Causes of and Solutions for Childhood Obesity

Obesity is a growing problem in the U.S. today as its prominence has increased in all age groups, especially in children and adolescents. There are many known causes of obesity, but the two factors that seem to have the most effect on weight are diet and exercise. Diet suggests that people are obese because of the food they eat and the exercise factor states that people who do not exercise are more likely to be obese (CDC 2010). Although these two factors are related, one may be identified as being the stronger cause of obesity. By analyzing both of these factors and taking action to improve on them, the growing trend of childhood obesity can be controlled.

By looking at statistics, it can be seen that obesity is affecting youth more than other groups in our nation. Obesity is typically measured by Body Mass Index (BMI) which determines if someone is at a healthy weight or not. BMI is measured using a persons height and weight, but does not take into account a person's body composition. Since muscle weighs more than fat, sometimes BMI can be misleading therefore a person's composition must also be looked at to determine if they are obese or not. If a child's parents are obese the child is more likely to be obese (CDC 2010). This happens partly because of genetics, but mostly because the child's eating habits are going to be very similar to his or her parent. According to the Center for Disease Control, children become overweight and obese from consuming more calories than are expended (CDC 2010). Over one-third of the nation's youth are overweight or obese according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Kalb, 2010). Boys aged 6 to 19 are on average the group that is most overweight and even 10 percent of infants are overweight. These groups make up the over 25 million children who are overweight. This is a major problem because with this high number of cases of obesity there are more cases of type 2 diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, premature death, and other cases of fat related incidences (Kalb, 2010). With obesity as a major cause of these life shortening problems, everyday diet and exercise must be looked at in order to find out why these children are becoming more obese.

Diet has played a key role in the increase of overweight children today. Not only are children eating unhealthy food(HHS), but they are eating more of it. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human services, serving sizes of food have increased greatly especially in the fast food industry with the term 'super size' (HHS 2002). People eat more because they are being served more, not because they are hungrier. Children are most vulnerable because children like the taste of fast food and fast food restaurants appeal to children by including toys with meals. Children usually have limited money to spend and when hungry their best advantage is to purchase food from the dollar menu offered by most fast food restaurants. By advertising to children, fast food places are encouraging them to eat more of the nutritionally lacking food (Kalb, 2010). Fast food restaurants also benefit because they provide food quickly for working parents who do not want to have to go to a grocery store and then have to cook food. Sometimes fast food is even cheaper than healthy foods bought in grocery stores which shows that there is also a financial factor when it comes to diet. Another major aspect that leads to obesity in children are school lunches that are provided. Most schools have food provided for students at lunchtime, but do not offer healthy choices (Belkin 2006). While some schools have programs to make sure there are healthy foods available most children tend to choose the better tasting, but less healthy foods (Belkin, 2006). Schools usually have soda and snack vending machines which promotes students to consume more calories that contain no nutritional value. Children are consuming up to 3 times as much soda as they were in 1978 and even children as young as 7 months old are drinking soda (HHS 2002). Some schools have removed the vending machines from their campuses, but vending machines still remain at many schools nationwide. Children now are eating more meals away from home which is allowing children to decide what to eat when they are typically not well educated about what is good for them to eat. Children need to be educated about their diet and how many calories they consume needs to based on how many calories they expend on a daily basis. Educating children about what is healthy to eat is a responsibility that needs to be taken up by schools and the parents of the children. It is difficult for children to have a healthy diet when they are not given healthy options which is causing children to gain more weight. This consumption of calories is directly related to obesity, but another factor is how many of these calories are expended through these children's activity levels.

Exercise is an important complement to diet because it allows excess calories to be burned off. Weight is gained from the calories that go unburned because they are stored as fat so by not exercising more fat is being stored causing obesity. Children today do not exercise as much as they did in the past. About one third of adolescents do not get the recommended amount of daily exercise (HHS 2002). This main factor for this lack of exercise is the advances in technology because children are watching television and playing video games more often. Studies done by the ASPE have shown that time spent watching television is proportional to obesity. Also schools are not doing their part to help children get exercise because of sub par physical education classes and lack of recess time (Hu 2010). According to the CDC, high schools students are attending physical education classes less often and some high schools allow students to take other classes other than physical education. Some elementary schools have started a program that hires a recess coach to direct and teach students to play games during recess instead of children just standing around (Hu, 2010). This program has not become widespread yet so many schools are still not offering adequate physical education. There is also a financial factor involved because often schools do not have the money to keep physical education programs because money must be dedicated towards academics first. This is a difficult concept because while education is important, it is being put primary to health. While some children do take part in sports and other activities there are less children participating in sports and these children often do not participate in as much exercise as they should. There are other factors that do not allow children to exercise such as dangerous neighborhoods and use of cars and transportation rather than walking or biking. Also, kids are lacking exercise because society has changed so that often homes are more suburban so that children must be driven to school and other locations. Society has also changed so that children can pursue other avenues of activities rather than sports such as art or drama. However children are not being taught the importance of daily exercise so they do not think exercise is an essential part of their lives. Overall in order to fight obesity, children must exercise enough so that they burn off the calories they consume.

After looking at the evidence, it cannot be said that diet or exercise is more of a cause of childhood obesity because both factors affect each other. Children need to be educated about the food they eat and about how much they need to exercise on a daily basis. Parents and teachers can serve as good role models and help children at risk of obesity by teaching them games to play and offering them good tasting, healthy food choices. Physical education programs need to give these children the information they need to be able to take care of their bodies before they become overweight and obese. The best solution to the increase in children's weight is to combine a healthy, balanced diet with daily exercise and over time the nation's obesity rate should decrease if children begin to make the necessary lifestyle changes.

References

(2010, February 4). Healthy Youth Childhood Obesity. Retrieved March 23, 2010, from Center for Disease Control. http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/obesity/

Belkin, L. (2006, August 20). The school-lunch test. The New York Times.

Hu, W. (2010, March 14). Forget goofing around: recess has a new boss. The New York Times.

Kalb, C. (2010, March 14). Culture of corpulence. Newsweek.

(n.d.). Childhood Obesity. Retrieved March 16, 2010, from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/child_obesity/