Yet, readily available and sufficient food does not automatically bring about good nutrition. On the contrary, obesity is one major nutrition-related problem in the United States. According to the most recent government statistics, over half the American population today is obese, and of children between the ages of 6 and 17, nearly one fourth are obese. Obesity carries with it increased general health risks, including a higher incidence of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, non-insulin dependent diabetes, certain kinds of cancer, gall bladder disease, menstrual abnormalities and complications of arthritis and gout. Obese children face traumatic social and psychological difficulties and increased risk for high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, abnormal glucose tolerance and possible orthopaedic problems, such as difficulty with walking.
Obese children tend to become obese adolescents, who tend to become obese adults.
A number of factors bring about this disorder and can interact with one another. Besides nutrition, both genetic make-up and cultural behaviour patterns can predispose a person to obesity. Endocrinological and metabolical factors are also involved. A long-time researcher in the field, Dr. William H. Dietz, noting the increased frequency with which, paradoxically, both hunger and obesity occur in poorer populations in the United States, has suggested that one cause of obesity might well be hunger. Without question, the poor in the United States do suffer 'episodic food insufficiency'.