Child Obisity

What is obesity? Obesity is defined as having excess body fat. Obesity is a big problem in the United States, but one of the biggest problems with obesity is that it is becoming more common in children. Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years; in 2008 more than one third of children were obese (cdc.gov). There are many causes and effects of childhood obesity, but we can simply fix these by encouraging kids to be active and eat healthy. Many parents would like to say the reason why their children are obese is because of genetics but only in specific cases do genetic factors play a role in childhood obesity like certain medical conditions (Bigkid). What exactly are the causes of childhood obesity? Whether parents like to blame it genetics or not the simple fact is that their child just might have an unhealthy diet. The supermarkets are stocked with sugary goodness and fried snacks, although they might say they have some good vitamin sources and have zero Tran’s fats, but you have to take a look at the other ingredients in the snacks (cdc.gov). If your kids like to snack excessively you should really take a look at the ingredients on the snacks and instead of buying unhealthy snacks buy fruits and vegetables and limit the fried and sugary snacks.
Another cause of childhood obesity is insufficient exercise (cdc.gov). Not enough exercise also plays a big role in childhood obesity. These generations of kids aren’t into playing outside unlike other generations when that’s all they had to do; instead they spend their time with indoor activities such as watching television and playing video and computer games (cdc.gov). Unfortunately electronics has taken the children’s focus off of playing outside. With these two factors of becoming obese it can lead to many effects on children.
The effect of over eating or unhealthy diets causes one to have too much body fat and is putting more calories than the body needs and is able to burn off which can lead to harmful longtime medical conditions. Children who are obese are more prone to medical conditions; some of these conditions include bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, social and psychological problems (cdc.gov). Obese children are more likely to have pre-diabetes, a condition in which blood glucose levels indicate a high risk for development of diabetes (cdc.gov). Children who are already obese are more likely to become obese as an adult and are at risk for adult health problems such as, heart disease, breast cancer, prostate cancer, thyroid cancer and even cervix cancer (cdc.gov), these are just some of the long effects from being obese.
There are many physical effects of children being obese but there are also the mental effects of it too. The most immediate mental effect of childhood obesity is being discriminated against by their peers, which can lead to having low self -esteem. There was a study done by J.B. Schwimmer 2003, the study consisted of 106 children aged five to eighteen who all filled out a questionnaire about their quality of life and their scores were as low as those of young cancer patients (Marcus,Baron). This shows that children who are obese can have not only physical problems but mental and social problems as well. Other mental problems of obesity in children can lead to depression and sometimes even suicides.
Up to one out of every five children in the United States is obese, and this number is continuing to grow (cdc.gov).There are many causes and effects of childhood obesity but there are many ways where we can beat obesity in children as well.