Childhood obesity is an important issue because of the staggering proportions that this disease has reached in the past few years. Certain genetic factors paired with changing lifestyles and culture has produced kids (and adults) who are generally not as healthy as people were just a few decades ago. Widespread obesity has been the extreme result of these changes.
I chose this topic because I have worked with children all of my life. I plan to continue my work with children in the future, possibly in an academic administration setting. Because schools are seen as an important player in the battle with childhood obesity, it is important that educators are aware of the health risks and that they learn what they can do
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The most extreme cases were found among Mexican-Americans and African-Americans. (Ogden.)
Class 3 obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) equal to or greater than 40 and is also known as morbid obesity. It is most prevalent among African-
American women and is also more common among short adults. (Freedman).
Three-quarters of adults with Class 3 obesity have another health problem associated with being overweight, such as type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure
(Freedman). There are three times as many Class 3 obese people in 2000 as there were in
1990 (Freedman).
The debate concerning the cause for obesity has been going on for decades. Thus far there has been no consensus on the main cause, but experts agree that it is probably a combination of factors, both scientific/genetic and cultural/environmental.
Recent research has begun to explain many of the scientific causes for childhood obesity. Scientists are learning more about genetics, nutrition and how our bodies work to better understand what is causing this problem.
Understanding nutrition is one way to understand the causes of obesity. Simple carbohydrates have what is called a high “glycemic index.” To digest simple
carbohydrates the body must produce large amounts of insulin, lowering blood sugar and making people “feel” hungry. Complex carbohydrates have low glycemic indexes and do not require as much insulin to digest so
obesity levels started to rise like never before. Today six out of ten people are overweight, about 69%
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.
Individuals with a body mass index of 30 or higher are considered to be obese. Body max index is the way you are able to calculate a person’s health conditions based on their height and weight.
The pathophysiology of obesity is when there is a buildup of excess body fat. This excess body fat is determined by calculating a person body mass index (BMI). The BMI is calculated by an individual’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of a person’s height in metersthis allows us to come up with appropriate range of weight to an individual’s height. The body mass index is used to find out if an individual is overweight or obese. Individuals who’s BMI that have a range of 25 to 29.99 are thought to be pre- obese and overweight When an individual body mass index has surpassed 30kg this person is considered obese. As an individual’sBMI increases they become part of a different class of obesity there’s class I which is 30-34.9, class II
As a future educator of physical education, I feel that our nation’s weight problem is an issue that needs to be addressed. I feel that it is and will be my job to educate students about the importance of taking care of your body because “fat kids have a 92% chance of becoming fat adults” (www.amp.com). The leading cause of death in the United States, for men and women, is heart disease. “The United States alone the estimated annual number of deaths attributable to obesity is about 280,000.”
One of the main health issues that leads to many other degenerative diseases in the African American population is obesity. According to the Mayo Clinic obesity is likely to be clinically diagnosed in three stages, beginning with Class I when a person's BMI is greater than 30 (Obesity, 2015). Class II is defined as a BMI of greater than 35, and Class III (extreme obesity) is defined as any BMI above 40 (Obesity, 2015). African Americans are almost 1.5 times more likely to be obese than other Americans - and even more startling - 69% of African American men and 82% of African American women are overweight or obese, making up nearly 75% of the African American population (The State of Obesity, 2014). Of this 75% over 47% are considered obese,
Obese- is becoming an “epidemic!” We have 44.3 million people that are either obese or over weight. In 1986, the numbers were at 1 in 2000, and they became 1 in 400 by the year 2000. Even our high school age students are at an all time high of 16% overweight and 10% obese. As that number keeps increasing, future projections for covering healthcare expenditures must figure in the obese-related
Obesity is becoming one of the biggest problems in the country, but there has to be reasons for it. It can be the economy, society now, or people and companies. It’s time that our country starts to realize that we can’t live like this anymore. We need to see what is causing the sudden rise in obesity, and what we can do to fix it. Education of risks and solutions can be very helpful. Obesity is killing so many people, yet is still 100 percent avoidable. Our country is beginning to care less and really let themselves go. The fast food industry, supermarkets, and schools are the ones at fault for the spreading problem of obesity.
According to one of my classmates where he resides Hispanic and African-American people who resides in the Bexar, Texas area obesity which is a condition that involves an accumulation of too much body fat to an extent that it will negatively affected someone’s health. There are lots of things that give to obesity like too many calories, lack of exercise and physical activity and in some cases its simply genetic. Obesity in this area is a public health problem because of cost and the effects on health. It increases the chances of getting diseases like, “hypertension, high cholesterol, coronary heart disease, stroke, Type 2 Diabetes, sleep apnea, and some cancers. It is estimated that African-Americans 39.7 and Hispanics are 29.00 percent of
Severe obesity is defined as a BMI at or above the 99th percentile (Ogden et al, 2012).
It is a shame that so many children are obese. I am shocked that 2 million deaths each year can be contributed to physical inactivity (Wharry, 2002). The "How we Grew so Big" article is about the evolutionary reasons behind obesity. I worked in a factory this past summer where there was very physical labour. I ate way more food than I had before I started working there but was a lot slimmer by the end of my contract. Even though the sudden increase in activity in my life reduced my body fat, most of the other workers there were overweight. This leads me to believe that obesity is more of a societal issue than an evolutionary issue. I've had friends who were morbidly obese; one of whom would tell me "I know when I'm full
As a patient, Michael came to the office with a sore throat. But while inspecting him,the doctor became concerned with a larger issue. After treating his sore throat, talking to him and his parents about an issue to Michael’s health and weight became more important.
There was a time when chubby children were considered cute. It was assumed that their baby fat would melt away and a healthy adult would emerge. We now know that childhood obesity can be very harmful for our nations children. Not only can obesity cause health problems but also psychological problems. In observing the causes of childhood obesity, hopefully we can slow down the epidemic.
In order to impede the epidemic of childhood obesity, the actual causes of the problem need to be evaluated and dissected. Obesity in children is becoming a huge problem in American society. In the past three decades, the rate of overweight children has increased by 300%. This is an alarming rate that is only climbing higher. Every member in society should take steps to becoming healthier. This would help the present generations as well as future generations to come. The lifestyle of Americans keeps us too busy to be a healthy society.
Morbid obesity, which is also called extreme obesity or class III, is defined as an individual having a BMI of 40 kg/m2 or greater. This classification is made based on increased risk for comorbidities, including hypertension, cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea, gallbladder disease, metabolic syndrome, type II diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, osteoarthritis, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, hormonal cancers, and depression, among others.1