Childhood Obesity

Annotated Bibliography

Latzer,Y and Stein,D (2013), article in the journal of eating disorders titled a review of the psychological and familial perspectives of childhood obesity

Obesity is appropriately defined when it comes to adults, yet in the matter of children and young adults, its definition is less clear. The Centre for Disease Control in the United States usually refers to growth charts, which include a gender based body index that stands between the ages 2 to 19 years. Overweight young adults and children are associated with a host of emotional and social problems such as reduced performance at school and in their respective social circles. This also includes peer teasing at schools and low body image of self that ultimately leads to depression, binge eating and ultimately self harm. Recommendations include assessing the child with age appropriate tools also keeping their mental condition in mind. Any assessment ought to take the attitudes of the parents into consideration. It is also recommended that adult specific tools should not be used on youngsters as their results might be significantly different (Latzer and Stein 2013).

Waters, E, et.al. (2013), reviewed article titled Interventions for preventing obesity in children, EBSCOHost

The term obesity describes the excess amount of adiposity above the required level in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Prevalent opinion today supports the use of body mass index, or a (BMI)) for children and adolescents. There are however, several cut-offs that have been marked for the use of children and young adults specifically. Yet despite this process, there exist a variety of definitions when it comes to obesity. The authors of the study found evidence to cautiously support BMI programmes aimed at children aged 6-12 years. What was also concluded was that school curriculum should incorporate healthy eating habits and make sure these are ...