MILLENNIALS - Breaking records for Obesity

Winston S. Churchill once said, “Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have”. They are undoubtedly more productive, able to put in more to the workforce and are directly allied to the economic advancement of the nation. Therefore it would not be deceptive to say that a healthful population can play a major role in making their nation a developed economy. But can the reverse be true? Does that mean a developed nation, in today’s time, must have it’s millennials to be the healthiest on the globe? Well, certainly not. Health Survey of England, 2016, suggests that Britain is the most obese nation in Western Europe, with rates intensifying more rapidly as compared to any other developed nation.

A saying by Drew Carey “Eating crappy food isn't a reward -- it's a punishment”, went completely justifiable when a new analysis by Cancer Research, UK verified that despite following fairly healthy food trends, UK millennials are on course to be the alleged overweight generation recorded so far, as compared to those born post world war 2, the reason being, not following a healthy diet regime. Being fat as an adult is linked not only to potentially life-threatening conditions, such as, type 2 diabetes , coronary heart disease, High Blood Pressure, Coronary Vascular Disease, Heart attack, stroke, to name a few but is also the second leading cause to 13 different types of cancer, added Cancer Research UK, after carrying out an analysis. It is equipotential to affect the quality of life and to generate psychological problems, such as low esteem.

Conditions seem to be quite alarming as obesity is reported to make 74% of the millennials obese, only to generalise, over seven in every 10 people born early on the 1980s to mid-90s will become fattier when approaching their middle years. As a Spanish proverb goes “The beginning of health is to know the disease”, therefore an understanding of the reasons which lead to the adversity in the generations to come, is crucial in overcoming the challenges which the people all across the globe may face. Since the entire human body is connected with each of its organs like a link, accumulation of weight to any of its part affects another’s mechanism, sometime in the form of mechanical stress and sometime by causing changes in hormones and metabolism of the body. Prof Russell Viner, from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, fears that being overweight is becoming normalised, as people are less aware in recognising obesity in them as well as in their children, which is further complicating the situation.

Based on a research Professor Linda Bauld, Cancer Research UK’s prevention expert suggests that the evolving environment of the modern world is to be blamed for the obesity blunder. Eating a balanced diet comprising of lots of fruits, vegetables, wholesome fibres and cutting back on the junk food can surely help to improve on, she adds. Professor Jimmy Bell, an obesity specialist at Imperial College, London said ”We are being bombarded every day by the food industry to consume more and more food” while investigating the causes of the obesity crisis in West.

Spawning an understanding of the links between cancer and smoking have helped in cutting the smoking rates down spectacularly amongst the youthful, states Prof Russell Viner. Therefore the need of the hour is to create awareness, as easy as done in a conventional way, about this peculiar pesky part of our lives of all the generations.