Childhood Obesity Epidemic

 Jonathan Vinze Jamias | ART 3170-02

CHILDHOOD OBESITY

What is Childhood Obesity?

According to the Mayo Clinic, is a condition in which a child is significantly overweight for his or her age and height. Childhood obesity can lead to diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. 

How is Childhood Obesity a problem?

It can lead to a child being overweight and this put them at risk on having health problems that are usually seen on adults, such as Type 2 diabetes, High cholesterol and high blood pressure, joint pain, breathing problems, and Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). It could also lead to a low self esteem and depression (mayoclinic, 2022)                                                                                                                                               

What are the risk factors of childhood obesity? (MAYO CLINIC)

Risk factors include

Diet: Eating high calorie foods such as fast foods, baked goods, Sugary drinks or snacks and vending machine snacks.

Lack of Exercise: Children that lacks physical activity are much more likely to gain weight.

Family Factors: If a child comes from an overweight family, then their environment might encourage them to eat less healthier, which can result in them gaining weight.

Psychological Factors: Children might overeat to cope with problems or stress

Socioeconomic Factors: Some people might not have access to a nearby supermarket, in which they might rely on buying food from convenience stores and eat unhealthy foods like frozen meals.

Why is it important to care or give attention to this issue?

The increase of numbers in childhood obesity can lead to a serious threat to many children in America. Just in 2018, the CDC find that 14.4 million adolescents, 2-19 years old, are affected by childhood obesity and the prevalence of obesity was 19.3%. Childhood obesity has caused many children diseases that before, only adults are afflicted, but now even the children have those diseases and this puts them at a huge risk of having a short life-span. Even the economy could be affected by this issue because the cost for treatment of obese children are rising rapidly.

What can parents do to help their children avoid obesity?

Set a good example: Parents can set a good example by having the family eat healthy food and participate in family physical activities. They should also make sure that nobody feels left out.

Promote Physical Activity/Exercise: It is important to promote exercise to children so that they can remain physically active throughout their lives and they can avoid obesity due to lack of physical activities.

Have healthy snacks available: Having healthy snacks are very important because by using this, your child can get used to them instead of unhealthy, sugary or salty snacks.

Choose nonfoods reward:For good behavior, it is not advisable to use candy for example because this will promote unhealthy snacks to your children as good.

Be sure your child gets enough sleep: Sleep deprivation can increase the appetite of your children, so enough sleep is very important.

Parents should promote a healthier lifestyle to their children because not only that they will prolong their life-span, but they can encourage more and more parents to live a healthier lifestyle. I chose this issue because it personally affects me as an obese child once, using food to cope is not the right thing to do. I suggest sports as a way to fight depression because I used basketball as an escape from anything that makes me sad, so every time I'm on the court, I just forget about those things and it makes me happy. Eating unhealthy foods like fast food, ice cream, soda, chips, etc. are not bad from time to time, but we should avoid eating them at a consistent basis. It's never too late to change, so I encourage those who may be suffering from obesity, but thinks that there's no more hope, they can still make a change and improve their lifestyle by starting little by little and that's ok because in the end, those small changes can all add up into a bigger change.

Reference:

Mayo Clinic ( 2022 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Childhood Obesity

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/childhood-obesity/symptoms-causes/syc-20354827

Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (April 5, 2021) Childhood Obesity Facts

https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html

The Future of Children, Princeton-Brookings (Spring 2006)

https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/foc_16_1_summary.pdf