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Essay On Childhood Obesity Epidemic

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The childhood obesity epidemic is the result of many factors.1 The childhood obesity is becoming a major concern in the United States because this leads to chronic disease conditions into adulthood.
It is becoming an important public health concern because it has a long-term effect on our family, society, community, and economy as well.
From above data, we can understand the measures or indicators related to childhood obesity. Childhood obesity influenced by parents’ education. Higher-educated parents have knowledge about balanced diet, nutrition, and child growth. They can teach their children about healthy food and encourage them to eat healthy food. So they can be in good health. Low educated parents do not have much knowledge about healthy …show more content…

Body mass index at or above the 95th percentile of children and Adolescence count as Obese.
Aged 02-19 years are the most vulnerable group to become obese in our community. Because lack of proper nutrition knowledge, less physical activity after school hour, lack of social engagement, lack of playground in the neighborhood, and safety issues in the community are the important factors influences this age group obesity.
Health insurance has a significant impact on childhood obesity prevention. Uninsured and children with public health insurance are not covered to receive obesity-related preventive services. The prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents was higher among uninsured (18.6%), and public health insurance (19.7%) than among those have private insurance (14.6%) in 2009-2012.3
Obesity prevalence is higher in lower-income families because they cannot provide healthy foods to their children. Healthy foods are expensive to compare to unhealthy foods. So the lower-income families become dependent on unhealthy, high calories, fewer nutrients, and soft drinks for their daily meals. Increased consumption of these foods associated with childhood

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