Obesity has indeed taken on epidemic proportions in the USA. This article discusses all aspects of the problem, and its socio economic impact, and the actual trials underway, to bring this spiralling evil under control.
Understand What Obesity Is
The figures of obesity in the United States are alarming by any stretch of imagination. The WHO considers all persons with a BMI of 25-30 as overweight and those above 30 % as obese. America has 33 % adults and 17 % children as obese.

Obesity Spreads Its Tentacles
Americans are spiralling into obesity, with the last ten years showing a 100% increase for adults and a 300 % hike in children based on the existing way of life.
It is feared that obesity may, in the foreseeable future, become the most costly ailment to hit American Healthcare, and brunt the economy. God forbid, you may see parents live longer than their children. The communal, ecological and economic impact may render obesity as the biggest liability to the American people and the exchequer.

The epidemic has reached a stage that children are contracting those diseases that were privy only to adults. Some studies reveal that 70 % of the children between five and seventeen are stricken with some form or other of cardiovascular diseases and obesity puts them at risk of contracting several other serious ailments, leading ultimately, even to suicide.
The medical bills of the nation in this respect today may have crossed $170 Billion and rising. Now, obesity has been identified as a cause of arthritis, which is being billed as the prime mover for disability in America, with a whopping cost of over $130 billion per year.

The Root Causes Of Obesity
The medical pundits and international organizations like the WHO have burnt the midnight oil to arrive at some simple formulae which relate the desirable weight dispensers and the undesirable weight accumulators to the body mass index, to study those on both sides of the divide.
While billions of Dollars have already been spent, one clear picture that seems to have emerged is the subject of modifying behaviour to suit the needs of the hour. The crux of the matter is what kind of behaviour should be inculcated in the young people of America to change their lifestyle in order to progress towards the realms of safety.

The Socio-Ecological Forces That Cause Obesity
Some of the multitude of factors that are known to exert their influence on obesity and identified by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, in a report of June 2010, from their series called “F as in Fat: How obesity threatens America’s Future”, are given hereunder:
More people are now opting for the high energy, low-nutrient foods now due to the chaotic 19.5% rise in prices of healthy foods like fruits, vegetables and low fat milk products. Studies indicate that adults are consuming more calories now, than half a decade earlier. Serving of larger portions by restaurants also aggravates the situation.

Schools too are subsidising on low nutrient diets. Physical fitness has been put on the backburner and students think it is infra dig to walk to school.
Employees and corporations do not seem to think that lack of a little recreation amidst that entire buzz of a 24/7 media glare and responsibilities are taking its toll.
More and more families are changing their age old behavioural patterns, adapting to a sedentary approach and relying more on their electronic gadgets for communication, which earlier had seen face to face meetings with physical outings.

The side effects of medicines like for example Insulin, anti depressants and oral contraceptives are known to give rise to a plethora of new age problems.

Reigning The Juggernaut
Unless the consumption of market motivated energy rich foods can be controlled or capped, obesity can no longer be controlled and America is spiralling to devastation beyond compare.
Reforming the weaknesses in our socio economic structure may now be the only alternative to save America from the brink of desolation and bring it back on even keel. Some of the suggested measures are:
1. Barring Television publicity of high energy, low nutrient foods during peak hours.
2. High fructose corn soup rich foods to be banned in all schools.
3. Use of social media to impress on adolescents and adults on the behavioural impact of social changes.
4. Proper utilisation of government funds to promote recreational activities leading to stress reduction and general better health.

In the final analysis, it is seen that, obesity, having been born out of social and behavioural concerns is definitely reversible. Since this is a direct result of the commercial battering unleashed by the high energy companies like for example the manufacturers of the high fructose corn syrup (which is slated to enhance calorie intake by almost 300 calories ), on the hapless public, only a ban on these items will correct the existing imbalance.

Americans are left only with their will power to battle this menace, and the sooner, the better.