Overweight, obesity and their relation to current social dynamics

Abstract

Obesity is considered a multifactorial condition that can occur throughout life and at different levels of the health, economic, social, political and cultural system (Rivera, et al., 2012). The immediate causes of obesity are related to high energy intake and low energy expenditure, mediated by diet and physical activity at work, home, recreation and transportation. On the other hand, a social dynamic can be found in which the traditional food culture has been lost; because of work, study, family, transportation, the time dedicated to food preparation is scarce, favoring the acquisition of fast food, which contains high energy content. The present work is the result of an investigation regarding the current social dynamics that may influence the development of overweight and obesity, in which a survey was applied to 200 subjects, population of the Metropolitan Zone and the Valley of the CDMX. As large differences were observed between the factors that could be intervening in the overweight of the users, the minority that is at a healthy weight also referred to a healthy lifestyle, reflecting the areas of opportunity for health promoters and social workers, as well as the constant work in public policy.