Childhood Obesity

 Jaime Loza 

April 19, 2022

Childhood Obesity 

When I was in elementary school, in 6th grade, I was diagnosed with high cholesterol and was considered obese. I was fitting a size 34. I would say that my diet was poorly maintained and was having little physical activity at that time. The reason for the lack of activity had been due to several soccer injuries that had left me from playing soccer for about a year. After gaining nearly 50 pounds, my family and I decided to go to the doctor and see my health. After being told that I was obese and had high cholesterol, I decided to get back into sports and started watching my diet. The process took time. It wasn't until my freshman year of high school that I was back to normal. 

Childhood Obesity has been an issue in the United States for several years, as it was for me. It is something that affects millions of children across the nation. The reason for childhood obesity nowadays could be due to a variety of different things. Some of them are due to socioeconomic status and others because of the recent incident of the pandemic. "A study of 432,302 children ages 2 to 19 years found the rate of body mass index (BMI) increased nearly doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period." (CDC, 2022). 

Another reason why a child could suffer from childhood obesity would be due to the social-economic status positions of the family. Economically speaking, some families may not be able to buy adequate food that has sufficient nutrients for their family. Sometimes these foods and be more expensive than fast food. There are times when all the family could afford is fast food. In comparison to wealthier people, they seem to not go through childhood obesity as much. Socially speaking, "In 2011-2014, among children and adolescents aged 2-19 years, the prevalence of obesity decreased as the head of household's level of education increased." (CDC, 2021). 

This graph shows the obesity among children and adolescents ages two through 19 years, by age in the United States (CDC, 2021). Apart from childhood obesity not being good for children, it does not help that the coronavirus is still around. Obesity could create, "risk factors that would increase substantially the risk of these individuals for earlier cardiovascular disease if they were tracked into adulthood." (Deckelbaum & Williams, 2001). This means that they have a higher chance of not surviving the disease. The source CDC mentions how, "in the study of COVID-19 cases in patients ages 18 years and younger, those with obesity had a 3.1 times higher risk of hospitalization and a 1.4 times higher risk of severe illness when hospitalized, meaning that they were admitted to the intensive care unit, needed invasive mechanical ventilation, or died. " (CDC, 2022). Overall, there is no benefit to obesity, especially at an early age. 

This is why it is recommended for kids to maintain a proper diet and have some type of physical activity. This will keep you healthier and prevent you from any other problems in the future. Not only that, but it will make your immune system stronger which will help it fight any diseases we get. 

Final Reflection

1. How has your understanding of civic engagement changed by participating in this assignment?

It has changed because I now view differently civic engagements. I see them as more valuable and more important. 

2. If you were to redo this assignment, what would you change differently?

I would definitely change how I am feeling right now. I am sick right now and have barely enough energy to do so. But still felt motivated since I wrote about a topic that really hit home. 

3. Do you have any other closing comments you wish to make about this assignment?

I like the activity that this assignment provided for me. It really challenged me while doing research and implementing that research into my blog. Something that I would like to add on would be this is last minute because I have been feeling bad for a couple of days and have a doctor's note on behalf of that, nonetheless, I enjoyed this paper and enjoyed the blog. 

Resources 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, April 5). Childhood obesity facts. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved April 19, 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, February 8). Products - health e stats - prevalence of overweight, obesity, and severe obesity among children and adolescents aged 2–19 years: United States, 1963–1965 through 2017–2018. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved April 19, 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/obesity-child-17-18/obesity-child.htm

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, February 18). Children, obesity, and covid-19. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved April 19, 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/children-obesity-COVID-19.html

Deckelbaum, R. J., & Williams, C. L. (2001). Childhood obesity: The health issue. Obesity Research, 9(S11), 239–243. https://doi.org/10.1038/oby.2001.125