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The growing problem of childhood obesity in America
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Recommended: The growing problem of childhood obesity in America
When you hear the word epidemic what do you think of? AIDS, or maybe poverty? Well there is a new word that might come to mind, obesity. Obesity is being called the “newest epidemic” of this century. Approximately 300,000 people will die this year from obesity related deaths. There are many health consequences that come with being obese. These include, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders, and some cancers. Childhood obesity has become a major epidemic in America. The fast food advertisements, the lack of outdoor activities, and the decrease in parental controls all contribute to childhood obesity. Many of the food choices that these children make will leave long-term effects on their health and well-being. …show more content…
The percent of obese children has increased among children fivefold since 1970. The junk food companies create commercials and advertisements that are aimed directly towards to younger children. The goal of these companies is to get the children to recognize these brands so they will ask their parents for them. “The IOM notes that by two years of age, most children recognize products in supermarkets and ask for them by name.” (Nestle, M.) One of the techniques that the fast food and junk food companies use to making the children feel like the food is just for them. They want the children to feel special, that they are eating something exclusive that is not for adults. It makes them think that they know what is good for them to be eating and that their parents do not. “Marketers explicitly attempt to undermine family decisions about food choices by convincing children that they, not adults, should control those choices. Indeed, children now routinely report that they, and not their parents, decide what to eat.” (Nestle, M.) Simply stated these children are spending mostly all of their money on fast food or junk food. In the article “Food Marketing and Childhood Obesity- A Matter of Policy” the author talks about this saying, “American children spend nearly $30 billion of their own money annually on such foods, and companies design products to tap this market.”(Nestle, …show more content…
The fast food advertisements, the lack of outdoor activities, and the decrease in parental controls all contribute to childhood obesity. Many of the food choices that these children make will leave long-term effects on their health and well-being. In conclusion all the health food options need to get out there in their advertisements so the children will see more of them rather than the fast food advertisements. There also needs to be more opportunities for the children to play outside and participate in outdoor activities. Again the parents also need to be more involved in their children’s lives, making sure their children and themselves are eating properly, enjoying the outdoors, playing outside and, getting a good amount of exercise. Lastly having the health food industries advertising more, the outdoor activities improved, and the parents becoming more involved in their children’s lives we can all end childhood obesity for
Child obesity became a very serious issue that is taking on the health of the nation 's children. It is everyone responsibility to work on preventing and reducing childhood obesity, from the parents who are suppose to care about their children’s health, to the public health representatives, who should care about a future healthy nation, and everyone in between. Every part of society should create a set of lifestyle changes in order to save our kids from obesity. There are many aspects, which have to be changed or improved, including parent’s nutrition education, children’s physical activity and kid’s nutrition in a school and home, food industry and etc.
Obesity in the United States, which the media has labeled a national crisis, has also been connected to poverty rates. Big fast food industry’s target poor communities, and spend millions of dollars each year to create advertising that appeals to these specific areas. These industry’s also target naïve children when advertising because they know that eating habits developed in childhood are usually carried into adulthood. Children who are exposed to television advertisements for unhealthy food and who are not educated well enough on good nutrition will grow up and feed their families the same unhealthy foods they ate as kids. A big way fast food giants are able to make certain young people have access to unhealthy food is by strategically placing franchises in close proximity to schools. They will often place three times as many outlets within walking distance of schools than in areas where there are no schools nearby. The way fast food advertising is targeted towards children is very alarming considering how important good nutrition is for young people and how a child’s eating habits can affect their growth and
In order to impede the epidemic of childhood obesity, the actual causes of the problem need to be evaluated and dissected. Obesity in children is becoming a huge problem in American society. In the past three decades, the rate of overweight children has increased by 300%. This is an alarming rate that is only climbing higher. Every member in society should take steps to becoming healthier. This would help the present generations as well as future generations to come. The lifestyle of Americans keeps us too busy to be a healthy society.
Childhood obesity has been on the rise in the last couple of years. In the 1970’s childhood obesity was never a concern to the public until the number increased over the years. An alarming rate of 31% of all adults have been obese since they were children and the rates of childhood obesity don’t fall too behind with an 18% of children being obese. That makes almost half of obese adults and children. A child that is obese has a 70-80% higher chance of staying obese even through their adulthood if no action is taken. Childhood obesity is not something children are in control of, these children suffer from different outcomes since they can’t look after themselves and heavily rely on someone to aid them when they need it. These numbers can be drastically altered in a positive way by educating both children and parents about healthy, nutritious foods to consume, supplying schools with better lunch and healthier vending machines with healthy choices and promoting after school activities to keep children active and away from electronics.
Since the 1960?s obesity in America has more than tripled regardless of sex or race. Today 30.5 percent, or 69 million, American Adults are considered obese (?AOA Fact Sheets? np). In addition, 13 percent of children aged 6-11 years old are considered overweight, and well on their way to becoming obese. Obesity causes over 300,000 deaths a year and costs the country $117 billion dollars, prompting health care providers and the government to label it an epidemic (?Overweight and Obesity?? np).
For the past 10 years, obesity has become an epidemic. Not only adults are obese but children as well. The number of children with obesity keeps increasing each year. There are children being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and other serious health problems due to their obesity. Some experts are predicting that obesity will became the number one leading cause of premature death, instead of tobacco. There are many ways to prevent obesity in children and is up to the parent, to provide their children with healthier food options.
Childhood obesity is on the rise in many countries today. There are numerous causes of obesity in America, and the majority of them can be eliminated simply by household teachings. In her book Fed Up! Winning the War Against Childhood Obesity, Susan Okie explains how childhood obesity is taking over, “The growing numbers of obese children in the United States and in many other countries are victims of an epidemic just as surely as if they were infected with a virus.” The leading causes of childhood obesity include lack of exercise, poor diet, and genetic factors.
Childhood obesity is an increasing problem here in the United States. According to Schuab and Marian (2011) “Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions” (P.553). The prevalence of child obesity and overweight has increased over the last 30 years all over the United States, becoming one of the biggest public health challenges (Moreno, Johnson-Shelton, & Boles, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to give a background of the obesity epidemic, a review of current policy, and make a policy recommendation.
Childhood obesity is a serious problem among American children. Some doctors are even calling childhood obesity an epidemic because of the large percentage of children being diagnosed each year as either overweight or obese. “According to DASH sixteen to thirty-three percent of American children each year is being told they are obese.” (Childhood Obesity) There is only a small percentage, approximately one percent, of those children who are obese due to physical or health related issues; although, a condition that is this serious, like obesity, could have been prevented. With close monitoring and choosing a healthier lifestyle there would be no reason to have such a high obesity rate in the United States (Caryn). Unfortunately, for these children that are now considered to be obese, they could possibly be facing some serious health conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancers. All of these diseases have been linked to obesity through research. These children never asked for this to happen to them; however, it has happened, and now they will either live their entire life being obese, or they will be forced to reverse what has already been done (Childhood Obesity).
One way that fast food effects obesity is by advertising their products to children (Miller). In her article Food Advertising Contributes to Obesity, Patti Miller explains that the fast food companies are targeting kids and teenagers by advertising on television. The fast food advertisements are promoting unhealthy products as acceptable food which influences children to choose those meals. The American Psychological Association, an organization focused on improving the lives of individuals, expressed that with the exposure of different fast food commercials, children request to purchase these unhealthy products and cause the parents to be influenced by these requests. This concludes the idea that once children are encouraged by the commercials, they opt to consume the fast food advertised on television. Today, fast food companies are even advertising through schools by offering pizzas and burgers as school lunches, which consequently becomes a daily meal for children and teenagers to consume (Wadden, Brownell,
The United States needs to do something to change the amount of childhood obesity in the nation. If the government requires children to take classes that require physical activity, abolishes school vending machines, and teaches children about healthy eating, then the amount of children that are obese in the United States will decrease significantly. Obesity is defined as the increase of body fat over time to the point where it can impact health in a negative manner and decrease life expectancy. Since the 1980’s, obesity has increased dramatically in the United States. Children have been greatly impacted in the increase of obesity. This is a major problem as someday these obese children could possibly turn into obese adults. If the population of obese adults and children keeps increasing, than not only will our country have a lot of severely unhealthy people but the cost of health care will increase dramatically.
Food advertising contributes to childhood obesity in many ways. One of them being that the food advertised is unhealthy. “The mechanism of effect of media exposure on obesity may also operate through the extensive advertising messages for unhealthy foods targeted at children.” (Agarwal, Dhanasekaran) The food advertising geared towards children makes them develop unhealthy eating habits, and choices. The advertisements are usually advertising unhealthy foods, never healthy ones. “When children watch television, they cannot escape food advertising. “Sugared snacks and drinks, cereal, and fast food advertisements respectively comprise approximately thirty-two percent, thirty-one percent, and nine percent of all advertisements marketed specifically to children.” (Termini, Roberto, Hostetter) Due to limited cognitive abilities, children view many food advertisements, and don’t really have the knowledge or capability to comprehend that the food being advertised is not healthy.
Increasing at an alarming rate, nearly one in three American children will be considered to be overweight or obese. Even though facts have shown that genetics is not a cause of childhood obesity, many people still believe that childhood obesity is the parent’s fault. In this paper readers will discover causes and facts of childhood obesity.
Parents are not teaching children how to eat healthy. They feed them cheeseburgers, chicken fingers, and fries. Kids are not being exposed to a regular diet of health fruits and vegetables. Now some people are just naturally overweight, but being “overweight” is not the same as being “obese.” Someone who is overweight has reached a maximum weight limit for their height. When someone goes beyond this maximum limit, then they are considered “obese” (Kiess 1). Research shows that “obesity is generally defined as the abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat in adipose tissue” (Kiess 1). The increase in childhood obesity today is mainly the fault of the parent because they are unable to tell their children “no” when it comes to junk food (Kiess 104). Parents are the one buying all the food that comes into the house. They are the ones buying the sugary drinks and chips. They are the ones allowing the children to “have what they want.” Because parents are not teaching their children how to eat healthy, we will continue to see childhood obesity increase. Unfortunately, overweight children will be the ones who suffer because statistics show children who are overweight are more likely to become obes...
Today I will be outlining my plan to help education parents and children alike on the dangers of childhood obesity. With this plan I hope to better education parents and children on how to prevent and fight this current health issue. As a parent myself I’m very interested in this topic and help solving this situation. This plan will discuss what childhood obesity how we can help solve this problem. With the proper education I feel we all can make better decisions in our children’s lives as well as our very own.