Childhood Obesity Essay

667 Words2 Pages

Heart Disease Caused By Childhood Obesity
“In 2012, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.” (CDC) Childhood obesity is a problem that has inundated society for many decades. Almost anywhere that you go, you’ll see a magazine article or some sort of poster regarding childhood obesity. Childhood obesity can be defined as a condition where excess body fat negatively affects a child’s health or well-being. Majority of adults care about their weight because self-image is a very important factor in their lives, but when it comes down to children, many pay their weight a very minimal amount of attention. Due to the superfluous rise in the number of obese children over the past couple of decades, doctors and physicians have become concerned about this trend. This concern is raised by the various diseases and health issues accompanying childhood obesity. Childhood obesity puts children at a greater risk for developing health issues and diseases of the heart.
Obesity is strongly associated with diseases of the heart and blood vessels in many ways (Smith 5). Firstly, obese people are more probable to develop atherosclerosis, which is a hardening of the arteries occurring when there is a build-up of fat, cholesterol, and other substances in the body. It is proven that atherosclerosis is more prevalent in obese individuals than individuals who are not. This condition can lead to a myocardial infarction, or what we call a heart attack. After a heart attack, it is very difficult for one to recuperate, especially a child. Following a heart attack, the heart is damaged and may not be able to pump sufficient amounts of blood throughout your body and death or disability may occur.
Secondly, with body fat being ...

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...rts have suggested that communities and schools become involved by eliminating the amount of vending machines throughout schools and places within the community. It is also suggested that the government become involved and lower the prices of healthy food choices, and limit the promotion of unhealthy foods.
It is imperative that society coalesces to help prevent childhood obesity. No child or parent wants to suffer through any type of heart condition or disease, whether it be now or later on in their lives. Experts have seen the rising obesity rate as a wake-up call to take the “epidemic” of childhood obesity very seriously. Because of the fact that childhood obesity is interconnected with so many health issues it significantly affects lifespans. Childhood obesity can be prevented and needs to be in order to ultimately save the lives and future lives of children.

The Center for Disease Control Discusses Childhood Obesity
532 Words | 2 Pages
CDC talks about the immediate health effects happening to children and adolescents. For those who are obese are at a risk for bone and joint problems, inability to breathe, social, and poor low self-esteem. Approximately, 5-17 year olds, 70% of obese youth is at a high risk of getting cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease is high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Obese adolescents are more likely to carry a condition called pre-diabetes, which is a development of high blood glucose that becomes diabetes. The long-term health effects of obese children and adolescents are at more risk to obtain adult health problems. The conditions of adult health problems are much worse conditions that connect to heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and several types of cancer, arthritis, and stroke. Those who struggle with being overweight or obesity combines the risk of having cancer with the internal organs like the breast, colon, esophagus, kidney, pancreas and many more.
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Obesity in Children Across America
1344 Words | 3 Pages
A child who is obese is automatically more likely to be exposed to a variety of health hazards throughout his or her life. It is estimated that “15 percent of children between six and nineteen suffer from obesity” (Lee and Sprague). A person who is deemed obese, is someone who has “a body fat percentage of more than 25 percent in boys and 32 percent in girls” (Lee and Sprague). Being severely overweight exposes you to more diseases than someone who is not overweight. Obese people “are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes . . . [from] being overweight” (Lee and Sprague). Some health issues, such as hypertension, heart attacks, and cancer can be obtained from being obese. There is also a great risk of “heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer and other chronic illnesses” when you are obese (“Hope”). high cholesterol as well as high blood pressure. Being obes...
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Analysis of Childhood Obesity in America
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The overall rate of obesity for children comes in at 17 percent, or about 12.5 million obese children in America today (Doheny 1). The number of children who are obese is growing at a fast rate. Most cases of childhood obesity are caused by eating too much and exercising too little. Extra weight puts children at a risk of serious health problems; such as, diabetes, heart disease, and asthma (Smith 1). Although obesity can be prevented, it has become a growing problem among children due to several factors that lead to health problems.
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Persuasive Essay On Childhood Obesity
1327 Words | 3 Pages
A national epidemic is occurring, the war between food and people. In the United States, about “32% of children (from 2 to 19 years old) are obese” (Bernadac 1). As the years continue to go on the rate of obese children are increasing as well. In the past the problem did not have much consideration due to a low rate of affected children. Now families are suffering the long-term consequences of having an obese child. Some of those health effects are “Heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, several types of cancer and osteoarthritis” (CDC 1). A problem with this type of drastic effects may have a solution; method prevention for the future generations and correct treatment for those who are already obese can lower the rate.
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Childhood Obesity
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In order to impede the epidemic of childhood obesity, the actual causes of the problem need to be evaluated and dissected. Obesity in children is becoming a huge problem in American society. In the past three decades, the rate of overweight children has increased by 300%. This is an alarming rate that is only climbing higher. Every member in society should take steps to becoming healthier. This would help the present generations as well as future generations to come. The lifestyle of Americans keeps us too busy to be a healthy society.
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The Pros And Cons Of Childhood Obesity
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Childhood obesity has been on the rise in the last couple of years. In the 1970’s childhood obesity was never a concern to the public until the number increased over the years. An alarming rate of 31% of all adults have been obese since they were children and the rates of childhood obesity don’t fall too behind with an 18% of children being obese. That makes almost half of obese adults and children. A child that is obese has a 70-80% higher chance of staying obese even through their adulthood if no action is taken. Childhood obesity is not something children are in control of, these children suffer from different outcomes since they can’t look after themselves and heavily rely on someone to aid them when they need it. These numbers can be drastically altered in a positive way by educating both children and parents about healthy, nutritious foods to consume, supplying schools with better lunch and healthier vending machines with healthy choices and promoting after school activities to keep children active and away from electronics.
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One thing that obese people must put up with is being unhealthy, not just physically unhealthy, but mentally unhealthy as well. This unfortunate reality is present in all ages. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute did research on the health risks of being overweight and obese. They discovered that in adults, the health risks of being overweight include, but are not limited to, “coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes, type two diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cancer, sleep apnea, gallstones, and reproductive problems.” Overweight children, on the other hand, are less prone to these health conditions unless they remain heavy through adulthood. Since obese or overweight kids are very likely to stay that way over time, in the end they may be subject to the same health problems as corpulent adults (1). Moving on...
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Heart disease and obesity goes hand in hand. There is much more of a common occurrence for people who are overweight will more and li...
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Why Vending Machines Should Be Banned From Schools
1027 Words | 3 Pages
For instance, if a school makes $20,000 a year out of these vending machines, they have to spend 25,000 to hire janitors and custodians for the extra load of work. Also, the school administrators are encouraging these vending machines just to earn the profit for the schools, but the real question is are they really earning profit? No. “The schools sell junk food so they can finance the purchase of such things as computers, teacher training, and other educational supplies” (par.8). I can understand that schools often need extra budget to manage their expenses, but they can do other things like organizing concerts, plays etc to earn the money, rather than relying on these vending machines. I also believe that parents are equally responsible for their child’s poor nutrition and health, because they give money to their children for buying the junk food. However, some parents do care about their children’s health “Parents group in Philadelphia have successfully blocked a 43-million dollar contract with Coca-Cola, and others have forced schools to sell only nutritious snacks during lunch” (par.18). These kind of actions should be taken on an emergency basis nationwide, because this is the matter for our future, which relies on the well-being of the
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Childhood Obesity
1849 Words | 4 Pages
Childhood obesity is a serious problem among American children. Some doctors are even calling childhood obesity an epidemic because of the large percentage of children being diagnosed each year as either overweight or obese. “According to DASH sixteen to thirty-three percent of American children each year is being told they are obese.” (Childhood Obesity) There is only a small percentage, approximately one percent, of those children who are obese due to physical or health related issues; although, a condition that is this serious, like obesity, could have been prevented. With close monitoring and choosing a healthier lifestyle there would be no reason to have such a high obesity rate in the United States (Caryn). Unfortunately, for these children that are now considered to be obese, they could possibly be facing some serious health conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancers. All of these diseases have been linked to obesity through research. These children never asked for this to happen to them; however, it has happened, and now they will either live their entire life being obese, or they will be forced to reverse what has already been done (Childhood Obesity).
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Argumentative Essay On Childhood Obesity
1357 Words | 3 Pages
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
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Childhood Obesity Persuasive Speech
1313 Words | 3 Pages
It causes heart diseases from high cholesterol and high blood pressure, asthma, and type 2 diabetes, and other health conditions. Obese children can have weight related health problems all the way into adulthood. This is something we need to resolve not only does it because physical pains but also psychological issues. Obese children tend to have low self-esteem and other social problems because of their weight. This is caused from the discrimination that overweight children and adults can face in their life.
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2150 Words | 5 Pages
Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the last thirty years, it has recently become one of the major health issues in children. Children who are obese have a greater chance of getting other major health issues such as; heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer. Not only does this child have a greater chance of getting other major health conditions but they also have a greater chance of getting anxiety and depression because these children get bullied for being overweight. It affects these children as they are children but also as they grow older. According to the article “What is Childhood Obesity”, “Children who are considered affected by obesity are seventy percent more likely to cont...
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660 Words | 2 Pages
According to the 1999-2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination survey says that, 16 percent of children around the ages of 6-19 years old are at risk of being obese. Obesity has increased in the last twenty years now. Obesity is like other disease, it impairs the normal body functioning. Children who are overweight have excess fat tissue that caus...
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Childhood Obesity Reflection Paper
1589 Words | 4 Pages
Obesity simply put, is an excessive amount of body fat. Obesity puts children at increased risk of disease and other health-related problems. Childhood obesity is a very serious and ongoing problem-putting children on the pathway to health conditions earlier in their life such as diabetes, elevated cholesterol, hypertension. Childhood obesity also has a link to depression as well as affects the self-esteem of children and adolescent. I recently performed a community teaching on childhood obesity and will be discussing the teaching experience, observation, summary of the teaching plan, epidemiological rationale for childhood obesity, evaluation of my teaching and the community’s response to the teaching.
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Childhood Obesity Essay

The Center for Disease Control Discusses Childhood Obesity

Obesity in Children Across America

Analysis of Childhood Obesity in America

Persuasive Essay On Childhood Obesity