Childhood Obesity: A Growing Problem

1088 Words3 Pages

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...

... middle of paper ...

... 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. .

Open Document