Obesity Risk Factors

---

Obesity is a complex disease that is affected by individual biological, behavioral, emotional, and physical factors.^1, 2 Additionally, the social, built, political, and natural environment may affect the level of individual risks.^1, 2 Some common risk factors may include:   ^1, 2

A Lack Of Physical Activity

• 23.2% met guidelines for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity in 2018. ³
• Data from the 2015-2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) reported that overall, 25.7% of participants reported sitting for more than 8 hours per day and 44.6% were inactive. ⁴
• The estimated total sitting time increased by nearly 1 hour per day among adolescents and adults from 2007-2016. ⁵

Hours spent in sedentary behaviors increased from 2007-08 to 2015-16 among: ⁶

• Adults aged 40-49 (5.4 to 6.2 hours per day) ⁶
• Non-Hispanic whites (5.9 to 6.6 hours per day) ⁶  
• Americans with a college degree or above (5.8 to 6.5 hours per day) ⁶
• People with obesity (5.8 to 6.4 hours per day)⁶  
• Individuals with family income less than 1.31 times the poverty level (5.3 to 6 hours per day)⁶

 

The Built Environment

A built environment is all human-made physical spaces where one spends their time. These areas include but are not limited to buildings, open public spaces, roads, utilities and other infrastructure. ⁷

• It    enables or restricts access to physical activity.   An inadequate amount of physical activity contributes to obesity, heart disease, and certain types of cancer. ⁸
• The lack of sidewalks and bicycles or walking paths contributes to sedentary behavior.⁸
• Communities without parks limit opportunities for children to be active outdoors.⁸

 

Figure 1: Changing Communities Gets People Moving Infographic.

Source: Active Living Research: Promoting activity-friendly communities

Food Desert Indication

• Food deserts are geographic areas with limited access to affordable and quality healthy food. People living in food deserts have to travel further to a grocery store that generally has healthier and affordable food options compared to those in other areas. ⁹
• Food deserts are known to have more fast food restaurants and convenience stores with more unhealthy food options than fresh produce. ⁹
• Food deserts present a disparity for those living in these areas, as they are limited to choose from calorie-dense food items, which increases the risk of weight gain compared to fresh produce. ⁹
• Food Desert Indication may be measured by distance to a store or the number of stores in an area. ⁹

Limited Resources to Access Nutritious Food

Some resources that are taken into account to assess access to nutritious food are as follows: ¹⁰

• Individual-level resources such as income or vehicle availability. ¹⁰   
• Neighborhood resources such as    average community income    and public transportation availability. ¹⁰   

Physical Education 

Youth

• Regular physical activity is a widely identified obesity prevention strategy among youth. ¹¹
• The Physical Activity Guidelines recommends that youths engage in at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily.¹¹      

• Since children and adolescents spend most of their day at school, it is important to engage them in regular physical activity to develop good exercise habits.¹¹       
• An objective of Healthy People 2020 is to increase the proportion of US private and public elementary schools that require daily physical education for all students from 4.4%  (2006) to 4.8% (2020). ¹²

Adults

• According to Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, adults should do at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) to 300 minutes (5 hours) of moderate-intensity physical activity weekly. ¹³
• Adults should move more and sit less throughout the day. Adults who sit less and do any amount of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity gain some health benefits.¹³

• Regular physical activity can help lower risk of all-cause mortality, coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, anxiety, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.¹³
• Physically active adults also sleep better, have improved cognition, and have better quality of life.¹³

Older Adults

• It is recommended for older adults (65 years and older) to engage in a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity weekly. ¹⁴
• Older adults should also participate in activities that help improve balance such as standing on one foot.¹⁴   

• Older adults who have chronic health conditions should have a comprehensive understanding of whether and how their condition(s) affect their ability to safely engage in regular physical activity.¹⁴

Pregnant or Postpartum Women

• The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends that women who are pregnant or postpartum should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity weekly. It is best to spread this activity throughout the week. ¹⁵
• Women who are pregnant or postpartum who already do vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity, such as running, can continue doing so.¹⁵
• Physical activity does not increase the chances of low-birth weight, early delivery, or early pregnancy loss.¹⁵

References

---

1. Adult Obesity Causes & Consequences. cdc.gov. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/adult/causes.html. Updated September 17, 2020. Accessed September 20, 2020.
2. Childhood Obesity Causes & Consequences. cdc.gov. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/causes.html. Updated September 2, 2020. Accessed September 20, 2020.
3. Exercise or Physical Activity. cdc.gov. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/exercise.htm. Updated May 11, 2020. Accessed September 20, 2020.
4. Ussery, EN, Fulton, JE, Galuska, DA, Katzmarzyk, PT, Carlson, SA. Joing Prevalence of Sitting Time and Leisure-Time Physical Activity Among US Adults.  JAMA.  2018;320(19), 2036-2038. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2018.17797. Accessed September 20, 2020.
5. Yang, L, Cao, C, Kantor, ED, et al. Trend in Sedentary Behavior Among the US Population, 2001-2016.  JAMA.  2019;321(16), 1587-1597. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2019.3636. Accessed September 20, 2020.
6. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. cdc.gov. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/index.htm. Updated September 17, 2020. Accessed September 20, 2020.
7. Built Environment. Healthandenvironment.org. https://www.healthandenvironment.org/environmental-health/environmental-risks/built-environment. Updated October 2016. Accessed September 20, 2020.
8. Impact of the Build Environment on Health. cdc.gov. Published June 2011. Accessed September 20, 2020.
9. Food Deserts. foodispower.org. https://foodispower.org/access-health/food-deserts/. Published 2020. Accessed September 20, 2020.
10. Food Access Research Atlas. ers.usa.gov. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/documentation/. Updated October 31, 2019. Accessed September 20, 2020.
11. How much physical activity do children need? cdc.gov.   https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/children/index.htm. Updated June 8, 2020. Accessed September 20, 2020.
12. Physical Activity Objectives. healthypeople.gov. https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/physical-activity/objectives. Updated September 17, 2020. Accessed September 20, 2020.
13. How much physical activity do adults need? cdc.gov. https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/adults/index.htm. Updated May 14, 2020. Accesses September 20, 2020.
14. How much physical activity do older adults need? cdc.gov. https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/older_adults/index.htm. Updated April 10, 2020. Accessed September 20, 2020.
15. Healthy Pregnant or Postpartum Women. cdc.gov. https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/pregnancy/index.htm. Updated April 10, 2020. Accessed September 20, 2020.