Snyman, 1
Running Head: Overeating and Obesity
Overeating and Obesity
Unit 3 Paper
Marilee Snyman
Raritan Valley Community College
Snyman, 2
Overeating and Obesity
Obesity has been an ongoing health problem in the United States that affects a lot of
people. In 2018, North America had the highest obesity rates in North America. 36.2 percent of
the population had a body mass index of 30.0 or more. This means that approximately 91 million
people struggle with obesity and the effects it has on their mental and physical health (Dillinger,
2018). Although the main reasons for obesity is overeating – especially foods that are high in fats
and sugar – or the lack of physical activity, there are also other factors that contribute to obesity
(Balentine, 2019). These factors all include biological, psychological and cultural influences.
There are multiple biological factors that contribute to obesity. We’ll be looking at the
influence of sugar, genetics and hormones. Even though sugar is important for energy, it contains
a lot of calories, but not a lot of nutrients. A small amount of a sugar product contains a lot of
