Childhood Obesity Epidemic Paper

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.

Have we all question ourselves what is childhood obesity? Well today about one in three children in America are overweight or obese, which has tripled since 1963. The American Heart Association, comments that among the children today, obesity has been causing a reach of health problem that was only seen in adulthood. Obesity not only affects children appearance or the fit of their clothing. The people that are obese most likely will have health problems such as joint problem, sleep apnea, and asthma attack, liver failure, kidney problems. What would be the best way to prevent obesity. We all know the obesity is and will always be a chronic disease that will be affecting more children, and teenagers and adults. The rates of obesity in children in the United States have doubled since 1980, yet it has tripled for teenagers. Children between the ages of six to nineteen are considered overweight and the other percent of adults are overweight and or obese.

In the past 30 years, childhood obesity has more than tripled. The pervasiveness of obesity has increased from 6.5% in 1980 to 20% in 2014 among children aged 6 to 11. The prevalence of obesity among adolescents aged 12 to 19 increased from 5.0% to 18.1% during the same 30-year period. With that said, America is experiencing a very serious health issue concerning its youth. Obesity results from an imbalance involving excessive calorie consumption and/or inadequate physical activity. In addition, obesity is mediated by genetic, behavioral, cultural, and environmental factors. The health impact from childhood obesity has both immediate and long-term effects, negative consequences that include diabetes, cardiovascular disease, asthma, and

Children obesity has been a growing concern in the United States. The cause of the project is to give a clear understanding that our children are getting fat and we need to fight against it and be involve. Children obesity is an epidemic in the United States. It is a great concern because overweight children will grow up to be an overweight as adults. Overweigh children puts children a great risk for serious chronic condition which likely will carry over into adulthood. The tentative argument of this topic is based on Dalton’s analysis one out of three children in the United States is either overweight or at serious risk of becoming so (Dalton, 2004. Pp. 2).

Obesity has become an increasing issue in the United States and all around the world. The study that I read about analyzed data from 68.5 million persons to assess the trends in the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adults between 1980 and 2015 (The GBD 2015 Obesity Collaborators. 2017.). Children learn lifestyle choices from the adults that are around them. We, as adults, influence children on a variety of things, such as; eating or sleep patterns, exercise, or how we act towards situations or people. It is important to set a good example for the younger generations so that we can thrive in the future.

Secondly, equally important is the schools, schools also plays a big role in childhood obesity. The government should banned snacks and drinks with high calories and mandate that school only provide healthier meals. Poor eating habits developed at an early age lead to a lifetime of real health consequences. School is where children spend most of their time, and it is where they develop most of their healthy habits. There are severals options that schools can promote positive steps towards improving childhood obesity. First, schools should provide healthier snacks that provides nutrition.The majority of snacks should be fruits and vegetables, beverages should be low-fat milk, water and 100% fruit juices. Second, limit size portion,children shouldn’t eat more

There is an epidemic so fierce, it is impacting families from California to Maine. It is not the

Families across the nation are affected by this issue. Many parents have a lack of knowledge in regards to nutrition and activity, in hindsight the food industry impact families. The article The Childhood Obesity Epidemic discuss despite the government pushing for healthy food choice initiates, have to continue to maximize selling of their products that include junk food, therefore blame shifting towards the food industry (McHugh, 2016, p. 95).

This article “Parents’ Denial Fuels Childhood Obesity Epidemic” written by Jan Hoffman talks about how parents are ignoring their children’s increasing weight gain and shrugging it off, saying things such as “my kid will grow out of it.” And I agree completely with this article, whether kids are healthy or not depends on who is managing their diet and exercise, so if a teenager is overweight, then their parents must have fed them a lot of bad foods when they were younger and the weight increased over time.

“The Childhood Obesity Epidemic,” is an article written by Bronwyn McHugh, based on childhood obesity dealing with causes and preventions affecting the reduction of children’s life expectancy. Bronwyn McHugh states that the main cause of childhood obesity is the lack of energy imbalance caused by the difference of calories consumed and calories expended. This could be because the food children decide to eat contains high percentages of fats and sugars. Each child is raised in many different households or cultures, some children are encouraged to eat heavy while others to eat light. For example, “Childhood obesity appears to be associated with low socioeconomic status, maternal nutritional status, single parent status, and low education levels.” (McHugh, B. 2016) Other social cost mentioned in the article is the cost of technological advances decreasing the physical activity of fitness. Without the proper necessities to exercise or motivation the child will not put in the effort to exercise. As technology improves over the years the hand-held devices and the media games children are exposed to, increases the risk of obesity. Health conditions that obesity leads to are: cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, etc. Medical personals are there to provide assistance and consultations to the many approaches to lose weight. Some approaches could include “gastric banding, employment personal trainers, and

The continued concern over childhood obesity is a major topic across the United States and continues to be a newsworthy topic. The Public Health Research, Practice, and Policy published a study that looked at the associations between a family's income in comparison to the physical fitness and obesity of children in California schools between 2010 through 2012. (Jin Y., Jones-Smith JC., 2012)

I enjoyed your post as it was very informative. When we talk about childhood obesity the first area of concern needs to reside with the parents. We have to consider the foundational understanding as it relates to health, daily habits, and teaching. Being in the health care industry and advocating for public health, education and continuing to bring awareness to many issues that jeopardize the health of our children is a major concern . Adults have to take responsibility for raising their own kids and what they consume and not look to place the blame on the fast food industry. There is no doubt that childhood obesity has become a matter of global concern. Reports show that in 2014 there were 41 million children under the age of 5 around

The rate of childhood obesity has grown an enormous amount over the years with more than 40 million children being overweight! That number is astonishingly high and it is very obvious that something needs to be done about this. Studies had shown in 2008 that more than 40 million children were said to be overweight and the sad truth is that they are still increasing rapidly to this day; also every 1 in 4 teenagers is said to not reach the fitness guidelines (Tanner) according to an article by Lindsey Tanner. For this problem to be resolved not only do the parents of children need to make sure their kids are staying active but also, the schools they attend need to make sure they are getting a well-balanced meal and have some type of physical activity during their school day. Each state in America is given a percentage rate on the number of obese people in that particular state. The highest ranking state is Mississippi with a percentage of 34.9 and the state ranking the least is Connecticut with 24.5 percent. Different researches have shown that each day 850 lives are taken due to obesity and each year there are more than 300,000 people that die from obesity related illnesses. These are deaths that most likely could have been avoided if these individuals would have had the proper exercise and diet in their lives.

I will be researching childhood obesity in the United to states because I want to better understand the cause's and how it can be prevented.  I have chosen to research childhood obesity to help my readers understand the influence they may have in children's lives and in their future. By asking questions such as, when does the onset of child hood obesity occur, I hope to find out what social institutions play the biggest role. With social institutions comes the question of relevance of socioeconomic status, and the impact that has. I lastly will be asking the question of the long term effects of childhood obesity. My goal is to understand why so many

Statement of Health Problem: Childhood obesity has been a significant problem across our nation for decades, and can be clearly associated with insufficient nutrition, health, and wellness. Obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) at or above the 95th percentile for adolescents within the same age group ("Defining Childhood Obesity"). The most recent data show that the national childhood obesity rate for those between 2-19 years old is 18.5% ("The State of Childhood Obesity"). This equates to nearly 1 in 5 school age children being classified as obese ("Childhood Obesity Facts").