Childhood Obesity Public Health Issue

Wetter and Hodge, Jr. argue how childhood obesity is a vital issue that needs to be addressed as it puts children at risk for long-term health problems. The authors’ solution to lowering the rate of obesity is by taxing sugar-sweetened beverages. They relay information from the World Health Organization and make comparisons between other products that are heavily taxed in order to help support their argument. Wetter and Hodge, Jr. state that the World Health Organization declared that raising taxes on tobacco products was very effective in reducing the demand for tobacco use. They also discuss the legal components regarding sugar-sweetened beverages taxes. One of their ideas includes the sweeter the sugar-sweetened beverage is, the higher it

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.

Childhood obesity is not just an issue in United States- it is an growing epidemic. Obesity epidemic in kids has increased by alarming rate just in last few decades. Nearly one in every five child is obese in the United States. If the pattern of obesity continued on most of America’s children will be living with diabetes, heart disease, and dying young due to obesity. The American Heart Association reported this year that childhood obesity is the top health concern among parents in the United States, beating out smoking and drug abuse. My own younger siblings suffer with child obesity. Their craving for fast food and very limited physical activity has made them overweight and currently they suffer from health problems. Is this the future of our young generation? How much contribution should a parent have in their child’s diet? Fast food has taken over American diet and it has lead to poor nutritional diet among American youth. Fast food companies spend billion of dollars every year on commercials, convincing youth to love and eat their product. It’s just not our eating habits that has lead our young generation into obesity, lack of physical workout has also played a major role in obesity epidemic. TV, computer, video games and other technology entertainment has contributed to children getting no exercise. Obesity in children can put them in high risks of developing chronic and serious illness. Unhealthy weight leads to having weaker lungs, poor blood quality, heart

Why is there is a higher percentage of obesity in children than adults? Do school lunches lead to high childhood obesity? Why are three out every child in America suffering from obesity? These are the questions that come in mind when people talk about childhood obesity. Childhood obesity is defined as a sober medical disorder that affects youngsters at a young age and it arises when a child is exceeding his or her normal weight. The obesity in adolescents is increasing because of nonexistence of physical activity, school lunches offering high calorie food to students, food advertising promoting unhealthy food, and government providing additional money to school for school meal.

“In 2001, the Surgeon General 's ‘Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity’ identified obesity as a key public health priority for the United States. Obesity rates were higher than ever, with 61% of adults nationwide overweight or obese (Brownell and Novak).” “ At present, approximately nine million children over 6 years of age are considered obese”(Koplan and Liverman). With the gravity of this situation well known, according to the public’s acknowledgement in these surveys, it is apparent and an accepted notion that things must be changed. Presumably one might think that it is as simple as that; that just like that things will change. In 2008 childhood obesity ranked number one of the biggest issues for problems concerning children in numerous states including New York. In conclusion ideas came about such as financing special menus and labels that publicize the health factors of food, but later polls show that “although 83 percent of New York State residents agree that childhood obesity is a major problem, more than a third refuse to pay even $10 a year in higher taxes to cut childhood obesity in half” (Cawley). These programs and new policies require excessive funding not even including publicizing them and enforcing them. This will inevitably lead to a tax increase or in addition money being drawn from other pressing issues. Money will be coming out of the pocket of each citizen from taxes along with an expected decrease in fast food and other

Childhood obesity is a modern day health issue that has received a lot of attention in recent years. Despite the issue’s well-acknowledged morbidities, the rates of childhood obesity continue to climb (Hawkins, 2015, p. 4). Health care professionals, community leaders, government agencies, and parents have become concerned that today’s obese children will turn into tomorrow’s obese adults with the burdens correlated with obesity, including chronic illness and healthcare costs. In response to the rising rates of children within our Moffett community that are obese, we have designed a program directed at educating school-aged children on making healthy choices in hope of discontinuing the recurrent increase of rates.

Obesity has been a major health issue in the community for the past three decades, and has recently become a spreading concern for children (Black & Hager, 2013). Childhood obesity leads to many health and financial burdens in the future, and has become a public health priority. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2016), childhood obesity has doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years. Black and Hager (2013) state that pediatric obesity is a major public health problem that effects a child’s mental and physical health. Having childhood obesity also increases the risk of developing adult obesity and many other chronic illnesses. Childhood obesity will be further explored in the following sections and will include: background, current surveillance methods, epidemiology analysis, screening and diagnosis, and the plan of action.

Obesity rates in the United States are alarming, with more than one-third of U.S. adults and 17% of children qualifying as obese with a Body Mass Index greater than 30.0 (Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 2015). Even more frightening is the growth rate of this crippling health epidemic; between 1980 and 2014, obesity has doubled for adults and tripled for children (CDC, 2015). The physical consequences of rising obesity rates in our country include an abundance of physical ailments including type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea, arthritis, elevated cholesterol, and even some cancers. Additionally, obesity-related health care costs to our country are estimated at $147 billion annually, plus the costs of productivity lost at

Childhood obesity is simply the result of a surplus of calories consumed and a deficiency in calories burned. It is a nationwide public health concern that has increased dramatically over a few years. Childhood Obesity is a public issue, but it affects the health and well being of children we call our friends, and family. Currently most Americans use the body mass index or BMI as one of the main methods for determining childhood obesity. However, this is where the concern for childhood obesity for most Americans ceases to exist. This is when people start to think that this dilemma of childhood obesity doesn’t affect them in their lives. Mark Blum, Buddhist thinker states there is this mentality, this motto “If I could consider my body as mine, from an egocentric standpoint, I would be free to do whatever I want with it” that has developed (Blum 148). People feel like their body, or in this case their obesity is a personal problem and it can’t be dealt with in public matters. Nevertheless, it comes back to this when the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) reported “an estimated 16.9% of children and adolescents in the age group of 2-19 years old were obese.” As well as Healthy People 2010 ranked “obesity as the number one health problem in the nation” (Karnik and Kanekar). This clearly shows us that childhood obesity has become a serious issue over the past couple of years. No child is immune to childhood obesity, and health problems adults typical

Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health crises facing the nation as evidenced by one out of every three children in the U.S. being overweight. It should come as no surprise then that children today are less active and have less healthy diets than preceding generations. The combination of decreased activity and increased consumption of processed foods is contributing to the alarming rise of childhood obesity and ongoing attempts to decrease the obesity rate have made little impact because they fail to address the root cause. Environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic factors are the true barriers to a reduction in the childhood obesity rates. It is simply too narrow minded to think that merely focusing on reducing processed foods, increasing activity levels in children, and role-modeling expected behavior is enough to reduce obesity rates. Improved transportation systems, increased access to affordable healthy whole foods, development of an education program that is both culturally sensitive and focuses on changing the current food culture are the proper strategies that will reduce the childhood obesity rates in the United States.

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.

policy makers, have begun proposing new taxes on sugary beverages so as to raise revenue and dedicate the revenue for the prevention programs like Nutrition Education and elimination of beverages in and around school areas. “The Congressional Budget Office estimates that a tax of 3¢ per 12 oz. drink would raise just under $5 billion per year (2).” It is expected that sugar-sweetened beverage taxes will have a greater impact in the tax revenue and it helps to prevent obesity and increase in health promotion programs. There is also more support of sugar-sweetened beverage tax campaigns when voters learn that some of the funds will be used to prevent and to manage some health programs. In a recent research by American Academy of Pediatrics, the healthcare cost to obesity could reach between $861 and $957 billion by 2030. Nearly half the health care costs associated with obesity and diabetes is paid for through taxpayer-funded Medicare and Medicaid programs and through higher insurance payments in private plans. And, nearly everyone agrees that U.S. health-care system needs changing (4 - pg 538). A recent note developed by the Urban Institute on behalf of the American Heart Association stated that there should be immediate implementation of sugar-sweetened beverage taxes because of the obesity epidemic in children. In most of the world, national governments have been the main leads on enforcing taxing sugar-sweetened beverages, however in the United States, local governments typically take the lead. “Although local governments have passed and implemented excise taxes, they face more challenges compared to national or state governments including state limits on their authority to tax, the greater potential for consumers to make untaxed purchases beyond local boundaries and limited resources for enforcement

Childhood obesity is a growing public health concern in the UK. Data obtained from the National Child Measurement programme 2013/14 showed that a third of children in England are classified as overweight or obese (Wilkie et al., 2016). If current trends continue, 50% of all 10 year-olds will be overweight or obese by 2020. Obese and overweight individuals have a 10% increased risk of developing chronic diseases such as cancers, hypertension and type 2 diabetes (Kopelman, 2007). Consequently, this poses not only health risks to those who are overweight or obese but a future potential public health economic burden.

Although childhood obesity is a serious issue, there has been a great decrease over the past decade, thanks to research on childhood obesity and programs that help decrease the number of children and adolescents who are overweight. Childhood obesity can have long term and lasting effects on the overall well-being of a child, including cardiovascular disease, high risk for development of diabetes, and other health issues for children and adolescents. Over the years, there have been several research done on childhood obesity and because of the research, several programs have been developed, so that childhood

There is a giant threat looming over the United States, a catastrophic event of epidemic proportions which is threatening to capsize the health care system and that epidemic is childhood obesity. The awareness of this epidemic as a national problem developed in 1999 with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) publication of a compilation of yearly state-based maps that indicated the increase in the levels of childhood obesity. There were earlier studies done by the CDC regarding this epidemic, but the maps gave physical proof of the dramatic increase for this pressing issue (Dietz, 2015).