Obesity Epidemic

“The Obesity Epidemic in the United States”, is a scholarly journal published in 2004 by Allison C. Morrill and Christopher D. Chinn used to address the causes and consequences of the emerging epidemic, obesity, which has only recently been recognized. Emphasizing the severe effects of being obese and how rapidly this prevailing issue is spreading, the authors urge their audience to take action in preventing obesity in themselves and their family. The two authors of this scholarly journal use several statistics, factual information, and in-depth tables to thoroughly inform the reader of the causes and effects of the obesity epidemic throughout the United States, however, the lack of ethos takes away from the effectiveness of the article.

The use of several, detailed statistics along with strong vocabulary makes it obvious that this journal is for a more mature audience. At times, the text becomes difficult to read due to so many numeric statistics, which end up becoming more of a distraction, therefore taking away from the importance of the issue. The first author, Allison C. Morrill, graduated from Boston College with a PhD in psychology, and is currently an associate research professor at the University of New England. She has expertise in several areas including, but not limited to: health promotion intervention, data analysis, obesity prevention, evaluation research, and program evaluation design. Morrill is the author of several scholarly journals, ranging from

Also examined and explained in-depth, are the underlying causes for the increased percentages of people who are considered to be overweight/obese. The authors further develop their purpose by explaining that the causes of the rising numbers are a result of people consuming higher calorie dense foods while decreasing the amount of time spent participating in physical activity. They agree that the recent rise in obesity numbers is linked to several factors that can have an effect on eating and physical activity habits. For instance, the environment in which people reside can have an effect on the amount of physical activity they partake in and the food environment can have an effect on food consumption (Morrill 357). The use of tables comparing previously recorded data about the amount of individuals who were overweight and the amount of physical activity they participated in on average at the time to the numbers recorded of the same information for present day demonstrate Morrill and Chinn’s claim that obesity is an issue that has been developing at an alarming rate for several years