What Is Childhood Obesity?

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Childhood obesity

The term Obesity is a condition when the person has excess body fat. The term. Body mass index, or BMI, is a widely used to measure obesity. Child obesity is on the increase and their BMI percentile is calculated for the various ages in young adults (ages 2–20) as it takes into account various factors which includes growing at different rates (CDC). Moreover it depends on their age and sex. Doctor’s determine obesity on the basis of BMI:
If the BMI is between 85th and 94th percentiles then the person is overweight.
If the person has BMI -95th percentile or above then the person has obesity.
It also includes knowing the child's family's history of obesity along with the various weight-related health problems, like diabetes. …show more content…

Globally and estimated 170 million children are now estimated to be overweight. The highest prevalence of childhood obesity is in upper middle income countries. This high prevalence of obesity has serious health consequences. Raised body mass index is a major risk factor for diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. Over weight and obesity in children can be associated with a significant reduction in quality of life. This can also lead to a high risk of teasing, bullying and social isolation.
Socioeconomic factors play a role in childhood obesity in that without the proper economic background one would most likely not be able to afford healthier and nutritious foods, as they can be more costly. Without proper nutrition during childhood can affect child long term.
Impacts of Childhood Obesity...
* Risk of injury....Obesity in children causes them to fall every now and then while playing and the risk of other injury arises and there are chances of brain injury, back injury, sprains/strains, joint dislocations etc.
* All medical problems....Children with obesity are prone to develop certain other medical problems too such as diabetes, cholesterol, infertility in future etc.
* Medical services......Obesity in children also increases the uses of all other medical services especially the pediatric services as their medical problems will be more than …show more content…

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Childhood obesity has become such a serious issue and now it is the major problem that the medical world is facing. Therefore, many measures are taken to curb this issue. Healthcare Organizations are currently acting very seriously to tackle this problem.
Awareness is created among parents so that they see to it that kids do not put on weight. The importance of proper diet and nutritional would need to be made a priority and that kids are introduced to exercise and increase their physical strength so that the obesity problem can be kept at bay. Mothers are needing to be educated regularly so that they take care and know how to better address the issue. Workshops and medical assistances are provided at frequent intervals to also assist.
Examples of such interventions include:
• the building of sporting facilities and playgrounds, mapping out of walking itineraries, and the hiring of sports instructors;
• the offer of cooking classes to families, the offer to 'at risk' families of counselling and overweight children encouraged to see a

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