Breastfeeding And Childhood Obesity Essay

Do you get enough exercise? Are you sure about that? Or how about this, are you overweight, do you even know? Today’s adolescents don’t. In fact today’s adolescents face serious risk from their lack of activity. Today’s children are obese because they have developed some very bad habits related to healthy living and as result can suffer serious physical and psychological damage.

There have been studies conducted to find out what has caused or what the leading factors to obesity are. Researchers are currently still doing research to find out what causes or what may be the lead to obesity. Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition which considers a child to be obese if their Body Mass Index (BMI) is at or above the 95th percentile for children and teens of the same age and sex. (Rendall., Weden, Lau, Brownell, Nazarov & Fernandes, 2014). Obesity is on a rise in the Unites States and all over the world and can lead or result to other health complications later in life. The crucial breakdown serves as an implication of outlining childhood obesity, collaborating problems of the disease and resolutions, as well as applying critical thinking to give a complete approach to deliver information on childhood obesity. This will be done through citation of scholarly articles, samples and other modes of supporting details.

Within the last 30 years, there has been an increase in childhood obesity that is alarming for parents, health care professionals, and children advocates. This epidemic is a result of children not participating in regular exercise and eating high caloric, fast food. We can combat this epidemic by increasing the education to the family and encourage more physical activity and nutritious foods.

The rates of childhood obesity Worldwide are alarmingly high! Obesity is a global nutritional concern and leads to horrible consequences on our children and becomes a worldwide pandemic. Worldwide estimates of obesity are as high as 43 million, and rates continue to increase each year. In this study, people will find healthy tips to prevent childhood overweight or obesity to help children in our communities. Child’s obesity can make kids in our communities at high risk for diseases like heart problems, asthma, type 2 diabetes. Genetic, behavioral and environmental factors are a cause of obesity on children in the United States. Parents and

Thesis Statement: While there are many causes of childhood obesity, most are, in fact, preventable.

Although laws have been implemented to fight this disease, new legislations are still been negotiated with different ways of trying to rectify the issue. Despite these rules and regulations, childhood obesity continues to plague the society. According to Hajian-Tilaki et al. (2011), the current approach in determining the presence of obesity is the body mass index (BMI). The BMI is calculated by using the height and weight to determine if an individual is overweight or obese. In the case of a child, an age and weight specific BMI is used to determine their weight status. This is required because children’s body composition varies as they get older and it also varies between boys and girls. A child with a BMI at or over the 85th percentile and below the 95th percentile for a child of the same age and sex is considered overweight. If the child has a BMI that is over the 95th percentile for a child within the same category is considered obese (Hajian-Tilaki et al., 2011). The authors also stated that males were more at risk than female in developing childhood obesity in the region of Babol. Furthermore, Hajian-Tilaki et al. mentioned a few contributing dynamics that may lead to obesity, such as genetic and metabolic factors, lack of physical activities, unhealthy eating habits, and socioeconomic standards. With all said and done, the goal of eradicating childhood obesity is still been

It was recommended that infants be breastfed exclusively for at least 6 months as this reduces the risk for obesity, furthermore, there is evidence that shows that for every month of breastfeeding, the child’s risk of becoming overweight reduces by 4 per cent. In similar studies, it is recommended that introduction to solid foods be delayed until at least 4 months, however, 6 months is preferred, this significantly reduces the risk for obesity. The average age of introduction to solid food was 20.49 weeks, which resulted in a healthy BMI at aged 10 years-old, and 18.67 weeks resulted in a higher BMI at aged 10 years-old. ‘A good start in early life means supporting mothers and young children: the health impact of early development and education lasts a lifetime’ (Wilkinson & Marmot 2003, p. 14).

This paper will explore and discuss the rising issue of childhood obesity by using published books and articles. I will explore five different factors that correlate to possible beliefs of childhood obesity. The factors that I will discuss include: parenting, education, technology, marketing, and the Fat-Gene theory. There has not been one specific cause to childhood obesity but there are underlying effects that can be harmful to children from 2-19 years of age. The

Obesity in the U.S is at an all-time high. Studies have shown that if any breast feeding happened during infancy, there is a 15%-30% reduction in young and adult obesity. The American Academy of Pediatrics, in a section on breastfeeding, explains why there’s a decrease in obesity:

Breastfeeding has numerous benefits for both mother and child. Children who are breastfed are more resistant to health issues like juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, and infections. Breast milk provides a unique source of nutrition that helps fight these issues and cannot be replaced with other food, including formula. Mothers who are breastfeeding are less likely to develop osteoporosis, lower risk of breast, uterine and ovarian cancer. Despite these benefits to both mother and child there has been much stigma on the topic of breastfeeding in public areas.

Researchers had hypothesized that bottle fed infants were over fed more rather than their breast fed counterparts. So a study was conducted to see whether or not the infants who were bottle fed turned out to be heavier in weight than those who were breast fed. In order to conduct such a study twenty-one mothers had signed up for the testing of their infants. Within the study the mothers feed their infants the normal ways they would feed them at home and then the ways the researchers had wanted them to feed them. With the results that the researchers got back from the study they were able to calculate that the infant’s intake and rate of feeding could account for the obesity within the infants.

Breastfeeding has been a debated topic as to whether there are actual reducing factors for childhood obesity. In this article, they took a look at 25 worldwide studies to include a wide range of children population. This allows them to evaluate and determine the factors that cause childhood obesity and whether or not breastfeeding does protect a child from becoming overweight. This meta-analysis included subjects that are one-year-old and older along with published journals while leaving out incomplete research and data and other variables that does not exclusively deal with breastfeeding or children (ages 1-17) obesity.

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.

There was a time when chubby children were considered cute. It was assumed that their baby fat would melt away and a healthy adult would emerge. We now know that childhood obesity can be very harmful for our nations children. Not only can obesity cause health problems but also psychological problems. In observing the causes of childhood obesity, hopefully we can slow down the epidemic.

In order to impede the epidemic of childhood obesity, the actual causes of the problem need to be evaluated and dissected. Obesity in children is becoming a huge problem in American society. In the past three decades, the rate of overweight children has increased by 300%. This is an alarming rate that is only climbing higher. Every member in society should take steps to becoming healthier. This would help the present generations as well as future generations to come. The lifestyle of Americans keeps us too busy to be a healthy society.