Childhood Obesity and Who to Blame
Beatriz Romo Flores
Professor Hickman
Draft, Review, and Reflect
14 June, 2019
Beatriz Romo Flores
Profesor Hickman
English 102
14 June 2019
Childhood Obesity and Who to Blame
Obesity has a definition of body fat excess that presents a risk to health. The statistics in the United States about childhood obesity are 18.5% on children affected and about 13.7 million children and youth. Childhood obesity is a global health problem causing premature death; overweight children are more likely to become obese as adults. Studies have shown that children who were obese during childhood were more susceptible to be obese at adulthood and therefore more prone to develop another disease such as hypertension, diabetes, kidney disease and as a consequence premature death. Talking about this health issue and giving information to individuals who play an important role in a child such as parents, family members, teachers, etc., but most importantly parents because education starts at home. Obesity is related to many health issues such as hypertension, diabetes, heart problems, this is why childhood obesity is a disease that needs to be taken care of. Overweight and obesity are now responsible for more deaths and this is because as mentioned before, obesity comes in hand with many health issues. Sedentary lifestyles are a big problem helping obesity to be more present in households. Individuals who take care of children need education about childhood obesity, how to prevent it, how to help those who are obese and the health issues obesity causes.
Children who are obese have greater risk to be obese at adulthood and not to mention the multiple health issues. Obesity not only affects the physical appearance of an individual but also affects the inside of the human body. While the physical appearance also changes many children who suffer from obesity are seen as less attractive, less approachable and suffering from social isolation and low self-esteem. The psychological problems make children prone to lifelong physical and mental health problems. Depression can be both a cause and a consequence of obesity. Suffering from depression can potentially make it harder for children to overcome both health issues. Research mentions that children who are obese and suffering from a mental disorder perform unsatisfactory at school, having lower grades (Amanda Gardner, 2012) Giving the opportunity for children to grow up in a healthy weight, environment giving them access to healthier food, community parks can give them the opportunity to reach their full potential academically.
Another important health issue related to obesity is heart disease and diabetes. Children who are diagnosed with diabetes type 2 have a higher risk of heart disease and kidney failure. New cases of diagnosed diabetes in children during the years of 2001 and 2012 "found a 7.1% annual increase in type 2 per 100,000 children ages between 10 and 19" ("The State of Obesity", 2018), because obesity diagnosis is greater, diabetes diagnosis are greater too. Hypertension is the medical term for high blood pressure which is a serious disease that can lead to severe complications, and obesity is a factor in developing hypertension. The list of medical conditions linking to obesity is extensive, that is why is important to fight against childhood obesity so that many lives can be saved from suffering disease and eventually reducing life expectancy.
Since becoming a parent starts with planning to conceive, the need of prenatal care information is really significant. Being an obese individual trying to conceive can be difficult because obesity in fact does affect fertility. While it is difficult to conceive when obese, it is not impossible and if it occurs it definitely affects the fetus health. In a Mayo Clinic article, it specifies how obesity affect the fetus by "being significantly larger than average (fetal macrosomia) and having more body fat than normal, which increases the risk of metabolic syndrome and childhood obesity" ("Pregnancy and Obesity" 2018), being obese during pregnancy correlates with a newborn suffering from obesity later on in their lives. Promoting breastfeeding is important because studies show relevant information about how children who were breastfeed decreased the risk to be obese later on. Breastfeeding has many benefits, and is an ideal food for infants as it provides the necessary energy and nutrients to meet the infants' needs (Yan Jing, 2014)
Parenting is a difficult task and one of the responsibilities as a parent is education, parents needs to educate their children in many things, for instance how to be respectful, but education about weight and food intake is an important thing parents need to start educating their children and apparently a significant amount of parents do not think is that important. There are individuals who think that children need to live their lives free, meaning eating whatever they want, to play all day and not to have a home schedule for certain tasks, well that is where most parents are doing harm.
Parents have responsibilities including jobs, education, and obviously taking care of their children. With many responsibilities sometimes it can be difficult to successfully accomplish all of them. That is why parents who work and maybe go to school find it difficult to feed their children a healthy meal and indeed feeding them something quick and easy. Author Amber L Simmons says "advances in food processing have facilitated consumption of high caloric food that is low in other nutrients" ("What Are We Putting in Our Food". 2014) Food that is quick to cook does not provide the necessary nutrients, often being high in fats, sodium and calories. While these type of food can become handy for busy parents it can be dangerous if consumed too often. Frozen foods have many faces including pizza, frozen meals, burritos and many more, but they do not provide any good to children bodies, because these type of food contain processed chemicals. Frozen waffles are one of the products many parents use to feed children, while waffles might taste good they have preservatives to make them last longer without going bad, such preservatives are bad for the health and contribute to obesity. First thing parents need to take care of is education on eating habits with the children, encouraging children to eat more vegetables and fruits by giving the example, to take the time to play with them like jumping rope, dancing or something that requires physical movement, and teach them to have a limited screen time. Screen time starts with toddlers, because parents are busy doing home tasks, sometimes is easier to distract the children with some tablet. There are research suggesting that obesity and too much screen time like video games, watching too much TV, videos in the internet correlates with obesity. Therefore, it is important that children have a limit time for this activity. Not only is important to have a limit time for the use of a tablet or to watch T.V. because it correlates to obesity but also because it is not helping the children to develop their brain how it should. Acknowledging that children who eat while doing this activity have a greater risk of obesity is important because they tend to consume high fats food, as Thomas N. Robinson says "Studies have revealed that children consume a large proportion of their daily calories and meals while watching screen media" ("Screen Media Exposure..." 2018) this might be also because while watching T.V or doing a similar activity does not gives an individual the time to realize how much has been consumed nor concentrating of the feeling of satiety.
The fact that watching T.V is relevant to childhood obesity is why is important not to take it easy. Factors like what kind of cartoons are children watching on T.V. is important to notice if what they are watching is educational or is it doing harm to their minds. Some cartoons are not educational at all, and can have an adverse reaction on children life. If the cartoon a child is watching talks just about eating, or sedentary life they will eventually do the same. Not to mention the type of commercials children watch, food that are not healthy being advertised with cartoons and stuff children like. The Children favorite cartoon advertising cereals with a large amount of sugar, of course the child will want that cereal, because children do not understand difference from healthy and unhealthy.
During School many children have breakfast and lunch that the school offers. Researchers have questioned the fact that food offered at schools is not healthy and in fact contains more fat. Programs like Woman, Infant and Children Program (WIC) and Food Stamps also provide "healthy" foods but more information can be helpful to see how individuals are actually using these programs, are they doing it to support the family or is it just for adult beneficial and parents lacking to buy the necessary nutrients for their own children? In 2010 the rate of childhood obesity among children between 2 and 4 years old of those enrolled in the WIC program was 15.9% and in 2014 it dropped to 14.5% and this is because in 2009 food package change, giving food with the necessary nutrients, access to fresh fruits, vegetables, and also reducing juice and cheese. The Woman, Infant and Children Program (WIC) now has to be regulated constantly to make sure the program is under the latest U.S. Dietary guidelines. Finding how childhood obesity is being develop can help the community to fight against it.
Families who are low- income might be the ones that are most affected with obesity, because buying unhealthy groceries sometimes is cheaper. Communities were low-income families afford to live are not always the most gratifying places to live because often lack safe community parks were children can play, and do some of the required daily physical activity. In households were parents or the head of the household have a college degree are less likely to suffer from obesity than those who only have high school diploma or less education. Parents contribute in many ways for childhood obesity.
Schools offer programs for breakfast and lunch during school days, and low income families are the ones that benefit from these programs, but are the programs really helping the families or doing harm? Because food that is offer at school does not have a healthy balance of nutrients, many times feeding children pizza, hamburgers, French fries and so on. There are many children who the only real meal they enjoy is during school, and as mentioned before it is not the most healthies diet. Eating every day what school has to offer and mostly of the food being high in fats, carbohydrates and processed food it definitely changes eating behavior in children.
Inactive physical activity is a problem that numerous households have, requirement for children to exercise during school time needs to be mandatory. There is a class called Physical Education (P.E) which does not necessary require children to exercise, many professors let children do what they please during this class. A better education in this class needs to be persuade so children can really benefit from it, and help those parents who are not capable of doing this activity at home. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that school programs include classroom physical activity, and offer before and after school programs, this can help students to achieve the sixty minutes required every day of physical activity.
To conclude, there are many factors that childhood obesity can be blame on, race, ethnicity, household income, schools, parents, teachers, but how can childhood obesity be decreased, with prevention which is the best way to fight against anything, childhood obesity included. Parents are the most responsible in this health issue, educating their children and to give a healthy lifestyle example is one of the many ways parents can be more efficient. There are definitely multiple ways to help reduce the risk of childhood obesity. Deciding to become a parent is important and it has a tremendous responsibility taking care of a child, planning a pregnancy is a way to fight obesity. Obese children suffer bullying during school time from their peers, making them less successful, someone needs to give obese children the courage to change the bad habits to become better and not only to change their physical appearance but also to give the opportunity to be more efficient academically so that every child can be successful and achieve their goals, because those who graduate from college tend to have healthier households, thus helping in the long-term to fight obesity. The purpose of the research is to help everyone understand how obesity impacts communities, and the world itself, it is important to know how to treat children and youth who are undergoing overweight and obesity. Children who are obese tend to be obese adults, it is like a chain that continues to go on because no one is taking responsibility to change and stop numerous children to suffer this disease along with other health issues. Why is it so difficult to help children to maintain a healthy weight and help them enjoy a childhood that later on can remember with pride and not sick because of the poor choices made around them.
Work Cited
Gardner, Amanda. "Does Obesity Affect School Performance?" CNN, Cable News Network
"Pregnancy and Obesity: Know the Risks." Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
Robinson, Thomas N, et al. "Screen Media Exposure and Obesity in Children and Adolescents." Pediatrics, U.S. National Library of Medicine
Simmons, Amber L, et al. "What Are We Putting in Our Food That Is Making Us Fat? Food Additives, Contaminants, and Other Putative Contributors to Obesity." Current Obesity Reports, U.S. National Library of Medicine
Warren, Molly, et al. The State of Obesity: Better Policies for a Healthier America.
Yan, Jing, et al. "The Association between Breastfeeding and Childhood Obesity: a Meta-Analysis." BMC Public Health, BioMed Central