Obesity

             Wayt Gibbs gives a detailed explanation about the ongoing problem of obesity throughout the world and thoroughly investigates new studies that have been recorded to help resolve this terrible problem. In his essay, Mr.Gibbs has made it abundantly clear the dangers involved with obesity including diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and gall stones, as well as the 45.8 billion dollars in health care costs it has produced in 1990, the latest year studied. Gibbs uses a surplus of statistics and studies to give a better understanding of the risks involved being overweight, and to further demonstrate the tests that are being conducted for possible cures.
             To stress the point of how important it is to be educated on the growth of obesity not just in the United States, but the world, Gibbs begins to give alarming figures on the rapid growth of people becoming fat with illnesses. He states, "It is projected by 2025 that more than 20 percent of the population of Mexico will have diabetes." He then goes on and states various proposals given by doctors, such a "fat tax" on high-calorie foods or raising insurance rates for those individuals who don't show up at a gym on a regular basis. .
             To try and find a permanent fix to weight gain, Gibbs compares different tests that have been performed in labs for a possible quick fix or cure. The first test Gibbs talks about, is with a hormone drug called Leptin. The drug was administered to mice that were severely overweight or obese. The drug took certain chemicals that were lacking in the bodies of the mice, and created a growth that would reverse the cycle of becoming fat. However, no overweight human beings have been diagnosed with the same chemical compounds that have been found in the mice. .
             The author advances further to discuss the studies of the most complicated and complex part of the human body, which are genes. From here, Gibbs ventures into the study of twins and what results were taken from these experiments.