Obesity In Latino Children Essay

Over 60 million people are obese in the world today. The socioeconomic statuses of the Americans play a major part in the obesity rates across the country. People with higher incomes are less likely to be obese than people with lower incomes. One in every seven preschool-aged children living in lower income areas are obese (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). A 2008 study showed that obesity is highest among American Indian and Alaska Native (21.2 percent) and Hispanic Americans (18.5 percent) children, and it is lowest

outcome of obesity in this community, there needs to be a sufficient understand of Hispanic

The Hispanic cultures view on obesity or having a fuller and heavier child differs from an American’s perspective. Like many cultures around the world, hefty version of themselves is a sign of wealth and opulence. This belief is passed down to their children. Hispanic and Latino mothers believe a heavier child is a good idea and it shows healthy development. “Culture can influence the perception of risk associated with obesity. Studies of Latinos have found that many mothers of obese children believe their child to be healthy and are unconcerned about their child's weight, although these same parents are likely to believe that obese children in general should be taken to a nutritionist or physician for help with weight reduction.” (Caprio

Schools are required to have at least an hour of physical activity daily. This is enough time as long as the children are actually doing something that is going to help burn some calories. If they don’t do anything that will make them break a little sweat then the whole physical education class is useless. The PE classes don’t only make the children run but they also teach them what they need to do to stay in some kind of shape for later on in their life. Less than 10% of public schools and private schools provide daily PE (Boyse). Another thing that schools can do to promote physical activity is having the children walk or bike to school. The way they would bike would be monitored by the local government and school programs. The parents of the children could walk them to school so not only do the children get exercise but the parents can also workout. By doing this the parents won’t have to sit in traffic and can save gas. After a time the child will get use to walking and will want to walk instead of taking a car. To start this the child needs someone to walk them and keep them doing it.

There are programs such as W.I.C. which stands for Woman, Infants, and Children. This group is where mothers that are under the poverty line can get help with the children’s nutrition information. They are also provided with tickets to get nutritious groceries at the store that they and their children may not get otherwise. They also talk about how children learn through play and how keeping your child active is heart healthy and helps prevent childhood

Currently, the definition of obesity, determined by the Body Mass Index (BMI) scale, considers a child over the 95th percentile to be obese. Childhood obesity affects 17% of the children in the United States, and according to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention, 12.7 million American children will have the prevalence of obesity. Roberto Ferdman argues in his article in The Washington Post that “American kids are still far more likely to be overweight than kids in most other countries.” Some children are more likely to become obese based on their race or gender. “The prevalence of obesity among non-Hispanic Asian youth (8.6%) was lower than among non-Hispanic white (14.7%), non-Hispanic black (19.5%), and Hispanic

There are various pressing factors that contribute to overweight Latino children. Latino adolescents find few options for physical activity out of class. Some areas have limited access to parks, playgrounds, and other recreational areas, making it difficult for them to be active and maintain a healthy weight. Schools are also contributing to the issue. A majority of today’s Schools sell high-fat, high-sugar snack foods and beverages in vending machines and school stores. These malicious foods are easier to come by and cheaper, appealing more to the developing minds of students. Schools have been known to lack access of healthy foods, such as fresh produce, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products (Latino Childhood Obesity). Marketers are also a huge contribution to the rise in obesity among the Latino youth. About 74 percent of kid-targeted food and drinks ads on television promote foods in the lowest nutritional category (Ramirez). Young children are affected more by food advertisements, especially fast foods. Fast food commercials advertise toys with the purchase of a kid’s meal that appeals to young kids. Also, restaurants use cartoon advertisement, like Ronald McDonald, to encourage children to want to go there, increasing their intake of high calorie and Tran’s fat food. Giant playgrounds, along with the cartoons and toys, grasp the attention of

One in three Americans kids are obese or over weight which is a staggering and alarming rate at the same time. So looking 20 years into the future that number could double if nothing is said and done about what we are eating. The public school food in school lunches are unhealthy for many alarming reasons, but not much can be done immediately due to strict guidelines and budgets that schools must follow. A lot of it goes to kids not exercising, and more time watching TV, or playing on the computer. And now days more families have less time to make nutritious home made meals. So they tend to eat School cafeteria lunches that have minimal nutrition’s and harmful calories. To prevent your kid from being over weight mean adapting what you eat, and having to exercise at least 60 minutes a day. If the changes are made to change school lunches, it can help them from being obese, children can improve their lifestyle choices, and lastly it prevents them from getting harmful diseases.

There were several objectives listed on the Healthy People 2020 website for childhood obesity. Some of them were as follows: 1) Increase the proportion of elementary, middle, and senior high schools that require school health education. 2) Increase the proportion of schools that require cumulative instruction in health education that meet the US National Health Education Standards for elementary, middle, and senior high schools. 3) Increase the proportion of schools that offer nutritious foods and beverages outside of school meals. 4) Increase the proportion of primary care physicians who regularly measure the body mass index of their patients. 5) Increase the proportion of physician office visits that include counseling or education related to nutrition or weight. 6) Reduce the proportion of children and adolescents who are considered obese. 7) Developmental) Prevent inappropriate weight gain in youth and adults. 8) Increase the contribution of fruits to the diets of the population aged 2 years and

In the past several decades and according to the State of Obesity “38.9 % of children ages 2-19 are obese in the Latino culture.” The rates of severe obesity are higher amongst these children compared to the White American children.

South Carolina has one of the highest rates of obesity in the nation and, proportionately, more Latino children aged 2–5 years are obese compared to black and white children in the state (Torres, Meetze, & Smithwick-Leone, 2013). In fact, the proportion of obesity among South Carolina Latino children between the ages of 2 and 5 years in 2009 was 37.3% compared to 27.3% and 26.4% for black and white children, respectively (Torres, Meetze, & Smithwick-Leone, 2013). Moreover, in 2011, about half of all middle-school children were not active, and approximately 30% of high school students were considered overweight or obese (Torres, Meetze, & Smithwick-Leone, 2013). These high numbers of overweight and obese children are startling because overweight

Children and adolescents, their health is of the most upmost importance. The child is impacting through everything they do in their lives and everything that they come face to. One of these factors that come into play into a child’s life is Obesity. Most importantly the racial and ethnic disparities that involve Obesity. Unless this issue of this inclining obesity is addressed, there will be assumptions that the amount of years a person will live will surely decline (Johnson, 2012). Obesity is a killer as it is the secondary killer and could well be our first if the people don’t take action (Johnson, 2012). Obesity increases the risk of cardiovascular disease as well as asthma and diabetes (Johnson, 2012). Seventeen percent of young adults in the USA today are obese (Rossen, 2014). The commonness of obesity has escalated throughout the years in Children and Young adults that were being seen in Adults (Caprio et al., 2008). There are many disparities in which affect children in every way but the one that affects the obesity in childhood is racial and ethnic disparities. The amount of obesity in childhood is increasing in all ethnic and racial groups but it is found that nonwhite population have the most amount of Obesity (Caprio et al., 2008). The Mexican- American and non-Hispanic black children have a heavier load to carry as of racial and ethnic subgroups (Rossen, 2014). As children are expose to different physical and social environments, they are wide-open to different

This study was designed to investigate the problem of childhood obesity among African-American and Hispanic-American families in a rural school district in southeast Texas.

Obesity is a chronic disease that eventually threatens the life of a child. It has become common today to observe the alarming exponential growth in childhood obesity in the U.S. As an illustration, in California, obesity has become more noticeable in Latino children than in other cultural groups. (Tung & McDonough, 2014). Although maintaining a healthy weight may seem insignificant for some Latino families, it is in effect essential in terms of today’s concern over the health of Latino children. Unfortunately, child obesity is a combination of different elements: junk-food and high- calorie diets, sedentary lifestyle, “super-size” portions, marketing of junk food, and finally, negligence of families and schools. As a matter of fact, Latinos are the largest ethnic group in California. According to the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that in 2014, 38.6% of the total population in California are Latinos, and the largest minority group in the U.S. (Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, 2014). In addition, Statistics reveal that 40% of Latino children in California are overweight (Falbe, Cadiz, Tantoco, Thomson, & Madsen. 2015). The California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) results suggest that Hispanic children and youth were the ethnic group at the highest risk of being overweight in California (Weiss, Yepa, Mouttapa, McMahan, & Gedissman, 2015). For that reason, it is vital to address the serious public health

The fast-paced lifestyle of Americans today results in unhealthy frozen T.V. dinners and take-out meals. In present day society, the role of woman and men are virtually equal. With this making both the mother and father of families busy, there is little time for home cooked meals. A hardy breakfast is replaced with sugary pop-tarts, hand packed lunches is replaced with money for fast food, and frozen T.V. trays take the place of a healthy dinner. These foods may all taste good, but they are not healthy. By giving children lunch money, the children are having the choice to buy whatever foods they please. It could be easily assumed that a child would choose a candy bar, chips, and a soda over a school lunch. Again, the children are not the only ones to be blamed here. The parents need to take time to guide their children towards what food is healthy and what food is unhealthy. By taking a little more time out of the day and making healthier food choices, the rate of childhood obesity could slow down, if not stop altogether.