...Childhood Obesity: That Turns Out To Be Major Adult Health Issues Thesis Statement: Childhood obesity in America can be controlled if a healthy lifestyle of exercise and healthy eating can be incorporated into each child's day. I. Childhood obesity in America A. Growing Epidemic B. Statistics II. Problems That Contribute to Obesity A. Advertisements B. Fast Food C. Game Systems III. Health Concerns A. Diabetes B. Heart Diseases C. High Blood Pressure D. Asthma IV. School System A. Healthy Foods B. Physical Education C. Healthy Lifestyle Education V. Activities and Diet A. Exercise B. Healthy Foods CHILDHOOD Childhood Obesity: That Turns Out To Be Major Adult Health Issues There is an update on one of the biggest epidemics in the world and that is childhood obesity that eventually becomes major health issues for adults. Over recent years and our economy in trouble, there have been budget cuts that affected our school systems. A several years ago the elementary schools had physical education five days a week, then it was changed to three times a week and now some of our schools only offer P.E. twice a week. Our children are not given the chance to run and play so that they can burn calories that they so much need. We need to get Physical education back into our schools and our children outside playing more often and as parents we need to take away the computers and game systems to get our children back outside running and playing...
Words: 1719 - Pages: 7
...Running head: OBESITY HAS BECOME AN EPIDEMIC 1 Obesity Has Become an Epidemic Helen Wyatt Strayer University OBESITY HAS BECOME AN EPIDEMIC 2 Lately more and more is being said about a certain “obesity epidemic” that allegedly afflicts a large proportion of the countries of the world and threatens a global health catastrophe. It’s the fastest –growing cause of disease and death in America .Obesity hits children and adults alike. Obesity begins early; obesity in childhood is a strong predicator of obesity in adulthood. Studies on obesity consistently report a higher prevalence of obesity in African Americans and Mexican Americans compared with the white, non-Hispanic population. We have an epidemic of childhood obesity. A study showed that nearly one in every four of the children in public elementary schools is overweight. Nearly two out of every three American are overweight or obese. One out of every eight deaths in America is caused by an illness directly related to overweight or obesity (Carmon, 2003). The definition of obesity is having too much body fat. Obesity occurs over time when one eats too much and moves too little. It is different from being overweight, which means weighing too much. Poor diet and physical inactivity causes overweight and obesity. Some people want to blame the food industry for our growing waistlines. The...
Words: 605 - Pages: 3
...Obesity: What can we do? Tracy Garrett Sep. 29, 2014 Obesity: What can we do? By: Tracy Garrett Professor Pearson ENG 122 September 29, 2014 Obesity: What can we do? Thesis Obesity is a medical condition where our body forms excess fat to the point that it is harmful to our bodies, young and old. Doctors have said that obesity is a terrible disease, like diabetes and high blood pressure. In this case, obesity has long term problems on our health. Obesity is the second leading cause of deaths that can be preventable, it not only affects our children, but adults are affected as well. As adults it is sometimes harder to get it under control, but we can do it and as far as our children we are the ones responsible for making sure that they stay healthy. Obesity: What can we do? Tg. Pp.2 Obesity is a very serious disease that people tend to look over, thinking that a person that is that big eats whatever they want when they want and their children are going to take after them. But what people don’t know is that behind every obese adult or child lies problems that will affect them for life and if it is not gotten under control then more serious outcomes will arise. As our young children get older the effects of obesity will shorten the length of their lives. Today in children, between the ages of two and five have excess body fat and already on their way to being obese. This...
Words: 1813 - Pages: 8
...Running head: Childhood Obesity in America: A Super-sized Problem That Plagues Our Society 1 Childhood Obesity in America: A Super-sized Problem That Plagues Our Society Elizabeth Widmeyer Western Governors University Childhood Obesity in America: A Super-sized Problem That Plagues Our Society 2 Childhood Obesity in America: A Super-sized Problem That Plagues Our Society Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic in America's society that is having an astronomical impact on the health of our children and our health care system. But, what exactly does it mean to label a child obese? According to Mayo Clinic (2014) “Obesity is a complex disorder involving an excessive amount of body fat.” Body fat is measured using the body mass index (BMI). A child's BMI is calculated by dividing their height by their weight. The calculation would then be graphed with their age in months to determine their growth percentile (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2001). A child is considered obese if they are in the 95th percentile or higher . A child who falls in the 85th - 95th is considered overweight and is at risk of becoming obese (KidsHealth, n.d.). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2014) there are 12.5 million Americans between the ages of 2 to 19 that are obese. Race, physical activity level and eating habits are three main components that can lead to obesity in children. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services...
Words: 1341 - Pages: 6
...Obesity Child Obesity Eng122 Hope Umansky January 23, 2012 Child Obesity There are many diseases that could attack our younger generation. Some of these diseases we can control and some we cannot. Child obesity has become a large issue in the United States. According to statistics, “between 5 to 25 percent of children and teenagers in the United States are obese” (Dietz, 1983, p. 676). More and more of our children are being faced with obesity every day. They are starting to call it a public health threat. “The increasing prevalence of childhood obesity through the United States has led policy makers to rank it a critical health threat for the 21st century.” (Koplan and Dietz, 1999; Modkdad et al., 1999, 2000; DHHS, 2001) We need to learn how to fight this disease. There are many ways that we can prevent this disease if we can accept the causes. Everyone has their own ideas of what the cause of this awful disease is but for me I think if adults of this world understood it there would be a mass deduction in child obesity. If we continue to let our children make their own health decision than our children will not only be obesity but they will start to have other health problems too. Just think about what would happen if we could control how children ate, exercised and understood their genetic. We can sit back and claim that the children are to blame for being obesity but they are not the one to hold all the blame. Children need to eat healthy meals every day. Adults are...
Words: 1539 - Pages: 7
...Report Children Obesity Mengtong Huang Holly Lachapelle Jung Ohyeon Professor Fidaa Shehada Global Citizenship (GNED500204) Due date: December 3, 2015 Introduction of children abesity and connected with GNED 500(by Holly Lachapelle) The topic of our social analysis is child obesity. As far as we know, childhood obesity is becoming a growing epidemic in the modern world. According to Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, “The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2012. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to nearly 21% over the same period.” (Ogden,2012) These numbers are concerning because childhood obesity leads to long term health risks including diabetes, heart disease and many cancers. As our society becomes increasingly technologically driven, our youth are becoming less and less physically active. Today’s children are more likely to send a friend a text rather than run over to their house and “call on them”. Modern conveniences and entertainment such as videogames, television, the internet, facebook and kid-friendly fast food joints play a major role in the growing rate of childhood obesity. Currently there are many efforts being made to slow down or reverse the negative effects of living in modern day society for our children. Some of these attempts include increased awareness about nutrition and exercise for our youth...
Words: 4176 - Pages: 17
...Childhood obesity is a condition that causes medical and psychological issues and can be prevented by proper diet and exercise to protect our children now and in the future. Children today are bullied more than ever due to the increase of obesity. Society sees a story in the news about crib recalls or toys made with a product that is deemed poisonous or dangerous and we immediately throw the toys out or take the cribs back. We care enough of our children to take away the dangerous products that could hurt our children; rather, we won’t do anything to take away the dangerous food products that could potentially hurt our children and their health. This is as a deadly issue as the recalled toys. We all may think we are doing the right thing in teaching our children the proper food to eat, or teach them right from wrong. We teach our children to buckle up in the car. We get them the necessary immunizations to make sure they don’t get sick. We wouldn’t let them play with fire or a loaded weapon. So how could we let them consume food that could give them health or medical problems in their future? Today, one in three teenagers are considered obese. This tops the major health topics of teens next to smoking and drug abuse. Yet when there is a story in the news about the rapid increase of childhood obesity or television programs such as “The Doctors” or “The Biggest Loser” we change the channel. Parents today seem to avoid this issue because it...
Words: 1632 - Pages: 7
...is happening to our children these last few years. Childhood obesity is becoming more prominent and should be on your priority list. I am currently a Registered Nurse enrolled in the University of Phoenix to obtain my Bachelor’s degree in Nursing. I have become more aware of my community and through different assessment in the assignments; I have had the chance to identify some of the different characteristics within my community that could adversely affect the health of the population. Childhood obesity is one of the factors that caught the most of my attention. My job now is to respectfully ask for conscientiousness and to educate the Board Members of precipitating factors that are contributing to this countywide epidemic. With rising costs and a slowing economy, I commend your efforts to explore additional ways the Dade County School Board can implement a more cost-effective margin with the various food programs you have recently implemented. As you know, there are always pros and cons to everything. During my community assessment, the main factor that was noticed was how obesity is presently harming and affecting our community’s health. Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) is the Honor Society of Nursing that works with the World Health Organization (WHO) that help to provide global initiatives to make a healthier more balanced world (STTI, 2011). In 2004, at the World Health Organization Assembly, a global initiative was adopted in reference to obesity. This is when the...
Words: 1362 - Pages: 6
...Childhood Obesity ENG 122 April 26, 2012 Childhood Obesity Childhood obesity is an ongoing problem that we will all face in our lifetime. We may encounter this from our own experience as being an overweight child, seeing it in our children, their friends or even in our grandchildren. We all need to have a better understanding of childhood obesity. We will start this journey by address a brief history of childhood obesity, short and long-term health concerns, methods for treating obesity, and prevention of obesity in children. The overall purpose will be to foster an understanding of the impact high-fructose corn syrup usage in the last 30 years has had in relation to the childhood obesity epidemic. Childhood obesity is not a new problem but it is becoming an epidemic in the United States. Dr. Fals (2009) writes, “this country has been struggling with obesity for well over 20 years now” (p. 1). Most of us can remember when there was maybe one overweight child in a classroom, now there are two to three instead. The National Center for Health Statistics has been conducting surveys since 1963 relating to obesity among children and adolescents in the United States (Ogden, 2010). This is the only organization that has solid scientific history and statistical data available. It appears that obesity was not tracked on a nationwide level prior to 1963. One reason may be that there weren’t enough cases of childhood obesity to raise any red flags up until the 1960s. Since...
Words: 1992 - Pages: 8
...Obesity has been an increasing problem across our whole nation over the last few decades. Since 1980 the number of young Americans who are overweight or obese has more than tripled (University of Rochester Medical Center). This disease has been rapidly growing and affecting countless lives, many of them people right here in Rochester, NY. Obesity is a growing concern and has begun to be a big problem among youth and children in our area. The national obesity rate in adolescents and children is 17% (University of Rochester Medical Center). For Monroe County as a whole, they are just below the national average at a 15% childhood obesity rate. The rate of the city however is a lot higher and is almost at 22%. According to a study done by the University of Rochester Medical Center, nearly 40 percent of children and teens living in Rochester’s city are overweight or obese (City Child Obesity Rate Almost Twice as Large as Suburban). The number lowers when looking at the suburbs of Rochester, but 25% of children are still obese or overweight in these suburban areas. We believe that these numbers are higher in the city due to a few reasons. The first and obvious reason would be due poor eating habits. These children are eating unhealthy meals and not getting a balanced diet that is resulting in extra weight gain. As a team we also realize that it is not just about and poor eating habits but also a lack of exercise. These children have not been getting an appropriate amount...
Words: 3009 - Pages: 13
...16, 2013 The Solutions to Childhood Obesity “Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled, and today, nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese. Children with childhood obesity face many health problems like type two diabetes, high blood, pressure and are at risk for many types of cancers. The lack of children’s physical activity today is one of the major factors that lead to obesity as well as eating unhealthy diets, the increased food portions and the lack of information about healthy choices. Dr. Anand, the Executive Director for the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, describes the prevalence of obesity as being “at epidemic proportions” (Center for Nutrition Policy & Promotion, 2008, pg. 2). This statement was made in 1998. Since then, the rates of obesity have continued to rise dramatically and if we don’t do anything to stop it these numbers will keep rising. Many people think that dealing with obesity is only the parent’s responsibility, but what we need to realize is that it is not only the parents responsibility, fighting this epidemic has also become the responsibility of our schools and communities. Obesity education needs to be in our homes, schools and our communities to raise awareness of the causes, as well as the risks. We need to take action in helping reduce this health problem which is affecting more and more children each day. Parents and children need to know how to eat a healthier diet...
Words: 2551 - Pages: 11
...The Relationship between Television and Childhood Obesity English 112-0903B-14 Abstract There is a link between childhood obesity and watching television. Allowing children to watch too much television, eating the wrong types of food and not being physically active is contributing to the health problems that are associated with childhood obesity. Childhood obesity can lead to elevated cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes. Children seem to spend more time watching television, playing video games and on the computer than anything else. Children between the ages of 8 and 18 spend more than 40 hours per week watching television, on the computer or playing video games. Experts suggest that parents need to limit the amount of time that their children spend watching television and encourage more physical activities. The Relationship between Television and Childhood Obesity The greatest health risk facing today’s children is not a disease or abuse. It is obesity. Obesity among children is at an epidemic level and needs to be of concern to anyone who has children. Childhood obesity has dramatically increased in the past decades. (Wilmore, 1994). Obesity is defined as an amount of excessive fat. (Lohman, 1987). Children tend to be obese more today than several years ago. There have been reports that suggest childhood obesity is linked to the watching of television, playing video games, being on the...
Words: 1155 - Pages: 5
...RUNNING HEAD: CHILDHOOD OBESITY 1 Childhood Obesity C. Kevin Barr SOC120 John Meeks February 8, 2013 CHILDHOOD OBESITY 2 Childhood Obesity and the Health Concerns Obesity is such a hot topic in America today and childhood obesity and the ethical arguments over obesity has greatly increased over the last 10 years. Health problems that occur from this deadly disease is something that no one wants to talk about. When people think about health, what usually is discussed is cancer or heart disease. Not many people really think about one of the biggest issues out there that is really not taken very seriously and that is obesity. In America there are hundreds of thousands of children that are overweight. Obesity is a disease, a disease associated with many other health issues, including congestive heart problems, diabetes among other physical and mental complications associated with this disease. We will discuss throughout this paper how one of the classical theories would help resolve the problems that are associated with the dangers of childhood obesity, then discuss the perspective of society and how it relates to relativism in today's world. There are many arguments about how childhood obesity starts, who's to blame for allowing this to happen and societies ethical and moral obligation associated with fixing the problem. Who or what is to blame for the...
Words: 1692 - Pages: 7
...12th, 2011 Obesity in school aged children Obesity in school aged children has become a fast growing epidemic. Obesity in children can never be a welcoming thought. Obesity is chronic and must be eradicated from the lives of our children at whatever cost. The risk factors may not start affecting the children now, but there is tomorrow and by then it may be too late. It is sad to report that 28% of school children between the ages of 6 and 11 are obese and are likely to develop type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, sleep disorder, asthma, liver damage, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Obese children are usually teased and bullied by their peers. They usually suffer from low self-esteem, depression and poor body image. While researching this topic, I learned a great deal and I am confident that as new programs are being developed and introduced in our schools, it is possible to eliminate and control obesity in school aged children. As an adult, we are accountable for what we put in our mouths. We know what is good and what is bad for consumption. Children on the other hand are not responsible for themselves; they eat what we feed them. They really do not know how to make healthy eating choices. So they rely on us for our sound judgment. Which that being said, the question remains who are to be blamed for obesity in school aged children? The Schools are the largest contributor to obesity, by way of the unhealthy foods they serve to the children. Thesis Statement ...
Words: 724 - Pages: 3
...Childhood Obesity Our nation has a rapidly increasing issue that requires immediate attention. “Results from the 2007-2008 NHANES, using measured heights and weights, indicate that an estimated 16.9% of children and adolescents aged 2-19 years are obese” (CDC, 2010). If this trend continues at the current rate, nearly 34% of our nation’s children will be obese. Twenty-five million, or one-third of America’s children will soon be obese. With the large increase of obese children, it is clear that childhood obesity has become a nationwide epidemic. Preventative measures need to be taken by society, industry, and individuals in order to allow children to reach adulthood emotionally and physically healthy. Children are considered to be obese when their body mass index (BMI) is at or above the 95th percentile of gender-specific growth charts (Office of the Surgeon General, n.d.). BMI is a reliable indicator of body fatness for most children and teens, however it does not measure body fat directly (OSG, n.d.). The United States Department of Health Services Center for Disease Control and Prevention is responsible for creating the growth charts. The charts are based on age and they are gender-specific. While the method for defining obesity is different for children than adults, the causes remain the same. Our society needs to support the prevention of childhood obesity. Government, industry, our nation’s schools, and parents should be at the forefront...
Words: 657 - Pages: 3
