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Causes Of Childhood Obesity

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Introduction

Fig:1 Adolescent & Childhood Obesity Americans are at risk of raising supersize kids who will live sicker lives and die at a younger age compared to their parents. Childhood obesity is a condition in which a child is overweight and who’s body mass index (BMI) measurements don’t match with one’s weight and height. When one’s weight is 20% or higher above the normal weight for ones age the child is considered obese. There are many contributing factors that can lead to obesity, such as lack of physical activity, intake of non-nutrient high-calorie foods and the media. Statistics on childhood obesity in the United States shown that one out of three children are considered overweight or obese and rates have tripped in …show more content…

Childhood obesity is a serious disease that puts many at risk in developing diabetes or any other chronic illness. Data from the National Diabetes report, “that approximately 1.25 million American children have diabetes and 8.1 million are undiagnosed”. Illustrating that the children of America wont live longer lives compared to their parents due to rates of obesity sky rocking. Childhood obesity is becoming more common causing parents to overlook at the effects it can bring to their …show more content…

Yet people still wonder why obesity among children rates are rapidly rising. According to The New Your Times article Childhood: Obesity and School Lunches by Roni Caryn Rabin states” A study of more than 1,000 sixth graders in several schools … found that those who regularly had the school lunch were 29 percent more likely to be obese than those who brought lunch from home”. This indicates that school foods aren’t giving students any healthy nutrient food choices but instead are giving them cheap frozen fatty foods to pick from. If schools provided healthier meals, there would be one less cause leading to childhood obesity solved. School menus should have more fruits/vegetables, and have cafeteria ladies actually cook foods from scratch instead of pre-packed ready to eat meals. In addition, schools lunches should also serve serveing size portions of foods to prevent from overeating this will help sudents who struggle with obesity or who are overweight control the amount of caliores they actually need to take in (Rachel

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