity often causes heart diseases due to the fact the heart is stressed when pumping blood. The relation between obesity and heart diseases where always analyzed but was believed that it is not a direct resultant of obesity. Many other sub causes were found to be the reasons for producing heart diseases. Those sub causes include presence of hypertension when the heart rate increases extremely, decrease in the levels of cholesterol in HDL or even the above mentioned factor, diabetes (Lew & Garfinkel, 1979). It is a proven fact that these causes can occur in obese patients than a regular diet person and through this it was attributed to obesity that heart disease could also