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Role of Nutrition Education Reducing Obesity Prevalence
Capstone Project
Submitted to Grantham University
in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of
Bachelor of Science in Nursing
by
Claudette Perryman
Professor Joan Haizlip
March 2021
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Role of Nutrition Education Reducing Obesity Prevalence
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Table of Contents
Table of
Contents……………………………………………………………………………..……………3
Chapter 1:
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………4
Contributing Factors of Obesity……………………………………………………………4
Unhealthy Dietary Patterns…………………………………………………………….………4
Sedentary Lifestyle……………………………………………………………………..………...4
Excessive false advertising…………………………………………………………………..….5
Consequences of Obesity……………………………………………………………..…….5
Chronic diseases……………………………………………………………………………..….5
Poor quality of life…………………………………………………………………….……..….5
Chapter 2: Nutritional Education……………………………………………………..….….…6
Improved Dietary Patterns……………………………………………………………….……6
Tips to be Physically Active ………………………………………………………………......6
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….6
References………………………………………………………………………………………..8
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Chapter 1: Introduction
Obesity is becoming a global threat due to its high and ever-increasing prevalence. In the
United States, the rate of obesity is higher than any other region of the world (Malenfant &
Batsis, 2019). The obesity rate has become so high that even it has targeted children. Childhood
obesity is more lethal than obesity in adults (Kumar & Kelly, 2017).
Contributing Factors of Obesity
There are multiple factors that contribute to the onset of obesity. The risk factors of
obesity can be classified as (i) modifiable risk factors and (ii) non-modifiable risk factors. The
modifiable risk factors include dietary patterns, physical activity levels, and sleep patterns. The
non-modifiable risk factors include age, gender, and genetics. The second category of the risk
factor cannot be modified or change. But a person has control over the first category, which
shows that obesity can be prevented and reduced with some efforts and the right tactics (Winkler
et al., 2018). Following are the main contributing factors that a human can resolve.
Unhealthy Dietary Patterns
Suppose a person is obese, which shows excessive and unhealthy food eating. Fast food
consumption is one of the significant factors that leads to unhealthy dietary patterns
(Mohammadbeigi et al., 2018).
Sedentary Lifestyle
People who live a sedentary lifestyle are more prone to weight gain and obesity (Nepal et
al., 2018). A person who is doing the chores of daily life and does not follow any exercise
regime will live a sedentary lifestyle.
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Excessive false advertising
It is commonly seen that the advertisement on television and social media sites are often
of the unhealthy foods which attract the children the most. For instance, the ratio of junk food
advertisements is more than half of the natural foods (Vandevijvere et al., 2018). The
advertisement is done in a way that attracts the audience. The use of multiple colors and
superhero characters inspires and attracts the children most, for which they demand unhealthy
foods.
Consequences of Obesity
The increasing prevalence of obesity is an alarming situation because of the severe
consequences that it costs. The consequences of obesity are not linked to one aspect. These are
broad and affect the overall health and life of a person.
Chronic diseases
The primary and prominent effect is the occurrence of chronic diseases. People having
obesity have a significant association with chronic diseases in later life. the fat accumulation in the
body, especially around the organs, causes, diabetes, heart diseases, atherosclerosis, hypertension,
stroke, brain damage. Kidney failure, and fatty liver.
Poor quality of life
The person who is obese is unable to enjoy personally as well as professional life. People
and society make life miserable by doing body shaming. Social life gets poorly affected as the
person cannot fulfill multiple activities effectively of personal and professional aspects. Indeed,
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it leads to the missed targets, poor health, and low inner satisfaction. Such people do not
exercise, walk, meditate, and go for the easy-going ways.
Nutrition Education
Avoiding all these challenges and hurdles of obesity can be possible with the
consideration of nutrition education. It is one of the most lacking things in the people and
society. People do not pay much attention to it as it is not present in schools' course schedules
(Cuerda et al., 2017).
Improved Dietary Patterns
People can have improved dietary patterns through nutrition education. Nutrition
education helps a person become aware of the lousy food and its effects on the body. When a
person is aware of the food and its effect on the body, he can make the right choices.
Tips to be Physically Active
Physical activeness is the second consideration in concern to weight management. The
nutrition educator teaches a person how to be physically active even in a busy life. For instance,
a person can use stairs instead of the elevator to move the body. The nutrition educator listens to
the people's problem, detects the real in-depth cause, and tries to resolve that issue.
Conclusion
The campaigns, workshops, and promotions of nutritional significance for obesity and
their diseases can reduce the prominence of obesity Nutritional charts, diet plans, and exercise
prove to be a big source of improved quality of health. The lack of nutritional awareness keeps
the masses away from the right path of nutritional modifications for better health. Hence, they
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rely on medicines, which cause severe harm. These can be combat entirely, and prevalence can
be reduced optimally when health care professionals take their step toward promoting nutritional
education.
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References
Cuerda, C., Schneider, S. M., & Van Gossum, A. (2017). Clinical nutrition education in medical
schools: Results of an ESPEN survey. Clinical Nutrition, 36(4), 915-916.
Kumar, S., & Kelly, A. S. (2017, February). Review of childhood obesity: from epidemiology,
etiology, and comorbidities to clinical assessment and treatment. In Mayo Clinic
Proceedings, 92(2), 251-265.
Mohammadbeigi, A., Asgarian, A., Moshir, E., Heidari, H., Afrashteh, S., Khazaei, S., & Ansari,
H. (2018). Fast food consumption and overweight/obesity prevalence in students and its
association with general and abdominal obesity. Journal of Preventive Medicine and
Hygiene, 59(3), E236.
Nepal, G., Tuladhar, E. T., Dahal, S., Ahamad, S. T., Adhikari, S., & Kandel, A. (2018).
Lifestyle practices and obesity in Nepalese youth: a cross-sectional study. Cureus, 10(2).
Malenfant, J. H., & Batsis, J. A. (2019). Obesity in the geriatric population–a global health
perspective. Journal of Global Health Reports, 470(3), 867-881.
Winkler, M., Bader, M., Schuster, F., Stölting, I., Binder, S., & Raasch, W. (2018). Development
of obesity can be prevented in rats by chronic icv infusions of AngII but less by Ang (1–
7). Pflügers Archiv-European Journal of Physiology, 470(6), 867-881.
Vandevijvere, S., Molloy, J., de Medeiros, N. H., & Swinburn, B. (2018). Unhealthy food
marketing around New Zealand schools: a national study. International Journal of Public
Health, 63(9), 1099-1107.