Childhood Obesity in America

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It’s a scary feeling when climbing a simple flight of stairs only to reach the top and be completely out of breath. In America today this is the reality that many children face. Obesity has become an epidemic in our world, it has many contributing factors, affects learning abilities but there are preventive methods for it. Although little is being done about obesity, it's affecting the lives of many but mostly children and by a multitude of different factors.

The rising numbers of obese children has reached an alarming rate. With many Americans, “…‘obesity’…carries the connotation of being extremely overweight. [But] health professionals define overweight as an excess amount of body weight that includes muscle, bone, fat and water; whereas obesity is specifically defined as an excess amount of body fat” (Andrews 1). More often than not we tend to switch these definitions and have false pretenses. Although, there are many health threats in the world today, “…childhood obesity (is) one of the leading health threats in the United States” (2). Even the statistics show that obesity is becoming an epidemic. In fact, “[s]ince the 1970s, the prevalence of obesity has more than doubled for preschool children and adolescents and more than tripled for school-aged children” (1). With the increasing numbers it causes people to wonder if there are other causes for obesity.

Through tests and observations it has been found that obesity can be caused by other factors. Many scientists “…believe there are other causes for the obesity epidemic besides too many French fries…” (Belluz 1). Eating habits can contribute to obesity but they’re not the only factor playing into the bigger picture. For instance, “[p]ollutants, like DDE, are believed to...

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...n't be the ones that are out of breath.

Work Cited

Andrews, Shirley P., and Stan Andrews. “Fitness fun for everyone: classroom games and activities to support reading and math.” Childhood Education 2009:97.

Beebe, Ginger, and Joe Thompson. "The problem of childhood obesity." Arkansas Business 2010: 7.

Belluz, Julia. "Born to be fat: does prenatal exposure to chemicals called 'obesogens' help explain the epidemic of obesity?" Maclean's 8 Nov. 2010: 89.

DeSantis, Cari. "On child obesity." Policy & Practice 2010: 3.

"Move it." Current Events, a Weekly Reader publication 25 Oct. 2010: 6.

"Physicians Group Urges Schools To Go Veggie.” American School & University 2010. 5.

Skolnik, Neil S., and Mackenzie Mady. "Clinical guidelines for family physicians: screening for obesity in children and adolescents." Family Practice News 2010:49.

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Childhood Obesity in America

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