The Problem of Childhood Obesity

Have you ever been driving home from work or school and decided it would be so much easier to just stop and buy fast food rather than cooking a healthy, well balanced meal? You aren't alone. Today, with more and more people and families being on the run, fast food and microwaveable meals are become more popular. At the same time the health of Americans is declining, not only adults but more importantly children. Kids can't choose what they have for dinner, for the most part they eat what there parents choose for them. Every day, nearly one third of U.S. children age 4-19 eat fast food. The bad thing is this is putting these kids at risk for a number of health conditions and diseases that used to just be problems for adults. Unfortunately, the combination of fast food and other poor food choices along with a lack of exercise is leading to a dramatic increase in childhood obesity (about 15% of children and adolescents can be labeled as having childhood obesity) and in most cases the kids have no choice in the matter.

Childhood obesity is measured by a number of factors, including family history, the child's eating habits, the child's activity level and the child's body mass index or (BMI). When a child goes in for a yearly visit to their doctor, the doctor will compare the child's BMI to other children of their same age and sex to see what percentile they fall within. If a child falls between the 85th and 94th percentiles they are seen as overweight, but once they child hits the 95th percentile they are considered overweight.

Some of the risk factors for obesity at a young age include regular consumption of high calorie foods and a high degree of inactivity. As far as the high calorie foods go children these days are eating more and more fast food, baked goods, vending machine snacks, soft drinks, candy and desserts. A big problem is school lunches and a la carte at the middle school and high school levels. Most students don't eat breakfast and then they come to school and have pizza, nachos and cookies for lunch and maybe even a slushy. In addition, students are often faced with long lines and crowded lunch rooms so they end up eating nothing or eating junk food from the vending machine. Combining these food choices with a lack of activity puts kids right on the path for obesity. Inactivity is becoming a bigger problem then ever now that video games and the Internet fill up kids free time. Genetics, psychological factors, family factor and socioeconomic factors are also risk factors for kids.

The prevalence of this horrible condition is rising as you sit here and read this. In the past 20 years the proportion of overweight children ages 6-11 has more than doubled and the rate for adolescents ages 12-19 has tripled. 

Personally, I think that these statistics show a lot about what our country cares about. Instead of keeping our kids healthy and active we are more concerned with fighting wars across seas. I think our we have enough problems right here at home and this should be at the top of the list. If we continue like we are now, all of todays children are going to be obese and will end up being unsuccessful in our society as adults. These children could be part of the first generation whose lifespan will be shorter than the predecessor. 

In my opinion, more needs to be done to combat this issue now before it gets even more out of hand. As of now, some state legislatures are drafting and adopting legislation that increases and reinforces physical education requirements. In addition, efforts are being taken on to curb the sale of snack foods and carbonated beverages on school campuses. What I am most impressed with is what kids television stations are doing to help this problem. For example, the popular kids channel Nickelodeon just recently hosted their fourth annual Worldwide Day of Play, which encouraged kids to get up away from the television and play for the day. The channel actually cut their broadcasting for three and a half hours for one afternoon so kids would get up and play! Another great effort was done by creating a collection of PSA commercials with the cast of Shrek, players from the NFL and the Ladies Professional Golf Association encouraging kids to get up and "Be a player". The commercials encourage kids ages 6-11 to get up and play for at least one hour a day and the cast members demonstrate the fun they have doing just that.

 

Clearly, there is still much to be done to fix this problem. Teaching kids the importance of eating well and being active at a young age is crucial to reversing the trend of childhood obesity in this county. Therefore, parents and teachers need to step up and be role model for the children in their lives so that todays kids have the best future possible.