Children Obesity and Fast Food



Children Obesity and Fast Food

Abstract

Many leading health officials consider the current epidemic of childhood and adolescent obesity in the United States to be the greatest public health problem facing us today. Obesity is more than being just overweight; it refers to being excessively overweight. Individual's health is determined through his body weight. In children, risks of morbidity and mortality increases due to overweight and obesity. This also increases the chances of health related diseases in children. Major causes that lead children to obesity and the relevant health problems are lack of exercise and increasing reliance of fast food. The major objective of this paper is to examine how the use of fast food relates to risk of obesity in children.

Obesity in Children: A Quick Statistics

For children obesity, age plays a critical role, unlike the adult obesity. The importance of age is more for the children because there is a strong correlation between the growth patterns and age of a child. The growth outside the normal ranges raises serious concerns for a child's health. Researchers and medical practitioners have developed various ways to find out that whether or not a person is obese. One of the most common methods used for this analysis is the measurement of Body Mass Index (BMI) of a person. This measure provides with the relation between height and weight of the person, and helps to determine that whether the weight of a person is in safe limits or not. If a person has a BMI of 30 or greater, he is considered as obese. In addition to BMI measurement, various other tests such as physical examinations, blood test, and waist circumference are commonly used for determining obesity (PubMed Health, 2012).

Over the period of past three decades, there has been a drastic increase in the percentage of obesity, both in adults and children. About 1.4 billion adults in the world are obese, reported the World Health Organization. Nearly 65% of the world's population lives in such countries, where obesity is the bigger reason for killing people as compared to issues of underweight (WHO, 2012). In developing countries, the leading cause of the obesity is the increase in wealth, and the increasing using of junk or high calorie food.

Currently, 18.8 percent of children (ages six to 11) and 17.4 percent of adolescents (ages 12 to 19) are overweight or obese. This translates into nearly one out of every six young people in the United States, and this number is growing. Comparing these figures with those from the previous generation reveals why so many experts are alarmed. In 1980 the percentage of obese children was 7 percent and the percentage of obese adolescents was 5 percent. In just one generation, obesity prevalence among children and adolescents has almost tripled. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that approximately 17% (12.5 million) of children and adolescents are suffering from obesity between the ages of 2-19 years (CDC, 2012b).

CDC has also reported notable ethnic and racial differences in obesity prevalence ...