Research Paper On Childhood Obesity

Childhood Obesity: A Growing Epidemic
Obesity is a growing epidemic that has not only plummeted the state of the nation’s health and welfare but has increased the health risks of a growing majority, childhood obesity. Childhood Obesity has become a eminent problem through unhealthy eating habits passed on from parents to children at home, the prevalence of fast food restaurants at every corner resulting in a ever growing middle class, the next generation.
Childhood Obesity is as a result of poor eating habits taught to the children from their parents. The unavailability of parents to provide enriching foods for their young ones has resulted in an increase number of obese preschoolers. In a recent study by Dr. Glenn Flores, a Pediatrics and Public Health Professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical school
in Dallas, stated that an increase in preschoolers weight shows prevalence in ethnic minority groups.
He preludes that a cumulative study documenting racial and ethnic disparities in children’s weight states that “almost 1 in 5 American 4 year olds is obese and the rate is alarmingly higher among American Indian children, with nearly a third of them obese”. The information is considered alarming as the nation will in a few years become a “minority majority”. With the rate of obesity that now exists there is a prediction that this generation that will increase government spending in health care and become more prone to succumb preventable diseases. This increase in obesity rate in the core of a generations development is a reflection of the practices of parents who overindulge their time and effort into working and paying bills and less time in developing healthy habits eating
habits and lifelong practices. In addition Jessica Burger, a member of the Little River Ottawa Tribe and Health Director of a tribal clinic in Manistree, Michigan, attributes childhood obesity in minorities through “federal commodity programs for low- income people that many American Indian families receive”. She proposes the obese levels for minority household are high based on the high carbohydrate dietary bases which these minorities receive from government.
With the prevalence of fast food restaurants on every corner of every avenue it has raised the hurdle of maintaining a healthy diet to an even higher point. Parents in minority are having less and less time to spend with their children and as such are unavailable to prepare salubrious dishes for them. This encourages them, the children, to eat out more often and to practice various eating habits detrimental to their health. In a study by epidemiologist Dr. Andrea Sharma she proposes that in order for changes in childhood obesity and obesity on a whole there needs to be some form encouragement to understand good nutrition and promote physical activity. She encourages this by way of increasing the intake of water and fruits and lessening that of sweetened beverages and high calorie foods
Childhood Obesity is on the increase and even though not one factor can be blamed for its increase , the underlying fact is that there needs to be a change in what is being done now. It’s a matter of children living what they learn and if it is being done in the home its more likely that it will be done by them. Therefore if bad eating habits are being practiced at home it is only congruent that they will do the same. But if the family can be encouraged to make better choices that results in children adapting to more enriching practices thus a reduction in the levels of obesity , not only in children but adults on a whole.