Essay On Low Income Children

An estimated 97 million adults in the United States are overweight or obese (Klein 2000). “"Affecting one in five Americans – or more than 22 percent of the U.S. population – obesity is one of the most pervasive health problems in our nation right now," said George L. Blackburn, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of surgery and associate director of the Division of Nutrition at Harvard Medical School/Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. "We need to implement steps to slow the progression of this national epidemic” (NAASO 1999). But the problem of obesity does not only affect the United States. "We now know that the growing prevalence of obesity is creating major health problems worldwide," said Dr. James O. Hill, president of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO) and Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Obesity was once regarded as unique to Americans, but it is now seen as a global health risk affecting developing and underdeveloped countries (AOA 2000). Obesity is increasing at an epidemic rate in the United States - 1.3% a year for women over 20. Rates of obesity among minority populations, including African-Americans and Hispanic Americans are especially high (AOA 2000). There is also a marked increase in obesity among children.

The Toronto Star published an article reporting that Toronto currently has the highest rate of children living in households that are considered low income in Canada (Monsebraaten, 2015). The article reports that in Toronto the child poverty rate is higher than the poverty rate of any other age group. This paper will discuss child poverty, how this is a challenge to public health practices and policies, and finally, discuss potential solutions for public policy that address this issue.

Food deserts are one of the main causes of obesity in lower income areas, and while initiatives are being created to solve this problem, more than just a few initiatives are needed to change the obesity issue.

Obesity rates in the US are rising due to food insecurity. One in six people in the U.S. are food insecure, while two-thirds of adults and one-third Americans are overweight or obese.14 Studies have found that wealthy districts have three times as many supermarkets compared to the poor.15 Kevin Conocannon of the USDA noted in an interview that people in poorer areas sometimes have narrower variety of food options.16 SNAP recipients face barriers to achieving nutritious diets due to lack of availability in their neighborhood. Healthy food often comes with higher costs, so most people with lower income result to eating foods with lower cost and higher calories. According to a 2009 report by the USDA, as many as 23.5 million Americans live more than one mile from a supermarket with limited access to a vehicle.17 Food Deserts are particularly prevalent in low-income communities.18

As per Healthy People 2020 most Americans do not consume healthy diets and are not physically active at levels needed to maintain proper health. As a result of these behaviors the nation has experienced a dramatic increase in obesity in the U.S with 1 in 3 adults (34.0%) and 1 and 6 children and adolescents (16.2%) are obese. In addition to grave health consequences of being overweight and obese. It significantly raises medical cost and causes a great burden on the U.S medical care delivery system ("Healthy People 2020," 2014, p. 1).

It has become impossible for low-income families to provide healthy meals for their families. Government, Farm policies and the food industry itself are main reasons as to why the cost of healthy foods has become harder for American families, especially low-income families, to provide the healthy foods needed to fight the obesity epidemic. With low- income families being the main focus point on the problem of

Obesity in America is literally a growing problem, affecting every age group. Children are the most venerable group because they have no control over where they have dinner or how often they have fast food. Parents and guardians make decisions about food and are responsible for the health of children. Childhood obesity has more than doubled in the last twenty years. This is concerning because Type Two diabetes is a horrible, crippling disease that is affecting children and teens dramatically whereas the disease was primarily seen in adults. Children are said to have a shorter life span than their parents for the first time ever. In the United States sixty-six percent of adults are overweight and one in

Unfortunately, adults are not the only one’s suffering from obesity; 17% of children are obese with 31.3% being between the ages ten to seventeen, and 13.9% being high school students (State of Obesity, 2016). The prevalence of obesity, in children, is higher among Hispanics at 21.9% and blacks at 19.5% whereas non-Hispanic white adults in the United States are 14.7% (CDC, 2016). However, obesity rates are higher for children who live in low income families that are enrolled in the WIC program, even though rates have decreased since 2000. In 2014, the obesity rate was an average of 14.5 % of children ages 2-4 years (State of Obesity, 2016). According to the CDC, “the prevalence of obesity was higher among Hispanics (17.3%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (18.0%) young children than among those were non-Hispanic white (12.2%), non-Hispanic black (11.9%), or Asians/Pacific Islander (11.1%)” (CDC, 2016). Childhood obesity for low income WIC children in South Dakota, alone, is 17.1% which is ranked the fourth highest (State of Obesity, 2016).

When analyzing children growing up in poverty a lot of factors come into play such as their physical, psychological and emotional development. To grow up in poverty can have long term effect on a child. What should be emphasized in analyzing the effects of poverty on children is how it has caused many children around the world to suffer from physical disorders, malnutrition, and even diminishes their capacities to function in society. Poverty has played a major role in the functioning of families and the level of social and emotional competency that children are able to reach. Children in poverty stricken families are exposed to greater and emotional risks and stress level factors. They are even capable of understanding and dealing with

Childhood Obesity has taken over the lives of American children in the United States. Presently, 23 million children and teens in the United States are obese (CDC 2014). This epidemic affects children of all ages and mostly minority children at a seemingly unstoppable rate. For instance, 18 percent of American children age 6 to 11 and teens ages 12 to 19 are obese (Spradlin 2012). When examining ethnicity, Caucasian American children 28.2 percent is far lower percentage when compared to that of the 33.1 percent of African American children and 44.7 percent of Hispanic children (Ogden, Carroll, Kit, & Flegal 2014). Childhood obesity is caused by the consumption of unhealthy food and beverages in large portions with the absence of daily physical activity; allowing left over energy to become fat and eventually lead to obesity. The factors that are the major reasons why childhood obesity is a continuous prevalent issue are environment and behavioral systems.

America is facing a rigorous obesity plague that is endangering the health of millions. Moreover, we are passing our bad practices down to our children. Obesity is a stipulation in which anomalous or excessive fat buildup in adipose tissue that damages health. Obesity is defined in adults as a body mass index (BMI) exceeding 30 (kg/m). Obesity is one of the most discernible, but until recently, most deserted public health problems. The present high pervasiveness of obesity and the brisk increase in pervasiveness in the last twenty years has been referred to as an endemic (Johnson SJ, Birch LL. 1994). Children all through the U.S. are getting fatter and less fit, through potentially treacherous enduring consequences. The figure of

We as Americans are extremely lucky. We live in a big country with many resources and almost all the luxuries we ever wanted. On the flip side, in America there are also many people who do not have these privileges. The lower class is a struggling class. For many years, people have been trying to pull themselves up from the lower class and the majority does not succeed. Childhood poverty is a large problem in the U.S. It is said that the poorest people in the United States are the children of the lower class. Childhood poverty could lead to a number of problems such as hunger, violence, physical and mental disabilities, educational problems, homelessness, family stress, sickness, and too-early parenthood. The sad truth is that

Hispanics (22.4%) and non-Hispanic black youths (20.2%) are more likely to be overweight and obese compared to the non-Hispanic white (14.1%) and non-Hispanic Asian youth (8.6%) (CDC.gov, 2014). Children of low income-to-poverty families are also more vulnerable being overweight and obesity. These families usually live in communities with little grocery stores, great availability of fast food restaurants, and limited access to healthcare. The older children get, the more the obesity rates are climbing. Younger children are less likely to be overweight and obese because their parents have more control over what they are eating. Growing up means learning to make your own decisions and taking care of yourself, which also means having the choice to intake unhealthy food and staying active. Childhood obesity trends in the U.S. vary among states and regions. The population of the Southern states has at least 15.1% of obese children compared to the Midwest’s and Northeast’s 10.1% (Caprio, S. et al, 2008). The Journal of American Medical Association did find a decline in

As mentioned earlier there are stereotypes that come with socioeconomic status, including that children from low socioeconomic status families tend to not perform as well in school as children from higher socioeconomic status families. This is not because the children from low socioeconomic status have a deficiency that causes them to underperform, but rather it is because there is an expectation that the children will not do as well and so the children walk into the classroom facing a losing battle (Schmitt-Wilson, 2013, p 228). The education that a child receives in the earliest years of their life sets up a framework for the education through the rest of their lifetime (Stull, 2013, p 54). That being said, if a child does not receive the best education in the earliest years of their schooling, it is not surprising when they do not do as well in school and do not seek higher education after high school. Another common stereotype is that children from low socioeconomic status will not go on to get high paying jobs, but even if this is true it is not

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