Childhood Obesity And Its Effects On Children

Childhood obesity has become one of the greatest health challenges in the world and will more than likely go on to be the country’s most important health problem in the future. It occurs when children have excess body fat due to their poor nutrition and unhealthy eating habits. Childhood obesity is a serious problem in the United States that is putting children at risk for poor health. Like many other serious health conditions, childhood obesity can have immediate and long-term effects on a child’s health.

Childhood obesity has increased dramatically in the past few years. It is a result of an imbalance between how much a child eats and how much a child keeps their body active to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Common factors that are influencing childhood obesity would be the lack of self-control, environmental, and genetics. In order to combat these rising numbers of childhood obesity, people as a collective force must target problem areas within homes, schools, and their surrounding community by educating each other.

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.

In the United States alone children’s health is rapidly deteriorating. Since the early 1980’s childhood obesity in America has skyrocketed, leaving overweight children in danger. While obesity is defined as the condition of being very fat or overweight. One third of children “qualify as obese” (Davies), and meet the criteria to be labeled as “overweight as a result of poor eating habits, and a minimal amount of physical exercise. However, the lack of knowledge parents possess surrounding childhood obesity is determent to youngster future. When dealing with such an austere problem as obesity, parents should become more knowledgeable, supportive, and increase family activities to diminish childhood obesity.

Today, about one in every three children, in America, are obese or overweight. Child obesity is a health issue where a child is obese for their body mass index (BMI). A child has to be in between the eighty-fifth and ninety-fifth percentile to be considered overweight. According to (heart.org), ”The prevalence of obesity in children more than tripled from 1971 to 2011.. With good reason, childhood obesity is now the No. 1 health concern among parents in the United States, topping drug abuse and smoking.” (heart.org) Child Obesity is an increasing problem in the United States due to poor nutritional habits, lack of physical exercise and an increase in availability of fast food. Child obesity also leads to long term physical and mental health problems. Although, there are many negative effects of child obesity, there are slight changes that can be made to slow or stop childhood obesity. Prevention can be managed by keeping a balanced diet and staying active.

Childhood obesity is considered to be a serious issue among our youth. Obesity can cause many types of physical problems, which most are aware of, but it can also cause some undesirable internal feelings within children and adolescents who suffer from it. Self-esteem, or self-worth, is important as it helps develop personality and is a major ingredient to our mental health status (Wang, F. and Veugelers, P. J., 2008). Some have said obesity may even have a negative effect on cognitive development, as well. There have been studies performed to research the effects of obesity on children and adolescents, which I am going to review.

Childhood obesity continues to increase substantially each generation, especially here in the United States. Today, children have become more lazy while eating unhealthy and in excess. This trend ultimately results in increased healthcare problems throughout their life. Childhood obesity has increased because children eat in excess, they are allowed to eat food which is unhealthy, they lack the exercise needed to maintain a healthy weight, and are permitted by family to become and remain obese.

Childhood obesity is a national epidemic. Nearly 1 in 3 children (ages 2-19) in the United States is overweight or obese, putting them at risk for serious health problems. Studies show that overweight kids are likely to become overweight and obese adults. This is a significant issue in the U.S. and needs to be monitored closely. Some parents are in denial that their children are obese and do not do anything to help or prevent it. When obesity is a problem at a young age it is very easy to have, it become a habit all throughout their life.

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.

Over the past decades, many parents did not have to get a child to move around. The children would regularly play all day long without being asked; however, nowadays the young children aren 't playing enough themselves and the children need their peers to tell them to go play outside. The peers would need need to promote the children with resources to keep them moving. As a matter of fact, the lack of exercise is a major problem, and it is increasing each year; especially, the rate of disease that were found in young adults can now be found in young children because of lack of exercise. Therefore, as the director of this facility in for future reference, the research I 'm focusing is base on the children 's improving in physical health to prevent any disease in the future or at least to minimize the situation problem of obesity that is occurring right now in the 21st century. In addition, play is an important product for young children which can also help them have opportunities to enrich in their learning and be active youngsters. It is a new exploration where children can be active during play time, which play can help having bad health problems in the future. It is letting the children to gain weight and determining their health issues to worsen than making it better for them. For instance, the Scientist are now finding out new health problems that isn 't noticeable until adulthood just like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol, cancer and

Obesity is a condition where someone is significantly overweight for their age and height. On a child, it can lead to life-threatening diseases and health problems in the future. This excessive amount of weight that a child bears can lead to future diseases and mental abuse from peers and even on rare occasion 's parents. Childhood obesity has become a national problem in the United States and continues to grow at a substantial rate. This growing health problem presented with children is affecting them negatively for the future. Is fast food really to blame, or is it the new lazy lifestyle that revolves around technology? With technology growing quickly, children seem to be less likely to play outside and live an active lifestyle than

Childhood obesity is a condition that affects children in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the rates of obesity in children have more than doubled in children in the past 30 years. There was increase of 18% from 1980 to 2012 in children 6 to 11 years of age, estimating that more than one third of children are overweight or obese. ("Childhood Obesity Facts," 2014) Obesity usually begins in children during the ages of 5 and 6. The most troublesome fact is that studies have shown that obese children between 10 and 13 have a predisposition of becoming an obese adult. ("Obesity in Children and Teens," 2011) Consequently, overweight teenagers have a 70 percent chance of becoming obese or overweight adults, and if at least one parent is obese the child’s predisposition rate increases to 80 percent. (Bishop et al., 2005)

Childhood Obesity has become one of the leading causes of death in our nation today. Sadly, our society in whole is one of the heaviest. Putting an emphasis on the fact that “obesity rates among children of all ages are dramatically higher then they were a generation ago” (Green). Society has made it, with little to no trouble, that kids can get what they want, when they want it. Children are unaware of the harm and trauma they are putting their bodies through at such a young age. Childhood obesity effects the lifetime of a person, and can potentially make that lifetime shortened. Little do children know, once they put on so much weight, it seems to be nearly impossible to take it off. Childhood obesity can rapidly reduce if we alter influences, education, media, the fast food industry, and most importantly, themselves. Also, “According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2004), over 16 percent of children and adolescents from six to 19 years of age are overweight and/or obese. This number has more than tripled since 1981” (Green). As a society, we need to put a stop to the influences and causes of childhood obesity because it can take over our society and cause serious issues for ourselves, and the world we live in.

Childhood obesity is a growing problem that needs to be resolved. Many people may say it is the Child’s fault, he is weak willed. This is just a common misconception; there are hundreds of different reasons for childhood obesity. I will just be scratching the surface of this paper. By the same token childhood obesity is a growing problem that needs to be resolved. We can achieve this by understanding some common misconceptions, understanding health problems, and understanding fitness.

It’s been shown that children with obese parents are more likely to become obese. Heredity contributes between 5-25 percent risks of obesity. Other risks can be attributed to the environment and behavior. Obesity is generally linked to over eaten but in most cases its heredity problem children should be careful because genes can also pass to their offspring. The problem cannot be corrected but you can prevent it. Children should be given an appropriate diet and should be deterred from overeating. Child obesity can be predicted at an early stage and children should be aware of the consequences of obesity.