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Obesity and its effects on society
Negative effects of childhood obesity
Obesity and its effects on society
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Child obesity has turned into a huge problem that continues to increase every year and parents seem to be either helping the situation or hurting the situation by specific actions they take. Each year the increase of numbers in childhood obesity keeps growing. Back then, it was rare to hear from a parent that their child was obese because back then all kids did and liked to do was go outside to parks, play sports, take walks anything that dealt with the outdoors made any kid a happy kid. In today’s world, that theory of play time does not exist nearly as much as it used to because of what society has introduced to the world. Society has introduced us to all these new and fun types of technology that keeps us from doing what we should be doing to stay active. Instead it teaches kids how to become more lazy and inactive and parents make it worse by realizing the affects they just do not care to do anything about. Therefore, the real question becomes are parents to blame for childhood obesity?
This question can be answered in many different ways. Immediately, when people look at this question people would say yes because look at society right now, it has turned into an epidemic. Others would say no it is not the parents fault its all society’s fault and the way they turned this world into with bad influences. The majority of parents would deny their lack of responsibility when it comes to raising their children right and would most likely besides blaming this epidemic on society but also on the genetics of the family as well. However do they know that only 5 to 25% of genetics have the risk of obesity. (La Roca, The Internet Journal of Allied Health Services and Practice). That little percentage could have the possibility to be from...
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...f they try their best to be a role model for their children then they should be proud, if they do not comply by these rules then they are the reason for childhood obesity.
Works Cited
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Polgar, S. Thomas,S,A. (2000) .INTRODUCTION to Research in the Health Sciences, 4th edition, Harcourt publishers Ltd. London.
Our families could do more to encourage their children to make changes in their lifestyle early on in their lives. You can see this in a child who is raised in a family that is not concerned about the eating habits that he is developing, by the time the he enters school it may already be too late. The child could enter depression as other kids make fun of him for not fitting in the “norm”. Then back at home the family may even encourage such eating behaviors to the child. Families spend lots of time being concerned about other health aspects of their kids, but fail to see that being obese can have very powerful emotional impacts on their children.
In the recent decades, obesity has grown into a major health issue in the United States within young people. With 31 percent of the United States of children being obese, the United States has become the country with the highest rate of obesity in the world. Obesity is not only found among adults, but it is also now found mainly among children and teenagers. The childhood is a very important period for the initiation of obesity especially in this time. Eating practices that children are taught or learn during childhood affects a person later in their life whether they know or not. Multiple studies have confirmed that childhood obesity in the U.S has been on a rise for years. One out of three children in the U.S are obese, most of them face a higher risk of having medical, social and academic problems. Childhood obesity also leads to many health problems among young people. Those problems include diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and many more others. These problems cause a rise in health care costs that their families might have to pay sooner or later. The influence of parents and the media play a big role in causing these problems to happen. Some people believe that a family with an obese child should not raise child protection concerns if obesity is the only cause for concern (Callaghan, 2010). However, doctors should always be mindful of the possible role of abuse or neglect in contributing to obesity. The result of some research that was done on the symptoms of neglect shows a clear correlation between childhood abuse and obesity in childhood. A study of American school children has found that after controlling for socioeconomic status, those who were physically abused were more likely to be obese (Callaghan, 201...
Venker, S. (2010, March 30). Busy Parents: The Real Cause of Childhood Obesity | NewsReal Blog. News Real Blog. Retrieved February 16, 2014, from http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/03/30/busy-parents-the-real-cause-of-childhood-obesity/
In the documentary Killer at Large, former Surgeon General Richard Carmona remarked that “Obesity is a terror within. It’s destroying our society from within and unless we do something about it, the magnitude of the dilemma will dwarf 9/11 or any other terrorist event that you can point out…” Carmona is indeed right, with the rapid increase of obese children, America is on the fast track to producing a generation with a life expectancy shorter than their peers. One of the main factor is the media representation of obesity (Greenstreet 2008). In today’s society parents are not only worrying about televisions influence on their kid’s behavior but their weight and health, too. According to study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, that researched the role of media in childhood obesity, stated the obesity increased by 2% for every hours of television in adolescent’s ages 12 to 17. The advertisement of food and beverages present a very strong influence on the children. Most of the products being advert...
Hype words like ‘epidemic’ have been used to stress the relevance of obesity in today’s generation. The situation has been mainly accredited to poor parenting as well as the accessibility of high sugar and low quality food in developmental stages. However, this issue is not limited to cost and upbringing. It is crucial for parents to be aware of the media that exists encouraging children to partake in challenges similar to what is seen on Man v. Food.
Ogilvie, Jessica Pauline. “Pro/Con: Does Obesity Qualify as Child Abuse?.” Chicago Tribune. 29, August 2011. Web. 31, August 2011.
Although inherited conditions have been linked to childhood obesity, they are rare. However it has been noted that children with obese or overweight parents are more than likely to be obese themselves, the reason for this as described by Heaton-Harris (2007) is because of the length of time it takes to break a bad habit. Unless the parents are correctly informed of healthy diets themselves the problem will continue from an ill-informed childhood into adult hood. Other probable causes are numerous ones. Fast food and processed foods becoming more read...
Health Services Research Foundation. (n.d.). CHSRF - Romanow Commission . Splash . Retrieved February 1, 2011, from http://www.chsrf.ca/PublicationsAndResources/PastSeries/RomanowCommission.aspx
...clude, obesity epidemic in America has become a real threat for the American children and first who can stop it are the parents” (Childhood Obesity Epidemic)
The situation of our children today is not what it should be by any means. There are more children than ever that are faced with childhood obesity. Children should not be concerned about running around having fun and exploring the world, not about what they should and should not be eating and the impact it will have on them down the road. This is the sad truth of how the world is today. Childhood obesity is caused by a number of factors, such as poor eating habits, the absence of exercise, and poor family habits. These are all things that are not controlled by the child themselves. These are the responsibilities of the parents or guardian. Not only are the parents at fault, but schools and government, as well.
Parents have always known about obesity and what the affects obesity has on people. Although parents have known about this preventable disease, they are just now becoming more aware about what is happening to their own children. Now they want to start pointing fingers as to why these young children are becoming obese; nobody wants to take the blame for putting these young lives at risk. “Greenbalt states in his article that obesity is becoming an epidemic that there is about 300,000 children each year that die because they are overweight....
Obesity is a modern epidemic in America and is starting to become our society’s “norm.” According to an article in Progress in Health Sciences, childhood obesity is the most frequent eating disorder (Koukourikos). There are several factors that contribute to the childhood obesity epidemic. Should we solely shun the parents of obese children for this? No, we should not. There is not one single person to blame, but several people, along with our society. Family, friends, and schools all play a very important role in teaching children about healthy food choices and exercise. Children may have a greater risk for obesity due to genetic factors. We need to constantly remind our children how important it is to maintain a healthy lifestyle so that
A lot of children are overweight and obese too, unfortunately. Childhood obesity is especially sad because, for the most part, the parents are at fault. The child, especially when they’re young, have no control over what they eat and couldn’t try to be healthy, even if they wanted to. “In 2013, 42 million children under the age of 5 were overweight of obese.” (Obesity and
Parents are not teaching children how to eat healthy. They feed them cheeseburgers, chicken fingers, and fries. Kids are not being exposed to a regular diet of health fruits and vegetables. Now some people are just naturally overweight, but being “overweight” is not the same as being “obese.” Someone who is overweight has reached a maximum weight limit for their height. When someone goes beyond this maximum limit, then they are considered “obese” (Kiess 1). Research shows that “obesity is generally defined as the abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat in adipose tissue” (Kiess 1). The increase in childhood obesity today is mainly the fault of the parent because they are unable to tell their children “no” when it comes to junk food (Kiess 104). Parents are the one buying all the food that comes into the house. They are the ones buying the sugary drinks and chips. They are the ones allowing the children to “have what they want.” Because parents are not teaching their children how to eat healthy, we will continue to see childhood obesity increase. Unfortunately, overweight children will be the ones who suffer because statistics show children who are overweight are more likely to become obes...