Obesity In Children: Adverse Affects Of Changing Lifestyles

Younger children are now at high risk of becoming obese. As early childhood obesity prevention policies article states, ten percent of infants and toddlers have an excess weight. More than twenty percent of children between the ages of two and five years old have excess weight and suffer from obesity. This is an alarming rate of child obesity rates, in the United States of America. Several environmental factors can influence the risk of a child, for obesity.

According to Ashford library studies reveals that “40% of obese children and 70% of obese adolescents will become obese adults”. Obese children are most likely to become obese adult and can suffer much more health issue than the ones previously named. Obesity found in adulthood increases the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, arthritis, and a general poor health status. According to an online article located on ASPE.hhs.gov paragraphs [12] and [13] “In 2000, the total cost of obesity for children and adults in the United States was estimated to be $117 billion ($61 billion in direct medical costs)”. American’s has label obesity as the terror within, it is perceived to be the cause of over “300,000 deaths in America alone each year”.

Within the past few years, the rate at which the social condition is rising has raised a lot of concerns from different people. Studies show that the obese and overweight children are at high possibilities of remaining under this condition even their adult life. This implies that it is a serious condition that requires a lot of attention. Obesity, as a health condition, not only affects how we look but also changes the course of people’s lives negatively. Obese and overweight conditions link directly with other communicable diseases such as diabetes and cardiac malfunctions at a younger age.

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.

If this pattern continues over time, they develop more fat cells and may develop obesity. Childhood obesity will cause physical, social and emotional adversities for your child Obesity has many primary factors that can cause this disease, the main ones being: social, genetic, and economic. Nutrition, physical activity, and family factors also contribute to obesity. Children with obese parents have a fifty percent of being obese. If a child has two obese parents he’s at a higher risk of thirty percent of being obese than a child with one obese parent.

Obesity occurs when a child weighs above the normal weight for his or her age and height. Childhood obesity is a serious issue in the United States and around the world because the extra pounds may lead children to health problems. Overweight is defined as one have more body weight from fat, muscle, bone, or water for their height and obese is defined as someone who has too much body fat. In the article “Childhood Obesity Facts” the Centers for Disease Control explains that childhood obesity has tripled in the past three decades in the United States and is becoming an epidemic. The American Heart Association reported in the article “Overweight and Obesity” that 23.9 million children between the ages two to nineteen in the United States are overweight or obese.

The figure of overweight children ages 6-17 has dual in the past 25 years. One in five children in the United States is now overweight or fat. Overweight children can build up diabetes and early risk factors for heart disease. Being fat in addition carries arousing risks for children. By the age of six, lots of children have developed pessimistic attitudes concerning obesity and will keep out fat children from play (Freedman D.S.,Dietz W.H., Srinivasan S.R, Berenson G.S.

Some health effects that are related to obesity are high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and the risk of diabetes. Obesity can eventually lead to joint problems, arthritis, asthma, and sleep apnea. Being overweight increases the chances of developing Type 2 Diabetes, which usually begins in adulthood but is becoming more common in children. The epidemic in obesity among children and teenagers means that today young people suffer the health problems of middle-aged adults. As obese children get older, they have a higher chance of developing heart disease and the possibility of strokes.

Childhood obesity has become a source of concern for the health of adolescents and children. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) defines obesity as any child with a Body Mass Index (BMI) at or over the 95th percentile. The trend of childhood obesity in America is overwhelming with an increase of nearly 20 percent in our children and adolescents since 1980 (CDC, 2013). Recent studies have shown childhood obesity is at 17% for 2-19 year olds. Obesity in children is a contributing factor of hypertension, high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease (CVD).

The 95th percentile identifies children that are very likely to have obesity persist in adulthood, and is associated with elevated blood pressure and lipids in older adolescents, and an increased risk of diseases. The 95th percentile is also a sign that the child needs aggressive treatment (American Obesity Association, 2014). Obesity among children is increasing on a day-to-day basis. Between 5-25 percent of children and teens in the United States are obese: about 15.5 percent of adolescents (age 12-19) and 15.3 percent of children (ages 6-11). Of children, 7 percent were obese from 1976-1980, 11 percent from 1988-1994, and most recently 15.3 percent from 1999-2000.