Childhood Obesity Causes

The Causes and Effects of Childhood Obesity One of the biggest concerns among health care providers and parents in the last few decades has been childhood obesity. This has caused many problems; among the most concerning is a preventable health problem. Professionals have even considered it an epidemic, which raises even more concern about the future of our youth. It also opens our eyes to see that the problem is much bigger than we thought it to be. The major causes for obesity are the rise in fast food consumption, the popularity of soft drinks, and the lack of physical activity in young children. The first cause for childhood obesity is the rise in fast food consumption. The consumption of fast food is
Many people try to watch what their children eat, but usually overlook what they are drinking. Children are naturally attracted to sweets and prefer to have a sweet drink rather than water, simply because it tastes better and the more sweet drinks they have the less they want to drink water. Soft drinks are filled with sugar. The human body uses sugar and transforms it into energy which we use to move around and do all kinds of physical activity. The problem is that when ingested in large quantity the body transforms it into fat. Kids are also fooled by the media. Commercials and advertisements of athletes drinking sports drinks to perform better, makes children think that these drinks are healthy but they are usually really high in sugar. There are hundreds of different kinds of drinks making the choice of drinking water less appealing each time. What many people don't know is that there is nothing that can ever replace
Today children have so many different ways of entertaining themselves that physical activity is just another choice, a very unpopular one. As technology grows going outside and running around seem less and less appealing. Television, computers, and video games are among the most popular forms of entertainment for children. Children can now play as their favorite sports star and live the experience of a professional game with cheers and applauses for their good performance. It is also easier to become a master of the game in front of a monitor than actually doing the sport physically. This makes kids feel better and they don't get tired or sweat. They can also put a lot more time and effort than in the field. They also feel accomplished because they are good at something they like to do. The bad thing is they are just accumulating fat because they are not burning all the calories they are ingesting. It has also been proven that children tend to eat more while watching