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Childhood Obesity

Childhood obesity is a serious public health problem in the United States. Not only does excess weight lead to medical and psychosocial disorders in children, there is a strong link between childhood obesity and adult obesity. Exacerbating the problem are trends in eating patterns favoring more and more convenience foods, of which fast foods are the most harmful. Fast foods are high in fat, sodium, and sugar while low in essential nutrients. The consumption of fast foods has had a direct impact on the increase in childhood obesity among American youth.

Obesity in children is defined by how much the child exceeds the recommended weight for his or her age, sex, and height. Generally, a child is mildly to somewhat overweight if he or she is up to 20 percent above this recommended weight. More than 20 percent is the beginning of mild obesity. An obese child is defined as more than 30 percent above ideal weight. Such children are likely to suffer health and social problems.

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 hyperlipidemia, hepatic steatosis, and ...

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Childhood Obesity. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 10:00, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1707577.html