All over the world, societies are facing a growing problem with obesity. This problem affects both children and adults. What are the reasons for this rise in obesity? How could it be tackled?

Over the last few years, obesity has become a serious problem. These days, it affects an increasing number of both children and adults. Causes of overweight must be considered and addressed effectively; otherwise, societies will suffer from even greater health problems. This essay will look at the causes of this problem and make some suggestions about how to tackle it. One of the main causes of overweight is the high intake of junk food such as hamburgers, chips, and fried chicken. Many people prefer to have a takeaway meal or pick up a pre-prepared food in the supermarket, which contain high salt and fat, rather than cooking a healthy meal at home. For instance, in the UK, sales of junk food have risen significantly over the last few years. The solution is for the government to increase sales tax on any food that is considered to be unhealthy. This would make consumers decrease their intake of this type of food and start to make the healthy home-made one. People lack the knowledge of food ingredients and their health issues and thus do not make informed decisions while talking foods. Easy access to private cars has reduced the walking and cycling habit of people. The quality and ingredients of quick foods/ fast foods are not strictly monitored by the authority. Another problem is that fewer and fewer persons are doing sports. This is because of the high expenses of registration in a gym. For example, the monthly fees of gyms in the UK are around 40 or 50 pounds, which is very difficult to be afforded by many. To address this, the government could assign more money for sports facilities such as gyms to become more affordable. So that many persons would hopefully do sports and consequently start to lose weight. A third cause of the problem is the sedentary lifestyle many families are living all the time. The high quality of life and having many facilities make our lifestyle lazier. Many families have more than one car and they are using all the cars all the time to go to their destinations, even if it can be reached by bus or on foot. The way forward might be for the government to increase the price of oil and charge owners of private cars for road use. This would make people go to their destinations on foot or by bicycles instead of using their cars. To sum up, obesity becomes an increasingly worrying issue affecting a wide range of age groups. In my view, government, parents and school all have a role to play in tackling the problem. Action must be taken urgently; otherwise, our country will face even more serious problems in health.