Childhood Obesity: Social Determinants Of Public Health

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

In February, 2010 “President Obama established a Task Force on Childhood Obesity clearly stating his goal to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation” (Eschmeyer). Therefore, he launched the Let’s Move campaign where Michelle Obama was the leading spokesperson for. Furthermore, she played an important role in helping to improve the food nutrition policy. As nearly everyone knows the issue of childhood obesity has been on the rise in the United States. In fact, children ages 6-19 have a one out of five chance of being obese as a result, putting our children at risk of having health issues and various other problems to have to deal with in life including, being bullied. Hence, the launch of the campaign that would in later

With the recently documented increases in prevalence’s dating as late back as to 1980, pediatric obesity now represents one of the most pressing nutritional problems facing children in the United States today. International population studies report comparable rates of increase, so that if current trends remain unchecked, childhood obesity is likely to challenge worldwide public health. Substantial consequences to physical and mental health, both short and long term, must be anticipated.

this diseases impact over the past few years. With the changing of lifestyles, the production of children who are not as healthy as they should be has increased. Due to these results, a widespread of children being obese has occurred. The Center for Disease Control, CDC, distinguishes between being overweight and being obese. Overweight simply means that the weight is high compared to others in the same height category. According to the CDC, obesity means “an excessively high amount of body fat . . . in relation to lean body mass” (CDC). There are so many factors of childhood obesity. Some might say it’s the parent and some might say that it’s from advertisements. Childhood obesity can be a combination of factors scientific, genetic, cultural, or even environmental. The debate over childhood obesity and its factors has been going on for decades.

Obesity is an epidemic that affects millions of People around the world and it continues to rise. A particular concern is the rise in childhood obesity throughout the United States and it has become a national epidemic. Obesity is a threat to the health of many children as it has doubled in children and has quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years. According to survey on childhood obesity, 2014, “an estimated 80% of obese adolescents continue to be obese into adulthood, so the implication of childhood obesity on the nation’s health are very huge”.

Childhood obesity is affecting 1 out 3 kids in our society. These children are being classified as being obese or overweight. Obesity has gained recognition as an important worldwide public problem and in the U.S., appears to be overtaking tobacco use as the number one cause of preventable death (Dennison, B. A., Edmunds, L. S., Stratton, H. H., & Pruzek, R. M. (2006). This is the first time we have ever seen our children in this state and the percentage of overweight or obese children is growing at a rapid rate. If something is not done about this issue, this generation will be the first generation to not outlive their parents because of the health issues that arise because a person is overweight or obese. Children are not being entertained outside anymore while getting exercise; the entertainment is inside on the TV, computer, or video-game console (Kid’s Health). Many kids are spending less time outside exercising than previous generations. In today’s world, a quick and easy solution to a problem is the most common answer; this is true for our electronics and our food choices. Families have little to no free moments to prepare nutritious, home cooked meals(Kid’s Health). Our goal has to be finding ways to prevent children from becoming overweight. This is the parent’s responsibility. Parents have to learn to adopt a way to lead a healthy lifestyle of eating healthy and exercising for their

Childhood Obesity has become a topic of national concern. There has been an extremely rapid increase in the number of obese children in the recent years. The percentage of obese children from the age of 6-11 has increased from 7% to 18% and for adolescents age 12-19, a 5% to 21% in a short span of about 30 years. This epidemic has grown to such a high number that it had been brought to the attention Michelle Obama, the First Lady of America, who then created a plan to try to end this Childhood Obesity Epidemic in 2010. So, what is the cause of this new and uprising epidemic? Among the articles that I’ve come across, researchers have begun to link the source to the lack of exercise and fast food establishments.

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 has multiplied exponentially in the past two or three decades. More than one third of children and young adults were classified as obese or overweight in 2012. Childhood obesity has become an epidemic all over the world but especially in the United States. Health is the most important part of a person’s life and it is unaccepta-ble for multitudes of people to be at a disadvantage when it comes to health at such an early and tender age. There are some trends of society that can be seen as apparent rea-sons for this increase in childhood obesity such as the rise of a more sedentary lifestyle and the growing access to unhealthy food. However, children and parents are not solely to blame, rather, society as a whole may be

It is often said that people ought to learn from their mistakes, however throughout American history that doesn 't appear to be the case. In recent studies, it 's been documented that American youngsters and adolescents are usually measured predominately overweight and in some cases fat. Several American parents are to happy with settling with the convenience of restaurants, which isn’t okay once people don 't teach their youngsters to exercise. Most kids could even get hooked on fast foods, and in today’s busy society they are not getting the right time to exercise. , If today’s American society would teach their children to exercise and eat right , then the result would be less diseases and a lot more healthier kids. Parents have the

The importance of maintaining a healthy weight is to reduce the risk of becoming overweight or obese. Being overweight or obese can affect children’s health for the rest of their lives. It causes a health issues and decrease longevity. For example, “when obesity occurred by 20 to 30 years of age there was an 20% reduction in longevity resulting in 17- 20 years less life span” (Lifshitz, 2008). Childhood obesity is associated with adult obesity and can be link to several factors such as genetics, lack of exercise, poor dieting, and the environment you live in.

In recent decades childhood obesity has become a global epidemic. Globally it is estimated that around 40-50 million children are obese. In the United States the amount of school-age children who are considered obese has risen from 6% in 1973 to 31% in 2009 (3). In children, obesity is defined as a child’s height and weight being at or over the 95th percentile (1). Childhood obesity can lead to a large amount of adverse consequences, including: low self-esteem, asthma, cancer, premature mortality, and type 2 diabetes (3). Once thought to be a disease that only affected adults who were overweight or obese a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes has become increasingly common in school-age children (3). In the past, school-age children

Childhood obesity is at an all-time high in the United States, afflicting one in every five children aged 6 to 19. The prevalence of childhood obesity in the U.S. was 17% in 2011-2014. The CDC notes that obesity rates are not equal across ethnicities, noting a prevalence of 21.9% for Hispanics, and 19.5% for non-Hispanic blacks compared to 14.7% for non-Hispanic whites. In this report, we will focus on childhood obesity in low-income communities. Youth in low-income families (which are disproportionately Black and Hispanic) are at greater risk for obesity because they are more likely to live in a neighborhood with unfavorable conditions such as poor housing, unsafe

Childhood obesity is a complex health issue in today’s society. It occurs when a child is well above the healthy weight for the average age and height. Excess weight during growing years is of great importance for at least three main reasons. First, it constitutes a risk of overweight and obesity during adult life. Second, childhood obesity correlates with adulthood risk factors for common chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other morbidities. Third, obese children already undergo many health adverse effects including orthopedic problems, sleep apnea, impaired quality of life, psychological or mental disorders, and some cardio metabolic abnormalities. One of the most important obesity-related metabolic disorders is currently known as the metabolic syndrome (Segel 2). Americans do not realize or take note in that the lifestyle we live in needs to change. This issue sadly goes unnoticed in several ways. Some contributing factors in our society include the food, technology interrupting a physical activity environment, and food marketing.

As the old saying goes, “You are what you eat”. Initially, some people would say that there is someone to blame for childhood obesity, the parents. Children are becoming obese because of poor health choices and ineffective parenting. According to David Rogers, public health spokesperson for the Local Government Association, "parents who allow their children to eat too much could be as guilty of neglect as those who did not feed their children at all”. However, others will argue that childhood obesity is caused by genetic and hormonal factors. Some children who come from overweight families may be genetically obese, or is this an excuse? In extreme cases, the parents of a morbidly obese child should lose temporary custody of their