The growing population of overweight people
Description:
"Work in progress" door Marjoleine van der Zwan, EMBA 2009
There is an growing number of overweight people in first world country's. This start to be not only an concern of parents, relatives or public schools but also for the government. More people die everyday of overweight related deceases. Many people blame the acceptance of junk-food amongst young people as an weekly or even daily meal and the growing popularity of videogames instead of sports and active activities such as "jumping rope" or "hide and seek".
Obesity is a chronic disease characterised by an increase of body fat stores.In clinical practice, the body fatness is assessed by the body mass index (BMI). BMI is calculated as measured body weight (kg) divided by measured height squared (m2). In adults (age over 18 years) obesity is defined by a BMI≥ 30 kg/m2and overweight (also termed pre-obesity) by a BMI between 25 and 29.9kg/m2.
Enablers:
- The advance of information and communication technology
- The possibility to communicate and play with friends without leaving the house
- Junkfood
- Busy parents
Inhibitors:
- Popularity of sports
- Trend of health food
- New generation of motion-games
- Worried parents
Paradigms:
- Videogame culture vs. T.V. watchers
- More deceased becuase of obesitas
- Growing concern on (manipulated) food
Experts:
- Marshal McLuhan, The Medium is the Massage
- Nancy Morris, Media and Globalization: Why the State Matters
- Monroe E. Price, Media and Sovereignty
Timing:
In a lot of countries the count of overweight children had doubled since 60's. The cases of childhood obesas are growing.