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Childhood Obesity Analysis

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Parents & Child Caretakers Obesity in America is literally a growing problem, affecting every age group. Children are the most venerable group because they have no control over where they have dinner or how often they have fast food. Parents and guardians make decisions about food and are responsible for the health of children. Childhood obesity has more than doubled in the last twenty years. This is concerning because Type Two diabetes is a horrible, crippling disease that is affecting children and teens dramatically whereas the disease was primarily seen in adults. Children are said to have a shorter life span than their parents for the first time ever. In the United States sixty-six percent of adults are overweight and one in …show more content…

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood obesity effects more than 9 million children and teenagers between the ages of 6-19 in the United States with another 8 million considered “at risk” of becoming obese. These staggering figures have cause groups to form all across the country and organize their efforts to prevent this disease. One such organization is the Leadership for Healthy Communities, which is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). The RWJF holds summits nationwide events calling on policy leaders nationwide to advance healthy eating and active living options in their communities. According to the RWJF, a special emphasis has been placed on collaborative state and community policy approaches that address childhood obesity among vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by the epidemic. The RWJF also has a panel, which consists of its chairmen, doctors, lawyers, but more importantly politicians on the state and federal level who are taking childhood obesity head-on and working with organizations like the RWJF to promote healthy, cost effective change in communities nationwide. Arkansas, as well as many other states, has adopted legislation preventing the sale of “fatty foods” within its public schools. Arkansas Act 1220 was adopted and immediately implemented in 2003, creating the state’s first Child Health Advisory Committee, which coordinates

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