Childhood Obesity

Statistics show that childhood obesity is an increasing disease around the globe. Childhood Obesity is an abnormal accumulation of body fat, usually twenty percent or more over a child's ideal body weight. This excessive amount of fat, which builds up, can cause serious consequences. Effects that may include type two diabetes, thyroid disease, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, asthma, heart disease and many more. My research was based on childhood obesity in the United States. Approximately twenty three percent of American children and adolescents are over weight. Another seventeen percent are obese. There are many reasons why this is happening. Who is to blame? In my research there were critical points that I covered. My focuses were who is to blame, disease that are caused by obesity, methods that are being used to prevent and manage childhood obesity, and ideas that might be implemented in the near future.

Most parents are to be held responsible for their child becoming obese. Although many would disagree with this statement as Janice D'Arcy (2011) when she said, "When I look around, I see plenty of culprits other than individual parents. Municipal planners top my personal list. But there's a deep bench on this: sugar lobbyists, television-news-assignment-editors, video-game-hawkers, etc. etc."(para. 6). She does have a point, there are many things that can contribute to obesity, but parents are a child's first teacher. As parents, they need to teach them what is right and wrong. Eating healthy is a subject that must be covered. For example, everyone knows cocaine is very bad for you but it makes you feel great while you are under the influence. Ask yourself: Would I let my child use cocaine? Sounds ridiculous, right? Well it is not. If at the end of the day all you care about is your child feeling good. Does it matter what he or she takes to make him or herself feel good? Parents should make it their responsibility to help guide their children to healthy eating habits. There is a lot of information about how to maintain a healthy life style. Parents should know what is best for their child and they would never want to see their child harmed .If children's health and well -being is a parent's priority, than why not stop this disease before it happens. This is a disease that can be foreseen. No one, not even a child, goes from 30 to 60 pounds in a week.

At the beginning of the paper I described some of the effects that childhood obesity can cause. A few of them caught my attention and after further research much more details about these disease, which were mentioned above, came to light. The first one is type two diabetes is the most common disease caused by obesity, which leads to heart disease. It used to be a disease that only affected obese adults but in recent study it has shown that because of the increase in child obesity, type two diabetes is now seen in most obese children. Diabetes is when insulin, the hormone that transports the sugar to the cells, is no longer doing its job. Since the insulin is not moving the sugar to the cells the sugar starts to build up in his or her blood stream. (Fagot-Campagna & Narayan, 2001). The child must constantly monitor their blood sugar with a glucometer. If this machine shows that the sugar is to low you may have to inject yourself with insulin. This must be treated or it can cause death.

Sleep apnea is a disease that has to be taken just as serious as diabetes. It is also caused by obesity and surprisingly enough it affects seven percent of obese children across the country. "Sleep apnea is a sleep-associated breathing disorder defined as the cessation of breathing during sleep that lasts for at least 10 seconds. Sleep apnea is characterized by loud snoring and labored breathing. During sleep apnea, oxygen levels in the blood can fall dramatically" said Mallory, Jackson, & Fiser, 1989 (as cited in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011, para. 7.) In other words this disease can cause a persons death. Imagine not breathing for ten seconds. That would mean your brain is deprived of oxygen for ten seconds, which can be fatal. My brother was diagnosed with this disease at the age of thirteen. Since that age he has used a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machine. Every week or so, he has to use the CPAP machine to insure he does not die in his sleep. Therefore, I know first hand how bad this disease can be. It is very heartbreaking to see that his life depends on this machine.

Another effect, which was not mentioned above, is psychosocial. According to Obesity Reviews in 2003 the article Childhood obesity: a societal problem to solve, "Obese children and adolescents are targets of early and systematic social discrimination. The psychological stress of social stigmatization can cause low self-esteem which, in turn, can hinder academic and social functioning, and persist into adulthood."(Swartz, & Puhl, 2003, para 10). I have personally seen this in action. Kids that are obese tend to get picked on and laughed at because of their size. These obese children usually breathe heavy, are slow when they participate in physical activities, and sometimes even smell. It is certainly not nice and it would make anyone feel self-conscience. This kind behavior towards an obese child might affect their grades. It can even cause severe depression that can lead them to get more obese or commit suicide.

There are many methods that can be used to prevent childhood obesity. The first and main rule that parents must remember is children need to have healthy eating habits in order maintain average weight. Healthy eating habits can be a very simple task. Reading the back of label that are located on almost every food product sold can give you an estimate of how many calories are being consumed by your child on a daily basis. Eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, including low-fat or fat-free milk, portion sizes that are adequate for your child, drinking lots of water, and limiting the intake of sugar. The second step is to make sure that your child stays active. There are parents that go bike riding, take a walk in the park, and do workout routines with their children to ensure