Obesity

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA):

A cabinet-level agency that oversees the American farming industry. USDA duties range from helping farmers with price support subsidies, to inspecting food to ensure the safety of the American public. The department seeks to expand overseas markets for U.S. agricultural products and support international economic development; provide financing needed to create jobs; improve housing, utilities and infrastructure in rural America; and improve nutrition and health by providing food assistance and education.

McGovern Report:

A document published in 1977 that set the direction in which the United States would head regarding governmental dietary advice. Senator George McGovern, sole chairman of the committee responsible for issuing the aforementioned guidelines, commented that the document was "the first comprehensive statement by any branch of Federal Government on risk factors in the American Diet". The report suggested that people should eat less of harmful foods rather than more of foods that are good for them.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA):

A government agency established in 1906 with the passage of the Federal Food and Drugs Act. The agency is currently separated into five centers, which oversee a majority of the organization's obligations involving food, drugs, cosmetics, animal food, dietary supplements, medical devices, biological goods and blood products.

Nanny state:

A government perceived as having excessive interest in or control over the welfare of its citizens, especially in the enforcement of extensive public health and safety regulations.

Insulin:

A natural hormone made by the pancreas that controls the level of the sugar glucose in the blood. Insulin permits cells to use glucose for energy. Cells cannot utilize glucose without insulin.

World Health Organization (WHO):

A specialized agency of the United Nations that is concerned with international public health. It was established on 7 April 1948, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. They are concerned with improving the health of the world's people and preventing or controlling communicable diseases on a worldwide basis through various technical projects and programs.

Obesity:

A state of chronic low-grade inflammation characterized by elevated concentrations of circulating inflammatory markers.

Body Mass Index (BMI):

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a person's weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters. A high BMI can be an indicator of high body fatness. BMI can be used to screen for weight categories that may lead to health problems but it is not diagnostic of the body fatness or health of an individual.

Hyper-palatable:

Foods loaded with fat, sugar, and salt so as to be irresistibly appealing. Hyper-palatable foods are a suspected culprit in overeating and the obesity epidemic. Coined from the prefix hyper-, "excessive" or "beyond"; and palatable, "pleasing to the sense of taste."

Diabetes Mellitus:

More commonly referred to as "diabetes" -- a chronic disease associated with abnormally high levels of the sugar glucose in the blood. Diabetes is due to one of two mechanisms: Inadequate production of insulin (which is made by the pancreas and lowers blood glucose), or inadequate sensitivity of cells to the action of insulin. The two main types of diabetes correspond to these two mechanisms and are called insulin dependent (type 1) and non-insulin dependent (type 2) diabetes. In type 1 diabetes, there is no insulin or not enough of it. In type 2 diabetes, there is generally enough insulin but the cells upon which it should act are not normally sensitive to its action.

Overweight:

The excess of body weight compared to set standards. The excess weight may come from muscle, bone, fat and/ or body water.

Metabolic syndrome:

The name for a group of risk factors that raises your risk for heart disease and other health problems, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, abdominal fat, and stroke. The term "metabolic" refers to the biochemical processes involved in the body's normal functioning.

Epidemic:

refers to an increase, often sudden, in the number of cases of a disease above what is normally expected in that population in that area. Epidemics occur when occur when an agent and susceptible hosts are present in adequate numbers, and the agent can be effectively conveyed from a source to the susceptible hosts. More specifically, an epidemic may result from: • A recent increase in amount or virulence of the agent, • The recent introduction of the agent into a setting where it has not been before, • An enhanced mode of transmission so that more susceptible persons are exposed, • A change in the susceptibility of the host response to the agent, and/or • Factors that increase host exposure or involve introduction through new portals of entry