In the Eye of an Obese Child
When the words overweight and obese are used, we mostly think we are talking about adults, but not necessarily there has been trending statistics that childhood obesity is on the rise and has been for the past 30 years. The likelihood of an obese child becoming an obese as an adult is high. Childhood obesity has contributed to the fast growing cardiovascular risk population at a young age, and are also at risk for developing eating disorders. It is a prediction the most common disease that children will experience in the future is obesity. Research has implied that psychosocial has played a major role in the development of childhood obesity. Physical inactivity, fast food consumption and short and long term health risk factors are some of the links which will connect the childhood obesity epidemic, but by studying the determinants of this epidemic, parents, doctors, teacher, and politicians have to work together to find a solution. However, the opposition is asking why lawmakers or government should intervene by imposing how people choose to eat.
The most prevalent health risk factors is cardiovascular and diabetes, but psychosocial has been the most widespread consequence for child obesity which starts at a very young age. Children feel the need to meet a standard of being thin so they can fit in or be liked. Weight discrimination has been part of this culture at a very young age especially among female dancers and gymnasts. According to Dr. William Dietz, "Several studies have shown clearly that children at a young age are sensitized to obesity and have begun to incorporate cultural preferences for thinness" (Dietz 519). Psychosocial development and food intake during these critical years of a child can have short and long term consequences. The evidence available suggests that because of the concern for their weight, eating disorders are common among white children and adolescents, "For example, a cross-sectional study of 7 to 13 year-old children demonstrated that almost half were concerned about their weight, more than one third already tried to lose weight, and almost one tenth manifested responses consistent with anorexia nervosa" (Dietz 520).
The short term consequences of childhood obesity consisted of psychological effects, cardiovascular risk factors and other medical consequences. The long term consequence for an adult who was obese as a child are socioeconomic effects, persistence of obesity, cardiovascular risk factors and adult morbidity and premature mortality. The study presented found that 34% of obese, white, 13-14 year old girls had the lowest self-esteem psychological problems, "We can conclude that obese children are more likely to experience psychosocial and psychiatric problems than non-obese children and that girls are at greater risk than boys, and that risk of psychological morbidity increases with age" (Reilly et al 748), equally important, the health consequences for morbidity of childhood obesity are asthma, chronic inflammation and major cardiovascular risk factors for example high blood pressure, dyslipidemia, abnormalities in left ventricular mass and/or function, abnormalities in endothelial function, and hyperinsulinaemia and/or insulin resistance. "Many studies have observed significant "clustering" of cardiovascular risk factors (the aggregation of risk factors in the same individual" with paediatric obesity, and it has become clear that the extent of asymptomatic atherosclerotic lesions in childhood and adolescence is predicted by the number of cardiovascular risk factors present" (Reilly 750).
Subsequently, social and economic long term consequences affected women more than men in fact, "both longitudinal studies presented high quality evidence that obesity in adolescence/young adulthood had adverse effects on social and economic outcomes in young adulthood (for example, income, educational attainment), controlled for a number of other variables, including intelligence quotient" (Reilly et al 750). The likelihood of obese children becoming obese adults is 69%, additionally adolescents had a much greater risk jumping to 83%. "It is worth noting that persistence of childhood obesity into adulthood should now be more likely than in the past, given the much higher prevalence of adult obesity in contemporary populations" (Reilly 750).
"Knowing the determinants of the factors that influence physical activity in obese youth is an important prerequisite to designing effective intervention strategies for this population" (Trost et at. 823), furthermore this will help in developing the best alternative way to promote or change the way we influence children's physical activity involvement. Children are living in a technological era that is fast paced which as caused the decline of physical activity in children because of the psychosocial variables which include self-efficacy, social influences and beliefs regarding physical activity outcomes. In addition, the environmental variables included watching television or playing video games, access to sporting and/or fitness equipment, participation in sports and involvement in community physical activities.
Based on an observation of obese children, a 5, 10, or 20 minutes of moderate or vigorous physical activity over a 7 day period was lower than non-obese children. According to Trost et al, "Group differences with respect to the hypothesized psychosocial and environmental determinants of physical activity are reported in Table 3. Compared to non-obese youth, obese children reported significantly lower levels of physical activity self-efficacy, were involved in significantly fewer community organizations promoting physical activity, and were significantly less likely report their father or male guardian as physically active" (Trost et at. 826). This quantifies why the need to expose children to physical activity at a young age helps them be proactive in their development of physical activity. This will warrant the need for parental persuasion and motivation in fact, "according to social-cognitive theory, self-efficacy perceptions are derived from four principle sources of information: past performances; vicarious experiences (modeling); verbal persuasion; and physiological state" (Trost et at. 827).
Consequently, the relationship between the body mass index and body fatness has been used as a measurement of how physical inactivity and daily hours of watching television or any other type of media has affected child obesity. "Overall, we found high rates of television watching, with 26% of US children (and 43% of non-Hispanic black children) watching 4 or more hours per day. Stasburger has calculated that the average high school graduate will likely spend 15,000 to 18,000 hours in front of a television but only 12,000 hours in school" (Andersen et al. 941). By conducting several studies, "we also found a relationship between television watching, physical activity, and body composition. Children who watched more television and were less likely to participate in vigorous activity tended to have higher BMIs" (Andersen et at. 941). Overall, the physical activity can play an important role by lowering the risk of becoming obese additionally, limiting how much a child watches television may prompt the child to actually get some physical activity.
As previously mentioned, one of the environmental problems that obese children face is that fast food restaurants are much more accessible to them. Fast food has become a prominent feature of child obesity because of its availability, inexpensiveness and faster food service, however this type of diet consists of high caloric intake and promotes excess energy intake. The frequency of eating at these type of restaurants showed the fast food intake increased more easily than if they did not live or work within the two mile radius of their home or work. Students were surveyed measuring in a variety of environmental, personal and behavioral factors with their dietary intake. "There is some evidence that there are more "fast food" restaurants in geographic areas in which obesity prevalence is high (e.g. low income areas) [21-25]" (Jeffrey et al 2). The correlation between the frequency and the type of restaurant was not well reported however, "results of the Geographical Index Systems analysis indicated that on average, there were 39 restaurants of all types within 2 miles of a home address and 94 within 2 miles of a work address" (Jeffrey et al 4). The convenience of having them so close to your home or work exposes the children and parents to continue unhealthy eating habits by consuming high energy food. The research concluded that "it is also possible that a third variable, such as demographics and lifestyle characteristics (e.g. an aging population with smaller families and a higher percent of two income families), may cause this phenomena" (Jeffrey et al 2).
Nowadays both parents have to work to make ends meet so it is getting more difficult for a family to eat a healthy meal at home without spending money away from home. From 1970, only 25 % of money was spent eating at restaurants. In 2010, an increase of money spent eating out jumped to 53%. Its popularity has increased because of how accessible fast food is to get especially for adolescents. According to the research done, "away-from-home foods are higher in fat and energy compared with food eating at home. In 1995, away-from-home food accounted for 27% of eating occasions, but 34% of energy intake" (French et at 1823). In the same way, "television viewing has been cited as a contributing factor to higher energy or fat intake. Exposure to food advertising, especially fast food commercials, may influence viewers' food choices toward higher fat, higher energy foods" (French et at 1825). Consequently, obese children are being affected by the choices their parents can or may offer them, for example choosing to eat at a fast food restaurant because of convienicne, availability, affordability or just because it's close to home.
By imposing laws or food regulations on what we choose to eat can trigger a debatable issue with many different opinions, one argument is that it violates individual rights. The opponents focus should not only be in the childhood obesity crisis but also eating disorders. "A full 95% of those who have eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25. 42% of 1st-3rd grade girls want to be thinner and 81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat" (Murr 2013). The solution to this problem is not imposing regulations on the food we choose to eat but teaching children how to eat in moderation according to Virginia Murr. "It would be even more difficult to find any single food or drink that will make us overweight if ingested in moderation. So, instead of demonizing people that are overweight and the foods that may or may not play a role in making them overweight, maybe we should be setting an example for our children by embracing moderation ourselves" (Murr 2013).
In summary, childhood obesity should not be taken lightly. You can call obesity a disease, epidemic, crisis or phenomena nevertheless it is a something parents, doctors, and government will have to deal with in the short and long term effects. Child obesity has raised over the years, it is growing as the years go by. Child obesity is very common in today's society because the way children are being raised. I find it depressing and shocking that young children and adolescents are considered obese when they should be the healthiest people. Research has indicated this to be an environmental problem, but also a behavioral problem. The consumption of eating fast food and physical inactivity is not the only problem with childhood obesity, it also has to do with their psychosocial behavior. Children need to start a healthy lifestyle to incorporate good eating habits as well as physical activity in their day.
