Children´s Diet and Nutrition, An Anotated Bibliography Essay

In these circumstances, when parents attempt to limit children’s ingestion of these foods, they may be inadvertently be reinforcing the children’s desire to consume these unhealthy nutriments (Birch & Fisher, 1998). Other investigators have concluded that when parents leave food selection to the preference of the child, the children often choose a sizable quantity of food of meager nutritional value (Klesges, Stein, Eck, Isbell, & Klesges, 1991).

Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic in the United States. More than one third of children are overweight. This figure is increasing rapidly. This epidemic puts children at risk for various health problems such as type two diabetes and heart problems. Although they are several risk factors for obesity, parents play a significant role in this issue. This paper will look into how parents are influential to their children, how they contribute to this problem and how they may help fight the fight against obesity. Obesity is a very serious problem and there are solutions that parents can apply to help their children lead a healthy lifestyle. Obesity does not only affect a person physically, but mentally and psychologically as well.

Parents continuously make choices for their children. Every day, they decide what the child will wear, what shows they watch, what time they go to bed, what they will eat, and so much more. When grocery shopping in the store, parents have to make conscious purchases in order to maximize their budget (Krukowski, West, Harvey-Berino, & Prewitt, 2010). These decisions will influence whether the family can afford a two-dollar box of Macaroni and Cheese, opposed to fifteen-dollars’ worth of items to create a salad. How will these decisions affect childhood obesity? The answer is simple; it will affect a child. Young children and even adults need a mixture of fruits, vegetables, protein, grains, and dairy on every plate in order to consume a healthy diet (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2017).

Childhood obesity is a growing problem in America. "the percentage of obese children doubling from 6.5% in 1980, to 17.0% in 2006. Weight, nutrition, and physical activity are the main components to a child’s overall health.”(1) “When parents become too busy to cook meals in their homes, children learn poor eating habits and develop into unhealthy eaters.”(1) They will take what they learned at home and apply it to anywhere else that they eat. For example a child that drinks milk at dinner and sits with their family at dinner when asked what they want to drink when they are at a friend’s home will ask for milk because the child would associate milk with dinner. Children cannot make healthy choices of their own they need to be guided so

A child’s genetic make-up can predispose a child to be obese. A child’s genes can send out different codes depending on the situations and/or stresses and this phenomenon and study are known as epigenetics. Doctor Moshe, a leading researcher in epigenetics, discovered connections between early life adversity and DNA Methylation; this data suggests disease occurs when there are maladaptation changes that result in a misfit between the genes and the environment (2013). Children’s understanding about eating habits and exercise can be limited or quite vastly depending on the age, although it is easy to understand that children learn eating habits from parents. There is an opportunity during childhood years to establish positive health behaviors by exposing children to physical activity and healthy food choices, so children value these health behavior and these health behaviors become part of a routine. A child’s gene plays a significant role in a child’s health and what the child is predisposed to, but the likelihood of developing obesity can be abundantly decreased by education of the child and the parents. That is why it is important to educate the parents through well child visits and health education literature that can be taken home for review and referenced as needed and children through well child visits, coloring books, and positive reinforcement about exercise and

Eating a well balanced meal is crucial for someone in their early childhood stage. During this time period, between the ages of two and six, a well-nourished child can grow up to three inches and gain up to four and a half pounds per year (Berger, 2010). Children at this age also need fewer calories per pound of body weight than infants do. Since children need less food than they did before and many do not diminish the intake of their food consumed, obesity becomes a problem. The article “Child and adolescent obesity: a part of a bigger picture” states, “The prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity has risen substantially worldwide in less than one generation” (Lobstein, 2015). Obesity is a main factor that is present and can lead to other diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. The article also states that, “The food industry has a special interest in targeting children. Not only can the companies influence children’s immediate dietary preferences, but they can also benefit from building taste preferences and brand loyalty early in life, which last into adulthood” (Lobstein, 2015). Once children are hooked on the foods they eat during their childhood, they tend to follow those habits as they grow up. Children in low-income families are vulnerable to obesity because they rely on cheap fast food.

Parents influence children 's eating behaviors because they choose food choices for their families, serve as models, and reinforce eating patterns. Parenting practices are also influenced by the child’s traits like, age, gender, weight status, and eating behavior. It is influenced by the age because as the child gets older, their image of themselves change. Parents and children affect and react to each others eating behavior. Although the parent selects food choices for there family, the FITS study suggests that “bigger is better” when it comes to food. The portion size and energy density

Educating the parents of today’s youth. Critser administers the solution by declaring the parents as the enablers to this rising epidemic. Critser attempts to educate parents by displaying an example of two age groups of children. He uses an examination done by Pennsylvania State University of three-year-olds and five-year-olds and describes how their eating habits differed. From the two age groups, Critser develops a hypothesis due to the fact that the three-year-old age group did not continue to eat when they were satisfied with their portion, while the five-year-old age group devoured the food until their plate was clean. This experiment confirmed that the children responded according to the diets their parents have continuously displayed upon them. In a case of overweight 6- to 12-year-olds, when persistently taught about restraint of food and diets, up to 30% were no longer considered obese. This, alone, exhibits the importance of educating today’s parents so they will deliver their knowledge of obesity, and how to prevent obesity, to their

The Physiological Theory of Obesity draws a distinctive link between overweight parents, and the possibility of their children being overweight. It has been recorded that if one parent is obsess, then the child of that parent has a forty percent chance of being obese. If both parents are obese, the change of the child being obese jumps to 80 percent. The clear connection between a parents’ weight and a child’s chance of becoming overweight is alarming. While one cannot infer causation from correlation, the statistics may point to the

In addition to poor food selection in low-income neighborhoods, prevalence of childhood obesity is also significantly affected by family education. Several works of literature support the idea of the critical role of parents or caregivers in determining children's physical health and body mass index. The role of parenting and caregivers is crucial for young children because parents directly determine the child’s physical and social environment, and indirectly influence behaviors, habits, and attitudes through socialization processes; this means that overweight is a function of environment.10

The researchers recruited two thousand three hundred preschoolers for their study and acquired the student’s height and weight in order to solve their body mass index (BMI). The BMI of a person is the estimate of excess fat on their body, but doesn’t take in to account their muscle mass. At the same time the children’s BMI were being taken, the parents were also asked for their height and weight in order to attain their BMI. The researchers found that children with one obese parent are twice as likely to be obese and children with two obese parents are two point four times more likely to be obese (Overweight Parents More Likely to Have Overweight Children). This study directly proves that parents have a huge impact on their children when it comes to their

Parents are one of the biggest role models to their children. If parents don't buy healthy food their children are going to have unhealthy diets from eating high-calorie food. How much the parents work also affects the children according to Patricia Anderson. Anderson states, “an increase in dual-career or single-parent working families, may also have increased demand for food away from home” (Anderson par. ). When parents work they don’t have time to prepare dinner. Instead, they go to fast food for a quick and easy meal for their family, but the meal is not healthy. The parents are contributing to their children's bad eating habits. Another factor can be genes or ethnicity, some children are at a higher risk for being obese. According to Michael J Wieting, a doctor of osteopathic medicine, genes and ethnicity can play a role in childhood obesity. Children who are of Native American, African American and Mexican descent are more likely to be overweight than youth who are white or of Asian descent (Wieting par. 9). Certain ethnic groups are at a higher risk due to the foods associated with the culture and other hereditary genes. Childhood obesity comes with multiple medical

Many individuals do not realize it, but obesity has become a huge epidemic in today’s society. Individuals tend to ignore the growing unhealthy products around them; instead of questioning why people are gaining weight so rapidly, they enjoy the unhealthy and unsuitable substances that they are putting in their body. Some eat whatever they can find, and since they are in a certain predicaments, they have no choice but, end up doing the same thing to their children. Many have not seen it yet, but parents are feeding their children unhealthy substances. The nutrients that they are feeding them are unhealthy, and since children do not know any better, they cannot disagree with what is being provided to them, nor can they tell whether they have had enough or not. In an article “Too Much of a Good Thing” by Greg Critser. He explains how parents are partially to blame for their children 's obesity and also their children 's environments. Critser uses statistic, biological experiments, and comparisons show how child obesity has become a great problem in today’s society and that parents have much to do with it.

Since technology is becoming more advanced, children are spending more time about 25 percent of their day playing on devices rather than playing outside.5 In addition, the structure of communities is causing people to become more sedentary. Residences are built far enough from stores, schools, restaurants, etc. to require transportation. Also, certain areas do not have safe routes to walk or safe areas for kids to play.2 Next, dietary habits can lead to obesity. More calories are being consumed and fewer calories burned which is from the sedentary lifestyle and increased portion size. Since fast food and unhealthy foods are inexpensive, families with low incomes can afford these types of foods since fresh fruits and vegetables are pricier. Excess calories also come from consuming sugary drinks.2 Lastly, genetics can have an impact on children’s BMI. In one study, adopted kids were analyzed to see whether adopted parents influence the children’s BMI. It was concluded that the adopted parents do impact the child’s BMI during childhood, however, the adopted parents’ influence is not as impactful once the child reaches adolescence and young adulthood.6 If a child has one obese parent, the likelihood of the child becoming obese as an adult increase two to three folds. If both parents were obese, the risk of becoming obese as an adult

In the above paragraph I have gained the knowledge on how to balance me and my family's lifestyle. I already knew we needed to be eating health and staying active. It is hard to do so in a busy world. But, this course has definitely reinforced on how to stay healthy and fit and implement new things in my life. This course has also reinforced just as you should get a physical annually, your child needs regular well check-ups. Something further that I have been able to balance and reinforce is getting in a good habit is eating a variety of fruits and vegetables daily. Choosing whole grains as much as possible over refined ones will give your child more nutrients and fiber. Make an effort to avoid foods that are processed, high in sugar or high in saturated fat, all of which can increase risks for health problems such as diabetes. Especially helped reinforce with my diabetes.