Solving the Childhood Obesity Epidemic

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Recommended: Causes and solutions to child obesity

Obesity has increased drastically in today’s society. Alarmingly, present day generations show childhood obesity to be a growing crisis. Viewed as an epidemic, childhood obesity is sweeping across the United States and creating a public health crisis (Henry). Obesity in young children is contributed by different factors. Many are based off of lifestyles and peer pressure in schools and in households. “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2004), over 16 percent of children and adolescents from 6 to 19 years of age are overweight and/or obese” (Green 915). This reveals that obesity is a serious disease that is affecting many young people nationwide.
It was not until 2003 that obesity was recognized as a disease in the United States and before then a lot of insurance companies did not reimburse people paying out of pocket for their extreme over weight medical problems. “In July 2004, Medicare, recognizing that obesity is a critical public health issue today, changed its policy on addressing obesity”(Henry). Nearly one third of our nations children are considered obese, and the nation annually spends $150 billion dollar in health care. That is an alarming number, and the United States tax payers fund an approximant $60 billion of these costs through Medicare and Medicaid. With that said if child obesity was reduced by at little, as five percent, the nations health care savings could be greater than $29 billion. Unfortunately, instead of the child obesity rate decreasing, it has nearly tripled over the past few decades!
With that said, childhood obesity is impacting the youth of America, and overall affecting our society through different aspects, which typically continue into adulthood. The things children f...

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...besity.

Works Cited

Green, Gregory; Riley, Clarence; Hargrove, Brenda. “Physical Activity and Childhood
Obesity:Strategies and Solutions for Schools and Parents.” Education 132.4
Summer 2012: p915-920. Print.
Henry, Linda L; Martin, Patricia. “Childhood Obesity: What Can Be Done to Help
Todays Youth?” Pediatric Nursing 31.1 Jan./Feb. 2005:13-6. Print.
Staveren, Tonica Van; Dale, Darren. “Childhood Obesity: PROBLEMS AND
SOLUTIONS.” Physical Education, Recreation & Dance 75.7 Sep. 2004: 44-49,
54. Print.
"Children's Defense Fund." Childhood Obesity. Children's Defense
Fund, 2012. Web.
"Strategies and Solutions." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, 21 Feb. 2013. Web.
"Childhood Obesity – 2011 Update of Legislative Policy Options." Childhood Obesity.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, n.d. Web.

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