Argumentative Essay On Childhood Obesity

In today’s society, childhood obesity is growing at an alarming rate. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past thirty years (OgdenCL, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM, 2014). In 2012, more than one third of our children and adolescents were reported as being overweight or obese. The consequences of this growing epidemic are becoming more and more detrimental to our children’s health. Childhood obesity not only causes short-term health problems, but there are long-term issues as well. It is rapidly becoming the “norm” for our society instead of the “exception”. We as parents, should educate ourselves and become active in saving

Busy lives filled with work, school, and extracurricular activities cause parents to rely on these restaurants for their convenience. Fast food chains now offer every item they sell “supersized”. One meal can have as many calories as is recommended for one full day. If a child eats fast food three times a day they could be consuming almost three times the recommended daily allowance. This along with the costs of fresh fruits and vegetables, and the availability of these foods makes it very difficult for them to make good choices. Parents often do not have the resources to provide their children with low calorie fresh foods. The cost is often out of their budget and the old habit of purchasing cheap fast food is hard to

Short-term health effects such as, high-cholesterol, high blood pressure, pre-diabetes, bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, and poor self-esteem. According to the CDC, obese youth are more likely to have risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure. In a population-based sample of 5-17 year olds, seventy percent of obese had at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease (Freedom DS, et.al, 2007). Obese adolescents are at risk for developing pre-diabetes. Both children and adolescents are at a greater risk for developing bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, and social and psychological problems such as stigmatization and poor self-esteem(2015). These conditions can lead to long-term health effects as well. Obese children become obese adults with a risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, osteoarthritis, and many types of cancer. For the first time we may be raising a generation of children that we will