Child obesity has become a serious problem in America, and it is still on the rise. The amount of children with child obesity has more than tripled in the last 30 years at an alarming rate. It is now estimated that 1 in 5 children in America are overweight. And with this comes both long and short term impacts on these children. Those impacts are not only physical, but mental as well. Some studies suggest that the rise of obesity is the result of a society that does not support children and families effectively. Over the past 20 years, children have become neglected. Children need the correct guidance to live a healthy lifestyle. And adults need to be better educated to be able to do so. There needs to be changes made in our society to address this situation and to prevent the statistics from getting higher. The consequences of a child being obese are extremely serious. There are the short term physical effects such as blood lipid abnormalities, orthopedic and pulmonary problems, and high blood pressure. Children are also likely to enter puberty earlier than non-obese children, resulting in a shorter stature. There are many long term physical consequences as well. One of the long term consequences that needs to be avoided the most is the 70% risk of its persistence into adulthood. Among some other long term consequences are coronary heart disease, various cancers, and angina. Then there are the psychological effects child obesity has on an individual. And most often, obesity in children is a psychological disability. They have a hard time in school due to the hostile
social environment. Therefore a child will dislike and avoid school. Obesity often results in social isolation, negative body image, low self-esteem, and delayed psychological development. And unfortunately heath educators in the school system do not address weight for children as they would for racism or sexism. Therefore an obese child is not educated,
Cited: Mellin, Laurel. “Combating Childhood Obesity.” Journal of the American Dietetic Association 93.3 (1993): 265-267. Health Reference Center Academic. Gale. Web. 3 May 2011. Troiano, R.P. & Flegal, K.M. “Overweight Children and Adolescents: Description, Epidemiology, and Demographics”. Pediatrics, 101(1998): 497-504. Health Reference Center Academic. Gale. Web. 6 May 2011. Strauss & Pollack. “Epidemic Increase in Childhood Overweight.” Journal of the American Medical Association (2001): 286. Health Reference Center Academic. Gale. Web. 3 May 2011. Lopez, Luciana. “Leaner Lunches.” The Oregonian. 27 September 2004, Sunrise Edition: B01. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 3 May 2011. Carmona, R. H. “The Growing Epidemic of Childhood Obesity.” Journal of the American Medical Association (2004, March 2): 289. Health Reference Center Academic. Gale. Web. 6 May 2011. McCarthy, Claire. “Strong Medicine.” Newsweek. 22 March. 2010: 49. Acedemic OneFile. Gale. Web. 3 May 2011.