CHILDHOOD OBESITY

Childhood Obesity

Is Childhood Obesity a Reflection of Parental Negligence?

Introduction

Childhood obesity refers to the condition in which fat in the body exceed to the limit, which can have negative effect on the well being and health of a child. This issue has attracted the attention of numbers of scholars from all over the world, due to the fact that childhood obesity is growing substantially in every society. Researchers have concluded number of causes which make a child obese; the most common among them is parental negligence. Parental negligence has been attributed as the main cause of childhood obesity, due to the fact that parents can control the food intake of their child. This paper in connection to childhood obesity critically argues the questions frequently asked by scholars, commoners and government officials that “is childhood obesity a reflection of parental negligence.”

Discussion and Analysis

Childhood obesity has now become almost a major epidemic that is spreading worldwide rapidly, which can cause irreversible damage to the health of children and young people, simply because of the carelessness of parents or guardians (Andersen, 2011). According to the World Health Organization (2011), obesity is defined as the abnormal accumulation of body fat that can harm the health of the individual. According to the International Association for the Study of Obesity (2011); obesity is now recognized as a global epidemic and a major public health problem worldwide. It is estimated that there are about 475 million obese adults and more than 200 million school-age children are overweight, making this first generation expected to have a shorter lifespan than their parents.

Overweight and obesity are important risk factors for cardiovascular disease, which are the leading cause of death in the United States and a major cause of death worldwide. At least 2.8 million adults die each year as a result of being obese or being overweight. WHO reveals that in 2010 around 43 million children under five were overweight. As the majority of these children live in developing countries, according to the IASO. In the United States, the most recent data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2008) show that about 17% of children and adolescents between 2 and 19 years are obese. Since 1980 the prevalence of obesity in this age group has tripled. One in three children between 5 and 9 years was overweight recommended by WHO, with 16.6% of boys were obese. Among girls, obesity was found in 11.8%. These data revealed a jump in the number of children between 5 and 9 years overweight, compared with data from previous surveys over 34 years. Among adolescents (10-19 years), the survey showed that 21.5% of adolescents were overweight, and obesity was found in a quarter of cases of overweight in both sexes. In this age group, both overweight and obesity showed upward trend in recent years. Thus, according to the statistics it can be claimed that the data are demonstrating an alarming growth of childhood obesity in recent years, and most urgent steps should be ...