Childhood Obesity as a Public Health Problem

Some public health experts contend that childhood obesity has developed into a crisis in the United States. The prevalence of this problem has increased over the past two decades. Between 11 percent and 25 percent of U.S. children and adolescents are overweight. Although medical experts are unsure of how childhood obesity develops, contributing factors are a sedentary lifestyle and the consumption of foods that are high in fat and calories. These factors are fairly recent phenomena: (Although obesity has underlying genetic causes, which may explain about 50% of the variation in body weight, the dramatic recent increase must be due to behavioral factors rather than genetics.( In other words, the modern American lifestyle plays a major role in childhood obesity.

The trend in obesity in children is disturbing because excess weight contributes to medical and psychosocial disorders. Medical disorders include hyperlip

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almost 50 grams of fat, and 600 calories . The American Health Foundation has established guidelines that recommend children consume sufficient fiber daily to meet the (age+5" rule. Meeting the age+5 rule means a child would consume an amount of fiber equal to his or her age plus an additional 5 grams of fiber. Thus a five-year-old should consume at least 10 grams of dietary fiber daily. Fiber is found in large quantities in certain types of breads, cereals, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and seeds. Unfortunately, most U.S. children consume inadequate dietary fiber. According to researchers who conducted a study of childhood eating habits, (We found that only 45% of the 4- to 6-year-olds and 32% of the 7-to 10-year-olds consumer enough fiber to meet the age+5 rule.( The typical child loves junk food and eschews anything related to vegetables. The greatest amount of dietary fiber most children consume comes from potato products such as french fries, potato chips, or baked potatoes. Many of these food products are consumed at fast food restaurants. Fast food restaurant advertising targets children through a variety of media, most notoriously television. Television is increasingly becoming a part of everyday life f
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Approximate Word count = 1991
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)