childhood obesity

Childhood Obesity
The percentage of overweight children is growing rapidly in the United States. With one out of three children considered overweight or obese, childhood obesity needs to be paid attention to by people. Additionally, the health effects of childhood obesity cannot be ignored. For example, overweight children are likely to have more risks for different types of cancer, including cancer of the colon, kidney, cervix, endometrium, ovary and prostate, as well as other long-term effects. Therefore, the current major issue is how to solve the childhood obesity problem. To protect children from obesity, children should develop healthy lifestyle habits which include healthy eating and regular physical activities. Because school plays an important role in providing a supportive environment for children, it is critical that schools improve their dietary programs and physical activities. Providing PE classes and healthy food in schools is necessary for children because it can curb childhood obesity.
Childhood obesity means that a child is carrying excess body fat, which will cause negative effects on their quality of life and health. The situation of childhood obesity is serious. There are many children who are obesity in the U.S. In the past thirty years, childhood obesity rates have tripled in the U.S. Nowadays, the U.S. has the highest obesity rates in the world, which means that one out of three children is overweight and one out of six children is obese in the U.S. Only five percent of U.S. children age 2 to 19 were obese in the 1970s, but by 2008, around seventeen percent of children were obese and the percentage of the obese children held steady through 2010. This data shows that there are many children who are obesity in the U.S. Additionally, the drawbacks of obesity are serious. Obese children are likely to stay obese into adulthood and develop many diseases. Childhood obesity can cause high blood pressure and breathing problems. Moreover, childhood obesity increases risk of adult diseases like heart disease and cancer. Contemporarily, people have non-communicable diseases like cardiovascular diseases and many types of cancer at young age. For instance, expert have pointed out that the type 2 diabetes that people thought was linked to older people, is being seen in children as a result of childhood obesity. There is not only the health problem for obese children, but also the mental problems. Social exclusion and frequent bullying are often suffered by obese children. They also suffer from depression and self-hatred. Therefore, childhood obesity is one of the most serious issues in the U.S.
Knowing about the issue of childhood obesity is critical; people need to know the cause of obesity and the way to curb it. Obesity is the result of a gradual increase in weight that eventually reaches harmful levels. Childhood obesity results from different reasons like genetics and lifestyle. The basic cause of childhood obesity is that energy ingested is more than the energy burned off. Simply point, this means eating too much and not exercising enough. For example, when a child eats more calories than he or she is burning off, he/ she will accumulate fat. The child’s body fat levels will gradually increase and eventually he/she will end up overweight or obesity. This example shows that children are likely to become overweight if they eat energy-rich food and if they do not do physical activities regularly. Thus, to inhibit obesity, children should eat healthy and do physical activities. Moreover, for the most students, schools play the important roles of providing children a good environment and children spend much of their day at schools. Therefore, it is better when schools make sure children are eating healthy and doing regular physical activities. The reason for obesity is eating too much without enough exercise and the way to curb it is providing PE classes and healthy food in schools.
Some people are convinced that schools should provide PE classes and healthy food; others maintain that obese children’s families should take care of the problem individually. They hold the opinion that it is not the schools’ responsibilities to curb childhood obesity and that their unhealthy lifestyles are influenced by the home environment. Unhealthy family influences do make children overweight and obese. It is right to argue that unhealthy lifestyle is one reasons for children obesity. But people exaggerate the influence of the family and their argument is faulty because schools do have a responsibility to curb the children obesity. Few would deny that schools have the responsibility to curb the children obesity because they are institutions that aim at teaching students and helping students. The promotion of healthy eating and physical activities is a basic component of education. For example, we all know that children eat around 50 percent of their daily food at school and 95% of children are enrolled in schools. This shows that schools could dramatically influence most students’ eating and physical activities. It means that schools can go further to help children with obesity problems. Schools have responsibilities of curbing childhood obesity by providing PE classes and healthy food.
Although people realized that providing PE classes and healthy food in schools is important for curbing childhood obesity, the current situation in the schools is not optimistic. Most school dishes rely on low-nutrient-value food and children often buy unhealthy snacks and drinks from the vending machine. For example, schools always serve unhealthy food like hot dogs and hamburger with sugary drinks. Only 6 percent of school lunch programs meet the U.S. Department of Agriculture requirements, which provide the Dietary Reference Intakes and the Dietary Guidelines for students. There is a fact that compared with children who bring lunch from home, children who eat school lunches are more likely to be obese or overweight because of these high energy foods with little nutritional value. Furthermore, it is well known that many schools do not require or recommend physical education. There are only several states in the U.S. adhere to standards from the National Association of Sports and Physical Education which suggest that students should have PE classes for around 150 minutes per week. To curb childhood obesity, schools need to change.
Providing enough PE classes for and healthy food in schools to curb childhood obesity will take several steps. First of all, the government should originate the right policies. There should be a federal law limiting the number of calories and setting up the minimum standard of fruits and vegetables in every meal served at schools. The government needs to remove soda and candy vending machines in all schools. Next, schools need to make PE classes not elective courses, but required courses to make sure children engage in regular physical activities. Moreover, it is better for schools to provide a healthy environment for students. It means that curbing childhood obesity is not just for children, it is also for teachers, administrators, school counselors, nutrition services workers and school nurses. All the staff in the schools should set an example by eating healthy and doing physical activities regularly.
One reason why the situation is bad in schools is that advertising of unhealthy products is everywhere. For example, children can see posters of energy drinks for football games, the logo of a snacks company in the hall and even in the classrooms. Children can not only be buyers themselves, they can also influence their parents’ consumption and be consumers in the future. Because these snacks and drinks advertisements are aim at children and selling high sugar and
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high fat goods, children often buy those unhealthy goods which can cause the increase of the childhood obesity. People recognize that the increasing number of obese children results from advertising in schools. For example, many schools play Channel One which cannot be turned off. This channel broadcasts the school news as well as candy and junk food advertisement all the time. Gary Ruskin and Juliet Schor, the authors of the article “Every Nook And Cranny: The Dangerous Spread Of Commercialized Culture”, note that “Soda, candy and fast food companies soon learned Channel One’s lesson of using financial incentives to gain access to schoolchildren” (622).We can see that the emphasis on unhealthy food advertising are allowed in schools which cause the childhood obesity is because of the financial benefits from advertising. The authors explain that one possible reason of advertising program is that schools may have financial difficulties. If people want to solve the problems of the advertising in schools, people need to find a new way for schools to overcome financial difficulties. Compared to U.S. Schools, schools in China do not have advertising programs because they receive funding from the government. Enough funding can not only remove the need for advertising, but also provide healthy food and regular physical classes which can curb childhood obesity. Thus, the major problem for schools is the financial difficulties which need the support of the government.
People realize the importance of the providing enough PE classes for and healthy food in schools, but they face a big challenge which is that it will be too expansive for government to pay. It is true that the costs of healthy food and PE classes are high and too expansive. However, federal government spent 676,657 million dollars on National Defense in 2012 and the 11,000 million on Nation Lunch Program. Spending more money to curb the childhood obesity is not hard for the government. The federal government should spend more money on providing PE classes for and healthy food in schools to curb the childhood obesity, which is one of the major threats to students’ health. The rampant advertising in schools makes people think about the role of advertising and consumerism throughout the U.S. today. Obviously, advertising is significant to the U.S. society and it successfully plays a major part in people’s lives. However, the drawback of the schools’ advertising is the resulting serious issue of children obesity. Thus, people doubt that consumerism in today's society affects people lives strongly. Especially, many advertising campaigns improve brand affinity through targeting children. As people known, children cannot understand the selling purpose of advertising, and they are more likely to believe anything in advertising. Sometimes, the society is too focused on economic growth and advertising to make people buy the products. The goals of consumerism make these companies not care about people’s health and the environment. Childhood obesity is affect by advertising, which means it is also affect by the consumerism.
A strong contribution from schools can curb childhood obesity, which is a major issue in society. Improving efforts to promote physical activity and healthy eating is entirely consistent with the fundamental mission of schools. Thus, providing PE classes and healthy food in schools is necessary for children because they can curb childhood obesity which means they will educate children to become productive and healthy citizens who can make great contributions to the whole of society.

Work Cited
Schor, Juliet. Ruskin, Gary. "Every Nook And Cranny: The Dangerous Spread Of Commercialized Culture." Perspectives on Contemporary Issues: Readings across the Disciplines. By Katherine Anne Ackley. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage. Learning, 2009. 622-622. Print.