Causes Of Low Childhood Obesity

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.

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 prevalence of childhood obesity has remained a serious matter in the United States over the years despite its recent decline (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). Children who are obese can experience the same devastating health effects as adults who are obese – cardiovascular issues, diabetes, breathing problems, and so forth. In addition, children who are obese are more than likely to become obese as adults, therefore the development of a health fair that would highlight increased physical activity, increased in consumption of fruits and vegetables, and decrease in the amount of sugar sweetened beverages would be a start in tackling this problem. This single solution may not help reduce rates of childhood obesity in the United States by itself, but public policy action is essential (Robbins, Niederdeppe, Lundell, & Meyerson, 2013).

There exist some evidence that poverty can result in low birth weight in newborn infants. On Prince Edward Island, low birth weights are currently the lowest as compared to the national average according to Statistics Canada. However, the link that exist between poverty and low birth weights leaves unanswered questions as to what can be done to reduce these low birth weights in newborn infants.

There was data exhibited as confirmation for this investigation expressed there were other uncontrollable issues at hand that would cause women to have low birth weight babies including lack of medical insurance, poverty stricken life and lack of finances/unemployed. Alongside these three variables, there were a few other environmental/ecological elements that were recognized including high crime rate, toxins/contamination, lack of transportation and drug and other substance abuse.

More and more Americans are becoming obese every single day. “More than half of Americans are overweight, including 1 out of 5 children. Nearly one third are obese”. (Wooten) Childhood obesity is a serious and common

Low Birthweight: a baby born weighing less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces is considered as with low birthweight two main reasons are responsible for a birth of baby with low birthweight: premature birth and fetal growth restriction. Other medical risk factors leading to the low birthweight include: preterm labor, chronic health conditions, infections, problems with the placenta, not gaining enough weight during pregnancy and having a low birthweight infant in the past. Along with medical risk factors there are other risk factors of everyday life associated with low birthweight newborn: smoking, drinking alcohol, drug abuse, little or no education, low income or being unemployed (March of Dimes,

Pregnant women who do not receive prenatal care or inadequate care are three times more likely to have babies with low birth-weights, and these babies are five times more likely to die in the first year of life.

Obesity is a condition with excessive body fat and is measured by the body mass index (“What is Obesity?”, 2016). The body mass index is calculated by a person’s weight and height. Childhood obesity is a serious problem in United States that puts children at risk for poor health. More importantly, obesity can lead to severe complications, such as heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes. In this application paper, we will mainly focus on the obesity in children in United states. We will discuss the cause of childhood obesity, it can be eating habits with high calories, fat, and sugar, and their living and school environment can be factors of childhood obesity. There are ways for parents to help their children

The prevalence of low birth weight by different characteristics of mothers and births is shown in Table 2. The higher prevalence of low birth weight was among black women, which was (OR= 2.70%, 95% CI [2.45-2.95]) and lowest prevalence of low birth weight babies were among white women, which were (OR=1.30%, 95% CI [1.21-1.39]). The youngest age group (19

Obesity is a major problem in America. Over one-third of the American population falls into the obese category. In children, obesity can be devastating in more ways than just physical afflictions. The childhood obesity problem has more causes than just diet.

According to the case study of sixteen years old Anna who is living with her single mother and two brothers is typical with most families living in low income neighborhood. Anna is not living a physically active life that contributes to her being obese. The causes of low birth weight infants are as a result of genetic background of the mother and the baby, age of the mother, the nutritional status of the mother, access to prenatal care, smoking, alcohol and drug intake, multiple births.

A number of causes of low birth weight can be preventable and others cannot. Lifestyles such as smoking, drinking, and/or drug usage is a stoppable element. Other causes such as the ages of the parents, pre-exiting conditions of the mother, Rh incompatibility, and environmental factors play an immense role.

When speaking of her 8-year old daughter's obesity, a prideful mother replies "Oh it's no big deal, she just still has her baby fat." Unfortunately, chances are that the daughter's obesity is not caused by her baby fat, but can be contributed to a combination of diet, genetics, and a sedentary lifestyle. Studies show that obesity among children 6-17 years of age, has increased by 50% in the last 20 years, with the most dramatic increase seen in children ages 6-11 (Axmaker, 1). This obvious epidemic has raised great concern in the medical community because widespread childhood obesity has increased the prevalence of the once rare juvenile diabetes and pediatric hypertension (Bastin, 45). This concern has prompted intense investigation

An increase in poverty contributes to the lack of nutritional care within low birth weight children.