The Debate of Childhood Obesity

A few decades ago, the debate of childhood obesity was not a matter to be discussed. Our parents and grandparents never questioned the weight of their children, their friends’ children or any other child they came into contact with. Their children ate healthy foods from the table and played outside all day. The subject of childhood weight has changed quit a bit since those days.
With the introduction of fast foods, Playstation and Xbox games, our kids live sedentary lives and therefore, have become very overweight. The epidemic of childhood obesity is rapidly rising throughout America. In just two decades, the commonness of overweight U.S. children ages 6 to 11 have doubled. The annual National Health and Nutrition Examination
Survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that about one-third of U.S. children are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight. Overall, approximately 25 million
U.S. children and adolescents are overweight or nearly overweight. This finding is very disturbing to many Americans and has caused many debates on how to handle the growing sizes of our youth.

Most Americans agree childhood obesity is more prevalent today than ever before. If you take a look into any American youth’s bedroom today, you will find video games, a computer and other electronic gadgets of all kinds. In this day and time, American kids have access to anything they could every want; just by asking mom or dad to buy it. If you looked into that same room fifty years ago you would have found baby dolls, Tonka trucks and books to read.
The playing of physical activity games outdoors has been taken over by the inactive high tech toys of today. Physical activity for kids at school has been replaced with more sitting behind a desk and learning. The kickball, dodge ball and volleyball games of fifty years ago have been replaced with class time learning about how they should exercise for health. But not all of the blame can be put on the school systems; parents need to lead by example. Kids of today learn about the right things to do at school but come home to mom and dad sitting on the couch watching television. One-third of today’s parents are overweight or on the verge of becoming overweight. If you took another look into the house of fifty years ago, you would also find mom at home and dad off at work to provide for the family. With the rising cost of day to day living in
America, most homes consist of both mom and dad working to make the ends meet. This new way of life has caused American families to eat whatever is convenient for mom or dad to prepare for that meal. Usually those meals come in greasy bags from fast food establishments or either in plastic wrappers that need to be taken off before microwaving the food to doneness. In most homes the stove never gets warmed from preparing a meal more than once a week. This has caused our youth’s weight to escalate. The obesity epidemic is especially a problem in areas where many people eat more convenience foods, which are typically high in calories and low in nutritional value. You can find that type of area just about anywhere in America.

Based on intake and physical activity data, the increase in the number of obese children is likely the result of a combination of children and youth eating more calories than they are using though daily physical activity. Weight gain results when energy expenditure is consistently exceeded by energy intake over time. Achieving energy balance is important for children to win the battle against obesity. Over decades, social and environmental issues have collectively created an adverse environment for maintaining a healthy weight. There are decreased opportunities for physical activity at school and after school and the competition for leisure time that was once spent playing outdoors is replaced with sedentary screen time including watching television or playing computer and video games.

Now, let’s take a look at a few facts that show how the American youth stands on obesity.
Over the past three decades, the childhood obesity rate has more than doubled for preschool children aged 2-5 years and adolescents aged 12-19 years, and it has more than tripled for children aged 6-11 years. Take note that, the trends in childhood obesity parallel that of U.S. adults. The obesity epidemic affects people of all age, race and ethnic backgrounds. An Asian child will gain weight the same as a Japanese child but there is evidence that the increase in weight is especially evident among African-American, Hispanic and American Indian children.
Approximately 30.3 percent of children, ages 6-11, are overweight and 15.3 percent are obese.
Overweight prevalence is higher in boys; 32.7 percent, than girls; 27.8 percent. With those kinds of numbers staring you in the face, the future doesn’t look too bright for the youth.

Today’s youth are considered the most inactive generation in history and marketing executives have taken advantage of it. American children are exposed to some 40,000 food advertisements per year, with 72% promoting cereal, fast food and candy. Studies show these ads to be very effective in shaping the food preferences of our children, as well as their eating habits. Going to school doesn’t provide much relief, either. Because, 60% of U.S. middle schools continue to sell soft drinks from vending machines. The meals being served in the majority of our schools exceed the federal limit on total calories and saturated fats in a daily allowance. Add to these examples the fact that only 28% of U.S. school students are involved in any type of daily physical education class, and it’s easy to see why nutritionists describe our nation’s schools as
“toxic environments.” The national debate concerning obesity has grown stronger in recent years. Doctors have taken notice of the rising weight in American kids and have lobbied
Congress to implement laws to govern schools and other organizations to provide healthy food and physical activity to our youth.

Although there are some genetic and hormonal causes of childhood obesity, it is not the explanation for the recent epidemic of obesity. While having obese parents more than doubles a child’s rick of being obese, the genetic characteristics of human populations have not changed in the last two decades, while the prevalence of obesity has approximately doubled. If children consume more calories than they expend through exercise and normal physical development, they gain weight. With this weight gain, you can count on having health issues that have lasting effects on obese children. Obese children can develop serious health problems, such as diabetes and heart disease, often carrying these conditions into an obese adulthood. Also, being overweight during childhood and particularly during adolescence is related to increased morbidity and mortality in later life. Type
II diabetes is rapidly becoming a common disease of children and adolescents. Type II diabetes accounted for 2 to 4 percent of all childhood diabetes before 1992, but skyrocketed to 16 percent of all cases by 1994. Overweight children are also at a higher risk of developing asthma, sleep disorders, liver disease, eating disorders, and other respiratory problems. Bones and cartilage are also affected by excessive weight on young bodies. Bone and cartilage in the process of development are not strong enough to bear the excess weight. The social and emotional fallout also can hurt the child. Children often tease or bully their overweight peers causing a loss of self- esteem and an increased risk of depression. Overweight children tend to have more anxiety and poorer social skills than normal weight children have. Social isolation and low self-esteem create overwhelming feelings of hopelessness in some overweight children. When children lose hope that their lives will improve, they're well on the way to depression.

Our children for the future are being failed. Healthy living needs to be taken seriously. More and more households have both parents working full-time jobs to provide shelter, food, and clothing for their families. Providing the basic necessities is not enough for a healthy family.
Parents need to become more involved in their child's life. The health concerns of the youth today are immediate and warrant urgent preventative actions. Preventing childhood obesity is a collective responsibility requiring individual, family, community, corporate, and governmental commitments. The key will be to implement changes from many directions and at multiple levels, and through collaboration with and between many sectors. A more positive role by our nation’s parents should be taken to lead our children to a healthier future.