The American Medical Association has recognized obesity as a disease (Pollack). Overweight is defined as having excess body weight from fat, muscle, bone, water, or a combination of these factors. Obesity is defined as having a surplus of body fat (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Similar to a disease, childhood obesity has cause and effects, treatments and preventions, and risk factors and prevalence. Parents have reported that they believe the children’s parents are responsible for healthy eating habits or lack thereof (Costley and Leggett 3).
“Obesity is most commonly caused by taking in too many calories as compared to what you are putting out” (“Childhood Obesity”). Taking in too many calories comes from either choosing foods with poor qualities like fast foods with high calories or eating an excessive amount of “healthy foods”. Calories can be put out the body by physical activity, heat generated from Food, and our inner clock. Being active will use an estimate of 30% of calories taken in; however, that percentage ranges depending on how active or sedentary a person is. “This stage is important to balance the calorie intake and outtake” (Berg 37). When we eat and after we eat, our bodies create a heat. “This heat helps the muscles move the food through the digestive tract and helps the specialized cells secrete juices for digesting, absorbing, and metabolizing the food. This process is called thermogenesis, which will burn up about 10% of the calories taken in.” (Berg 36). “Our inner clock manages heartbeat, cell repair, elimination, fighting infection, blood circulation, breathing, generating heat, digestion, producing and transporting the chemical compounds used in the body, and sending messages to and from t...
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... Obesity." MedicineNet. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. .
Costley, Kevin C., and Timothy Leggett. "Childhood Obesity: A Heavy Problem." Www.eric.ed.gov. N.p., 1 Apr. 2010. Web. .
Daniels, Stephen R. "The Consequences of Childhood Overweight and Obesity." Www.eric.ed.gov. N.p., 2006. Web. .
Earles, Kathi, Sandra E. Moore, and Cynthia Thomas. Scale Back!: Why Childhood Obesity Is Not Just about Weight. Chicago, IL: Hilton Pub., 2008. Print.
Pollack, Andrew. "A.M.A. Recognizes Obesity as a Disease." The New York Times. The New York Times, 18 June 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. .
Hellmich, Nanci, “Report maps out solutions to child obesity.” USA Today n.d.: MAS ULTRA-School Edition. Web. 6 May 2012.
Childhood obesity has become a huge problem in the United States. Over twenty one percent of African American children are obese, not including the twenty percent who were just overweight. Studies show that the increase in Type II diabetes, which is caused by obesity has increased dramatically in children of African American culture. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) The hospital costs associated with childhood obesity were 127 million dollars from 1997-1999, increasing $92 million from 1979-1981. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) However, long term effects are also a concern for adolescent obesity. Overweight children have a 70 percent chance of being obese or overweight adults, which increases to 80 percen...
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 an alarming rise in childhood obesity throughout the United States, making it an epidemic in our country. Obesity has become a threat to the health of many children. Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years. The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2012. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to nearly 21% over the same period.(Childhood Obesity Facts, 2015)
"Childhood Obesity." Childhood Obesity on the Rise. Mayo Clinic, 24 Apr. 2012. Web. 02 Mar.
Today, approximately 25 percent of children and teenagers are obese and the number is on the rise. Since the 1960’s childhood obesity has increased by 54 percent in children ages six to eleven. In children twelve to seventeen it has increased by 39 percent. (Silberstein, 1) Childhood obesity is so prevalent among these age groups that it has reached epidemic proportions.
Elissa, Jelallian and Steele, Ric. “Handbook of Childhood and Adolescent Obesity”. New York, NY: SpringeScience+Business Media, c2008.Print.
Causes of Overweight/ Obesity. There are multiplicities of factors that combine to influence body weight including genetic, behavioral, metabolic, environmental, cultural and socioeconomic factors. The main cause is an imbalance of excessive calorie consumption and/ or physical inactivity. I...
This article from CDC talk about the basics about childhood obesity. It provides information on how childhood overweight and obesity is measured by calculating an individual’s body mass index (BMI). It also states some consequences that are related to childhood obesity, both consequences that can happen now and later...
J. Michael Wieting, DO, Med, Cause and Effect in Childhood Obesity: Solutions for a National Epidemic, JAOA; Vol. 108, No 10, Oct 2008. 05 Jan 2012
Institute of Medicine. (n.d.). Retrieved Jan 10, 2011, from Childhood Obesity Prevention Actions for Local Government: www.iom.edu/Activities/Childhood/LocalObesPrevention.asp
Obesity has been associated with energy intake and expenditure imbalance, genetics, cultural, socioeconomic, behavioral, and situational factors all play a role in eating and weight control (Bray, 2005). To get an idea of the scope of the problem, the American Journal of Health Promotion states that the rates of obesity has more than tripled among children and adolescents over the past 30 years (Gollust, 2014).
The effects of obesity in children are immediate health problems as well as long term health problems. According to the WebMD article “Children’s Health” states that “children have fewer weight-related health and medical problems than adults. However, overweight children are at high risk of becoming overweight adolescents and adults, placing them at risk of developing chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes later in life.” Obesity has negative effects on children, which raises concern, because lon...
Dietz, William H. "The Obesity Epidemic in Young Children." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 10 Feb. 2001. Web. 22 Apr. 2014. .
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.