Childhood Obesity

Childhood Obesity

Introduction

Childhood obesity is rising throughout the United States. An estimated 25 million children in the United States of America can be classified as obese. It has become a great aspect that can lead to increased morbidity and mortality rates throughout the world. Obesity has greatly increased in the recent years and is observed in many countries around the world. According to Flegal et.al (2002), “The prevention efforts that are being made in its concern are very low”. It is observed that obesity increases and starts in the early childhood and school age.

The most vital diseases that are related to obesity are diabetes, muscular tension, psychological disorder and hypertension. The obesity in children can be determined by the body mass index of the child. Bray (2004) Stated, “In past times from the starting of 90s it has been observed that the amount of children diagnosed with obesity has increased almost three times”. This dramatic increase is due to the various changes that have occurred in the physical and social environment of human beings. In order to decrease the increasing trend it is important to improve the situations of these environments and create more awareness in this aspect.

Problem

Obesity in children can lead to several diseases that may lead to serious complications. Childhood obesity can be a reason of dyslipidaemia, increased risk of blood clotting, hyperinsulinaemia and hypertension. According to Peter (2005), “The cardiovascular diseases are also known as insulin resistive syndrome and can be observed in children at the age of 5”. In the study of adolescents and teenagers or young adults where a presence of disease such as cardiovascular, there was also a link with the asymptomatic atherosclerosis and the rates observed where high are people who were obese.

It has also been observed that overweight children are at a higher risk to die from ischemic heart disease. The type 2 diabetes is also being observed in half of the population that now seek medical help related to diabetes. There are also some complications that are related to sleep disorders, breathing problems, asthma and intolerance to exercise. The development of breathing problems and exercise intolerance can lead a child to limit his physical activity which can eventually increase the weight of the child even more. Power (2006) found, “obese children are mostly concerned as unhealthy and may have bad results academically”. Childhood obesity can lead a child to create ...