In recent years, portion sizes have continued to increase, and over 190 million citizens are obese. According to the CDC, in the Appalachian region of the United States more than 81 percent of people suffer from obesity related health problems. These statistics are shocking. At some point the government and the NEH has to step in and do something for the sake and health of citizens, specifically children. “Many researchers have theorized that media use by children, excessive snacking during media use, food-marketing practices in food advertisements, cross promotions, food away from home, supersizing and increased portion sizes can all contribute to childhood obesity” (Kavas). Due to the epidemic rise in obesity, and for the safety of children’s health now and in the future, the NEH needs to fund education regarding the link between portion sizes and obesity.
Obesity is a disease where there is an excessive or abnormal build up of body fat. It is a terrible illness and difficult to overcome. Obesity was once only a problem in high-income countries, but percentages have also risen dramatically in low to middle income countries. Obesity has become one of the nation’s fastest growing health issues. Now, one out of every five Americans is overweight, and two thirds of Americans are obese. According to The Medical News, 31 percent of American adults are obese, 65 percent overweight, and 18 percent of children are affected by obesity today. America’s total daily caloric intake is 815 billion, which is 200 billion more than recommended (Health). It is proven there is a direct correlation to eating more calories than what your body needs and gaining weight. To gain one pound a person must eat 3,500 more calories than what the body actu...
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...estaurants Dishing out Extra-large Portions." USATODAY.com. 21 Oct. 2006. Web. 23 Feb. 2011.
Kavas Aysel. “Global trends, food industry and marketing practices and their impact
on childhood obesity.” European Journal of Management Spring 2009: 135. Academic OneFile. Gale. Kansas State Library. 23 Feb. 2011.
Klein, Sara. "8 Reasons to Make Time for Family Dinner - FoxNews.com." 22 Sept.
2009. Web. 25 Feb. 2011.
Murphy, Jenny. "The Super-sizing of America: Are Fast Food Chains to Blame for the
Nation's Obesity?" SpeakOut.com. 15 June 2000. Web. 25 Feb. 2011.
The Medical News. “What is Obesity?” News-Medical.Net. Web. 23 Feb. 2011.
“The more they serve, the more we eat: limiting portion sizes and changing calorie
density in those portions can make a big dietary difference.” Health Reference Center Academic. Gale. Kansas State Library. 23 Feb. 2011.
Obesity has become an epidemic in adults and children in the United States. Moreover, children are at risk of obesity because they do not eat enough fruits and vegetables and do not obtain enough physical activity. Also, children have a higher chance of developing health diseases related to obesity such as hypertension, high cholesterol, stroke, heart disease, diabetes and pulmonary disease. In addition, obesity in children from ages one to seventeen is an issue in Texas, since children are not aware of the serious consequences of being obese. Therefore, Texas should find ways to prevent obesity by authorizing healthier school lunches and allowing a school program to help obese children lose weight. Also, television advertisements are influencing obese children to make unhealthy choices.
Obesity is a rising problem in the United States. With obesity rates on the rise something must be done to prevent this massive issue. There are ways to help including educating at young ages, improving nutrition facts at restaurants, and providing more space for citizens to get physically active.
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.
Ebbeling, Cara B., Dorota B. Pawlak, and David S. Ludwig. "Childhood Obesity: Public-health Crisis, Common Sense Cure." THE LANCET 360 (2002): 473-82. Print.
The nation is suffering from a new epidemic from a program that had good intentions. The obesity rate for children has distantly increased over the past years and is continuing to grow. In the past thirty years, obesity has more than doubled in children and has tripled in young adults. This problem has both immediate and long-term effects in health and well-being in children and adolescents. The ...
There is no doubt that obesity has taken its seat as one of the top disease that strikes the world today. In America, obesity has now spread through the country leaving 2 out of 3 adults either overweight or obese, and worldwide 1.5 billion are overweight or obese (Overweight). The cause of this disease stems from multiple reasons such as the increase in modern food production, putting out ample amounts of food causing the prices for meat, groceries, and especially junk food to plummet. Subsequently, Americans especially were more inclined to purchase more food and showed an increase in the average American house hold food intake by 1,000 more calories a day (Dreifus).
How many obese children have you seen today? Obesity is one of the largest health problems Americans are currently facing. It can lead to many baleful complications, including heart disease, diabetes, sleep apnea, cancer, mobility issues, high blood pressure, bullying, and lack of self-esteem. According to the CDC, about 17% of children and adolescents aged 2-19 are obese, and 30% are overweight. In adults, around 70% are overweight and 30% are obese. Nevertheless, our nation’s public schools are continuously promoting virulent foods through its lunch programs and on-campus advertisements. Although I understand that unhealthy food is cheaper and tastier, we must remember that those foods are causing our nation’s children to become obese. Factors such as cheap unhealthy foods in school lunches, junk food ads in schools, and teachers eating pernicious foods in class are causing more and more children to make the easy choice, the unhealthy choice. Obesity is a growing epidemic in the U.S, one that we need to promptly eradicate.
Obesity in Childhood is a Pathway into Adulthood. Birmingham University (2013) Available From: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk [Accessed 2013]
As you know obesity is a major healthcare issue globally. Scientist are still trying to understand this complex problem . Metabolism and behavioral factors appear to play a role in this serious condition. Food that our bodies do not immediately use or burn is stored as fat. This accumulation of fat can lead to weight gain, which can lead to obesity. We can fight obesity with simple nutritional changes and with a change in our everyday lives. Amercian views on obesity are not as strong as they should be .Obesity is a condition which is usually defined as person's body mass index (BMI). Obesity can also used as a general term for a person that has an excessive amount of body fat. Many people have argued that the obesity epidemic is very overblown and inaccurate, but they do not deny that obesity overall are indeed serious. A epidemic is a disease in which new cases appear in numbers far greater than what is expected. It was seen as a sign of h...
Obesity has increasingly become a significant public health concern in the United States. In the past four decades, the numbers of overweight children, adolescents, and adults has shot to high margins, and the rise cut cross all ages, races, and ethnicities for both males and females. A recent analysis by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that 30% of the American adult aged over the ages of twenty, which is a representation of over 60 million adults, was obese. Still the same survey indicated 16% of those between the ages of 16years and 19 years, which is over 9 million children and teenagers, were obese. This has come with its share of repe...
According to the USDA, at the start of century 21st American people have increased their daily caloric intake by consuming five hundred calories more than in 1970. As cited by Whitney & Rolfes (2011), there are many recognized causes of obesity such as genetics, environment, culture, socioeconomic, and metabolism among others; but the cause most evident is that food intake is higher than the calories burned in physical activity. Excess of energy from food is stored in the body as fat causing an increase of weight. During the course of the last 40 years, obesity has grown enormously in the United States and the rates remain on the rise (pgs. 272-273).
Schwartz, M. B., & Puhl, R. M. (2003). Childhood obesity: A societal problem to solve. The International Associaition for the Study of Obesity: Obesity Reviews, 4, 57-58-71.
In a study from 2010, the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) found that the number one cause of death, killing 597,689 people each year, is heart disease. A major cause of heart disease is obesity, meaning that obesity kills many people in the united states each year. “In 1999-2000, 27.5% of men were obese, and by 2009-2010 the prevalence had increased to 35.5%” (Ogden, et al. 4). It is obvious that obesity is on the rise in our country. “the most recent national data on obesity prevalence among U.S. adults, adolescents, and children show that more than one third of adults and almost 17% of children and adolescents were obese in 2009-2010.” (Ogden, et al. 6). If the trends continue, obesity will become an epidemic, killing thousands of people. The CDC defines obesity as having a BMI (body mass index) of 30 or higher. In some instances, this can be misleading. For some people, say athletes that have plenty of muscle and not much body fat, their BMI can indicate they are overweight. Nevertheless, it is still a good indicator for the general public. And studies have shown, using the BMI system, that obesity in America is on the rise.
Obesity continues to be one of America's most mentioned topics in the media today. Often citing the increased incidence of disease because we American's are fat. Why, we eat out too often, we do not make the right menu choices, and most importantly--we are not active enough to compensate for the intake of high calorie foods consumed everyday.
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.