Childhood Obesity Epidemic Essay

Obesity is a medical condition where a person contains too much body fat that it could disrupt a healthy body. “Over one-third of all adults in America are obese; obesity is a major contributor to the leading causes of preventable death.” according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Most people confuse the definition of obese and overweight. Obesity is the state of having too much body fat while being overweight means a person weighs too much. People who are obese are at least 66 pounds over the ideal weight of their height. Obesity is defined by a body mass index, BMI. BMI is a type of measurement used to indicate obesity and in adults. BMI can be calculated by dividing a person’s weight in kilograms by his or her height in meters squared.

Overweight is often misinterpreted as obesity, but it has been proven that individuals such as bodybuilders and professional athletes can be overweight yet they do not suffer from obesity. Obesity refers to just excessive body fat whereas overweight refers to excessive body weight including water, bone, fat, and muscle. A certain amount of fat is needed to store energy, heat insulation, shock absorption, and other functions, but when men reach more than twenty-five percent body fat, and women reach more than thirty percent they are considered obese. A person’s body mass index (BMI) is measured by dividing body weight in kilograms by the square of body height in meters (Wilmore, et al., 2008).

Obesity: one of the nation’s most critical health problems. “Overweight is defined as having excess body weight for a particular height from fat, muscle, bone, water, or a combination of these factors. Obesity is defined as having excess body fat” (“Centers for Disease Control and Prevention”). When energy input and output get out of balance, obesity arises. Many factors can cause someone to become obese such as genetics, metabolism, level of physical activity, and more. “Overweight and obesity are the result of “caloric imbalance”—too few calories expended for the amount of calories consumed—and are affected by various genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors” (“CDC Features - Obesity & Genetics”). “When a person eats and drinks more calories than he or she burns, the energy balance tips toward weight gain, overweight, and obesity” (“Understanding Adult Overweight and Obesity”). Obesity is increasing throughout the United States due to lack of healthy behaviors, big health risk, genetics and increasing in children and adults.

Many assume that obesity is due to lack of exercise and poor eating habits, but genetics play a huge role in it as well.

Childhood obesity is a major public health epidemic which has significantly risen over the past three decades and there is no chance in sight of slowing it down unless real action is taken. This major health crisis continues to reduce individuals’ quality of life and has caused severe health problem like heart disease which is the leading cause of death in the United States and around the world. In most cases, obese children grow up to be an obese adult. The prevalence of childhood obesity can be addressed through education initiatives such as school prevention programs because children spent a majority of their time outside of the home at school, therefore school provides a great opportunity to educate and improve a child’s health at an ideal point before the problem gets worst. My paper will focus on childhood obesity prevention in Hill Top Middle school Lodi, New Jersey.

Genetics can play a role in obesity. “Offspring of obese parents are much more likely to become obese than offspring of lean parents”, according to what Kris Gunnars wrote on https://www.healthline.com. Even though our future cannot be determined by our genes, genes can have a major

Genetics plays a role in obesity. For example, people who have an obese parent are more likely to become obese. There are also medical conditions that can lead to obesity, such as thyroid problems. However, a lack of exercise and poor diet are two of the main factors that have caused the drastic increase in the obesity epidemic in Canada.

Genes control almost every aspect of human life, and when it comes to weight there is no exception. Little is known, however, how much of an individual’s genes actually control the weight of certain individuals. Body fat can vary from person to person, yet some people have always carried more weight than others. Often times, when one person is overweight in the family, most of the other individuals in the same family are overweight as well. However, more than just genetics can go into being overweight, and a person’s genes are not the end all be all of obesity. Many times the environment surrounding people who are obese contributes to the overall weight of the individual, and when obesity promoting genes are mixed

After years of examination, medical researchers have found a positive correlation between genetics and obesity. According to an article by Cara Ebbeling, Dorota Pawlak, and Dr. David Ludwig, the following are genetic factors and syndromes that contribute to obesity:

Nguyen and El-Seraq (2010) report that obesity is “a complex interaction between the environment, genetic predisposition, and human behavior” (p. 4). According to Glassman, et al. (2013) there are a number of factors that can lead to obesity, including heredity, gender, race, emotions, inactivity, and diet. Cristakis and Fowler (2007) found that social networking between family members and friends can also influence becoming obese. If one or more family members or friends are obese, chances are greater that others within the group will be obese. This can lead to entire families that are

Obesity has been linked to genetics. It has been researched and proven that children with parents who are obese, would have between 5-25% chance of likely inheriting genes that would eventually make them obese. However, genes is not an excuse for obesity because it does not work alone but must have the right factors present to manifest.

According to Harvard Health Publications (11-12), the causes of obesity are interrelated. By understanding how these various factors interrelate and eventually how they cause obesity, we can be able to draw a conclusion whether the problem of being overweight is as a result of our own fault or it is a problem that people do not have control over. The factors that interact with one another and result in one person being overweight compared to another include; genetics and the person’s weight, influences from the external environment, physical inactivity and the behaviors that have been learned by a person.

Adding, many factors have been shown that Obesity should be taken more seriously then what many people consider. Factors of a person becoming obese can be all of the following, community and environment, drugs, lack of exercise, unhealthy diet, lack of sleep, bad habits (smoking and drinking), genetics, social and economic issues, and one of the most important is they way a person’s family lives. Obesity can happen so quickly in young children if their family does not do anything to make sure their children are getting enough exercise and good nutrition.

Experts have found that there are three contributing factors when studying the causes of obesity: biological factors, decreases in physical activity, and poverty. At its most basic the cause of obesity is the taking in more calories, or energy, than one uses. As people have strived to reach the American Dream – a life of abundance and ease – the biology of the body did not change. This makes it difficult for people to remain slim and healthy.

Obesity is one of the most genetically predisposed traits (Walley, A et al 2006). Genetic studies have shown that heritability estimates for obesity are high (typically >70%), which parallels with other polygenic diseases like