Causes of Childhood Obesity

Obesity is defined as an excessive accumulation of body fat. Obesity is present when total body weight is more than 25 percent fat in boys and more than 32 percent fat in girls. There are various medicines like Phentermine, Adipex etc. which aid in the weight loss for adults but these medicines are definitely not meant for children. Causes of Childhood Obesity:- Family: A child whose both parents are obese has a higher chance of developing obesity as compared to other children. This can happen for a variety of reasons like genetic factors or may be the sedentary lifestyle of the parents or the lack of exercise in their daily routine. This can make the child born with obesity. – Inactive Life: Children these days spend more of their time on playing video games and watching T. V. This has prevented the children of today to engage in some healthy ground activities like sports. Hence children are gradually becoming couch potatoes. Leading an inactive life has made them grow into an obese from just being overweight. – Heredity: Since not all children leading a sedentary lifestyle, watching more of television, and eating just about anything does not make every child obese therefore researchers are working upon the reasons that why it is so. Heredity has recently been shown to influence fatness, regional fat distribution, and response to overfeeding. In addition, infants born to overweight mothers have been found to be less active and to gain more weight by age three months when compared with infants of normal weight mothers, suggesting a possible inborn drive to conserve energy. – Lower income and education levels correlate to lower physical exercise levels in developed countries. – Television advertising of food and beverages directed towards children are usually for products that are high in calories, sugar, sodium, and fat. Being overweight can cause: 1.     Low self-esteem and bullying 2.     Behavior and learning problems 3.     Stress and anxiety 4.     Comfort eating 5.     Depression 6.     Type 2 diabetes 7.     High blood pressure 8.     Asthma and other respiratory problems 9.     Sleep disorders 10.     Liver disease 11.     Early puberty 12.     Eating disorders Prevention of Childhood Obesity: Obesity is easier to prevent than to treat, and prevention focuses in large measure on parent education. In infancy, parent education should center on promotion of breastfeeding, recognition of signals of satiety, and delayed introduction of solid foods. In early childhood, education should include proper nutrition, selection of low-fat snacks, good exercise/activity habits, and monitoring of television viewing. In cases where preventive measures cannot totally overcome the influence of hereditary factors, parent education should focus on building self-esteem and address psychological issues. Childhood obesity is an increasingly difficult problem. Action, if taken early, can change the outcome for obese children or even prevent it happening in the first place. An appropriate exercise problem is one tool that can alter the outcome for such children.

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2 Responses to “Causes of Childhood Obesity”

  1. The research clearly demonstrates a correlation between what children see in the media and how it affects their nutritional knowledge. Many children cannot discern what is healthy from what is junk food. The need for more parental controls and influence on healthy choices is very sound advice for combating childhood obesity. We must continue to raise the consciousness level on the fight against childhood obesity. As the author my new children book, “Sweetie’s Healthy Start” the main character, Sweetie, and her very overweight family learn the lessons of the need for good nutrition, making better food choices and how fitness can be fun.

    “The family that plays together, stays together”, is a cliché of sound advice. Family support is the greatest way to lose the weight and maintain good fitness throughout youth and adulthood.

    Terlene D. Terry-Todd, author
    “Sweetie’s Healthy Start”
    http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/SweetiesHealthyStart.html
    Blog: Creative Health and Fitness T. Terry-Todd – Wordpress
    http://tterrytodd.aegauthorsblog.com

  2. Kaye Abad says:

    Obesity is a growing health problem these days because people are too lazy to do some extra exercise and they eat too much. i always exercise and do cardio regularly to maintain a healthy weight.

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