Childhood Obesity Essay

Does one ever wonder what factors contribute to the increase of childhood obesity? Childhood obesity is a major issue and common disease that is becoming prevalent and widespread. The amount of children that are obese has doubled and the amount of adolescents who are obese has quadrupled within the past thirty years. Children at a young age are already being diagnosed with medical issues such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Obesity itself is the second leading cause of preventable death. Currently, every one out of three kids is diagnosed as obese. Over the past years, obesity has highly increased in children and there are three things that lead to this issue; which are the consumption of fast foods, lack of physical activity, and certain family situations, like upbringing. Many critics and doctors believe that the best way to battle childhood obesity is by having the child engage in physical activities, cook more healthy meals at home, and reduce their portion size.

Childhood obesity poses a serious threat to the health of our nation. This generation of kids and young adults is unlike their parents. Instead of playing outside all day every day until the street lights come on; however, this generation got sick with coach potato syndrome and it struck these kids all across the nation, and it happened fast because the “U.S. childhood obesity rates are 3x greater than in 1980” (Childhood obesity). Being overweight during childhood increases the risk of developing diseases such as high cholesterol, orthopedic problems, depression and type two diabetes. However, it does not get any easier as an adult because most overweight children will likely become overweight adults. So, due to the severe consequences and publicity associated with childhood obesity, health and physical education specialists across the nation have focused their attention on strategies and solutions for reducing obesity

At this time I will discuss about obesity, do you know what is obesity? Obesity is the buildup of excessive fats, obesity unlike the overweight. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2005, about more than 1.6 billion adults above 15 years of age are overweight and at least 400 million adults suffer from obesity.

The PCORI projects that I would like to focus on would be CHILDHOOD OBESITY. According to the World Health Organization, childhood obesity is one of the greatest challenges faced by the public healthcare system in the 21st century. Besides, when children are obese, they are more likely to be obese as adults, developing a wide range of health problems. Unfortunately, the statistics do not look good, and the numbers of children who are overweight or obese continue to increase. According to the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention, Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition that has immediate and long-term effects on the health of children and adolescents.

Childhood obesity is increasing in different ethnic groups in both gender and all across the world. Let me start off by saying that childhood obesity has become a deadly disease in united state it important thing that should know firstly over other thing in life. Many parents are getting worried about their children being obese. First of all, combining poor eating habits with low physical activity double a child risk of becoming obese. Children are spending an increasing amount of time in front of a screen: TV, computer, and video games. Excessive eating-out contributes to obesity in a number of

Within the past three years obesity among children has tripled. Childhood obesity is considered the number one health threat in America. Childhood obesity has become a major issue facing America. And today over “nine million” (Selicia 4, May) United States children are overweight and obese. Sadly “2 million” (Tanner 2005) of these children are at risk for type 2 diabetes. Obesity has become a burden to the United States economy and it is costing America “$147 billion” (Holden, 2010) a year.

Have you noticed that the number of obese children you see has been growing in the last few decades? It is heart breaking to see obese children because as academic researchers you know that they are at risk for many health problems and are more likely to stay obese throughout adulthood. Childhood obesity is a severe problem that has become more prevalent in the last 30 years in the United States. Obesity in children has more than doubled since 1985(Childhood Obesity Facts). The causes of obesity growing, need to be known in order to stop it.

Many people are concerned about the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States. American children everyday are surrounded by the idea of food. It has become more than the idea of three meals a day. It is the pressure to eat and snack all day, everyday.

Health has always been a topic of conversation in the United States. Of late, there has been more talk of the problem of childhood obesity. Over the past few decades there has been a pretty large increase of obese American children. Less exercise and less time playing outside combined with more eating of sugary, high calorie processed foods has caused a nationwide issue of overweight children. While there have been many initiatives to curb this epidemic like the First Lady’s get up and move campaign, it’s up to both parents and children to make changes in their lifestyle in order to lead a healthier life.

One in three children are obese or overweight. One study found that, “Among 17 developed nations, the United States had the highest rates of childhood obesity among children ages 15-19.” (National Academy of Science, 2013)

Obesity is a growing problem all around the world for far too many children. Obesity means a person has too much body fat. Body fat is measured by a person’s body mass index. When one is measuring a person’s body mass index, they are finding their height and body weight then comparing it to the recommendations made by doctors for each age and gender. After doctors calculate it, they then find a percentile rank to determine present and future health issues. Around the world, childhood obesity has become a growing problem; until the children and their parents realize how deadly obesity can be, more and more children are going to face the many health risks associated with obesity.

The past several decades have seen an escalating trend in the rate of childhood obesity not only in the United States where 25%-30% of children are affected, but also in many of the industrialized nations. Childhood obesity has continued to be a major issue in the public health care system. The economic cost of the medical expenses as well as the lost income resulting from the complications of obesity both in children and adults has been estimated at almost $100 billion (Barnes, 2011). Overweight children are more predisposed to the danger of becoming overweight in their adulthood unless they ensure healthier eating habits and exercise. It is worth noting that the current lifestyle in which many children

Childhood obesity has increased drastically over the past years and has become a high health risk to children. In fact, childhood obesity has doubled in numbers in the past thirty years (Childhood Obesity Facts). Obesity occurs when an individual becomes overweight and doctor’s diagnose a patient by using the body mass index or BMI scale. Obesity causes many diseases in children which cannot be cured without a doctor, in result, childhood obesity drives high health care costs. Since little effort has been put forward to prevent childhood obesity the existence of this disease has begun to skyrocket in numbers. The number of children who suffer from obesity have greatly increased over the years so, people have to come up with a solution to prevent obesity. However, it will take more than just one solution to prevent childhood obesity, it will take many. Without the prevention of obesity future generations could be in serious trouble with health issues. Childhood obesity should be prevented by showing the youth that healthy will benefit them in life, therefore, parents start by guiding children in the correct direction with their eating habits, limit their fast food intake, and fight the market for unhealthy foods so that children are not exposed to unhealthy options.

Obese children not only endure from unhealthy weight but also suffers with many chronic diseases later in life such as Asthma, type II diabetes, high cholesterol, cardiovascular diseases, kidney diseases etc. Around 300,000 people die each year from health problems caused by obesity (Ogden et al, 2010). A systematic study shows that, 80% of obese adolescents will become obese adults, with increased vulnerability to type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease (Chen et al, 2014).

Obesity has become one of the number one factors affecting today’s youth. Numerous factors contribute to childhood obesity such as, poor lifestyle choices and the lack of exercise. In the article Harrison et al. (2011) indicates in order to understand why childhood obesity and overweight are on the rise, we first need to establish the factors that contribute to this dilemma. There is no doubt that nature and nurture contribute to childhood overweight and obesity; that is why researchers developed the Six-Cs Model to examine this problem of childhood obesity. The Six-Cs Model focuses on six categories: cell, child, clan, community, country, and culture. This ecological model helps researchers understand the factors of childhood overweight from a young age to adolescence (Harrison et al., 2011).