Childhood Obesity as One of the Most Significant Health Issues - Essay Example

?Childhood Obesity Introduction Childhood obesity is one of the most significant health issues that the United s confronts today. The number of obese children in the country has increased considerably vis-a-vis the 1970’s. As things stand, close to one-third of all U.S. children are overweight, and 16 percent are obese (Kimbro 2010). The absolute numbers are indeed worrisome; however the bigger cause of concern is the rate at which the problem of childhood obesity is spreading in the country. A problem in itself, obesity is expected to increase the rates of many other chronic diseases also (Frieden 2010). The American Academy of Pediatrics terms childhood obesity as an ‘unprecedented burden’ on the children’s health. The unnecessary weight gain, primarily due to poor diet and lack of exercise, accounts for as many as 300,000 deaths each year.  It is estimated Obesity costs the society, on an annual basis, nearly $ 90 billion (Stewart 2009). Methodology for Determining Childhood Obesity To determine whether a child is overweight or obese, the body mass index (BMI), a measure that uses a child's weight and height, is calculated. Body mass index (BMI) is expressed as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared (kg/m2). The BMI is a realistic estimation of body fatness for most children and teens even though it does not measure body fat directly. Unlike the BMI categories used for adults, a child's weight status is determined with the help of an age and sex specific percentile for BMI. This methodology is adopted because the children's body composition varies as they age and differs for boys and girls. In normal parlance, the terms ‘overweight’ and ‘obese’ are used interchangeably. However there is a technical difference. Overweight is defined as a BMI at or above the 85th percentile and lower than the 95th percentile for children of the same age and sex while obesity refers to the BMI at or above the 95th percentile for children of the same age and sex (Milne 2007). Risks Associated with Childhood Obesity Obesity is associated with numerous risks for children not only when they are young but also during their later life. Obese children are susceptible to having high blood pressure and high cholesterol as well as heightened risk of impaired glucose tolerance. Close to 70 percent of obese children have at least one additional risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (Frieden 2010). Such children are more prone to contracting Type II diabetes, breathing problems and asthma. Obese children are also known to have medical conditions like joint problems, musculoskeletal discomfort, fatty liver disease, gallstones, and gastro-esophageal reflux. The adverse effects of obese continue even as these children grow. As adolescents, obese children have a greater chance of encountering social and psychological problems resulting in poor self-esteem. It is a myth that plump babies naturally outgrow their baby fat. The reality is that excess weight tends to persist in later life as well. There is empirical evidence that establishes the fact that obese children are more likely to become obese adults and this obesity in adulthood is prone to be more severe. Children who are obese at age six have a 50 percent higher chance of being obese as adults, irrespective of the parental obesity status. Four-fifth of obese children at ages 10-15 also tend to be obese at age 25 (Frieden 2010). The obesity in adulthood leads to a serious health conditions including heart disease, diabetes, and is even responsible for some cancers (Berger 2006). Causes of Childhood Obesity In simple parlance, childhood obesity is the consequence of consuming more calories than an individual can burn. Many factors, biological, economic, and social, converge and are responsible for childhood obesity. Each of these factors has a significant influence on the type of food ingestion, method of food preparation as well as on food consumption (Procter 2008). Various experts have put forth numerous causes of childhood obesity including lifestyle, genetic and biological causes. Lifestyle Causes Excessive Media Viewing A Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation report specifically explored the role of children’s use of media in increasing childhood obesity. The study reveals that the present day children have access to TV shows and commercials, specialized cable networks, video games, computer activities and to the World Wide Web. On average, children spend close to five-and-a-half hours on such activities. In the 1970’s children viewed, on average, 20,000 commercials on television in a year. The figure spiked to 30,000 commercials by the end of 1980’s and to 30,000 by the late 1990’s. It is being estimated that children now view as many as 40, 000 television commercials every year. These advertisements expose children to promotional messages of non nutritional foods. They also influence the children to make unhealthy food choices, suggests the report. Moreover children tend to snack more when they use any of the media mentioned above. This, in turn, results in lesser consumption of the nutritious food that forms a part of the daily meals. The association of unhealthy food products with popular movie characters is only making matters worse. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation report reviewed more than 40 studies. The analysis of these studies suggests that there exists a positive correlation between children’s use of media and childhood obesity. The National Health Examination Survey (NHES), conducted on 13,000 children, established that among 12-17 year-olds, the prevalence of obesity rose by 200 basis points or 2 percent for every additional hour of television viewing. Another national survey of 700 children aged between 10 and 15, conducted in the 1980’s, revealed that children who watched television for more than 5 hours a day were 4.6 times more likely to be obese vis-a-vis children who watched television for less than 1 hour a day. Using the CDC’s 1999 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data, a study conducted a national survey on more than 12, 000 high school students and established a positive relationship between watching television and obesity. The report theorizes that longitudinal studies can provide better evidence into the media use and obesity relationship because the impact of media use on body weight may emerge and may be more conspicuous over longer periods of time. Eating Habits In addition to the quantum of food that one eats, the type of food and the frequency of eating also have a bearing on the weight of the child. Obesity results from eating too much as well as eating the wrong things. Consumption of food and beverages that are high in energy density but low in nutritional value, such as food high in sugar and fat, has also been linked to weight gain (Frieden 2010). Abstinence from eating fruit and vegetables, excessive consumption of alcohol and eating larger portions than required are all contributing factors towards obesity. Increased availability and consumption of sodas, snacks and junk food in public schools, emergence and increase of fast-food outlets across the country, availability of high-calorie, high-fat grocery products are the often cited causes of childhood obesity. Lack of Physical Exercises A reduction in after-school athletic programs and a general reduction in physical activities of children have been instrumental in childhood obesity reaching alarming levels. Quite regrettably, young children today do not invest time in structured physical education programs. This, in part, is due to children hankering after the World Wide Web as also the parent’s high expectations of good academic scores rendering a child a bookworm. Genetic Causes Obesity is a multifactorial, genetically determined, neuroendocrine, and chronic condition (Klinik 2006). It has often been seen that some people have the tendency to put on weight even if they are very careful about what they eat. On the other hand, some people just do not put on weight even if they eat a high calorie diet. The reason behind this is the human genes and the role they play in obesity. There is strong evidence that genetic factors are responsible for childhood obesity. Some genetic conditions can lead to a dramatic increase in one’s appetite, resulting in the individual eating up too much. Likewise, particular genetic variations have a higher propensity to store fat in the body leading to excessive fat and obesity. A study published in journal Science reveals that scientists have found a variation or “misspelling” of DNA located near a gene which is responsible for affecting the metabolism. Researchers from the Department for Genetics and Genomics at Boston University uncovered this difference after examining the DNA samples of 9,881 people over a 24-year span. The study established that people of different groups; racial as well as ethnic, who had the same misspelling also had a heightened risk of obesity. The study found that a tenth of the population who had the misspelled DNA also had a 30 percent to 50 percent higher risk of becoming overweight. Another study, conducted by researchers of University of Cambridge and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, scanned the copy number variants (CNVs) of each of the severely obese 300 children under study. CNVs are large chunks of DNA either duplicated or deleted from the genes. Scientists have reasons to believe that this type of mutation plays a significant role in genetic diseases The CNVs of obese children were compared with the CNVs of more than 7,000 participants in the control group. It was found that found that certain parts of the genome were missing in some patients with severe obesity thus cementing the belied that genes may be the cause of obesity. Biological Causes Parental Obesity Status A latest study, conducted by researchers at Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospital in London, established that a weight-regulating hormone defect tends to develop in obese mothers. The researchers found that leptin, the hormone responsible for controlling the desire to eat, is overproduced in obese women. The excessive level of leptin has the potency to damage the weight-control gland in the fetuses, which may lead the child to become overweight. Lack of Breastfeeding Support Breastfeeding gives protection from childhood overweight and obesity (Pritchard 1997). In the United States, three-fourth of the mothers start breastfeeding their new-born. However, merely 13 percent of such babies are exclusively breastfed at the end of 6 months thus making the little ones more susceptible to obesity. Medical Conditions While obesity is responsible for many medical conditions, in some instances it is a result of an underlying medical condition. Cushing's syndrome, also known as hypercortisolis, is a hormonal disorder caused by extended contact of the body's tissues to high levels of the hormone cortisol. This rare medical condition leads to upper body obesity, rounded face, increased fat around the neck, and thinning arms and legs. Prader–Willi syndrome, also known as PWS, is a rare genetic disorder and is caused by a gene missing on part of chromosome 15. Children with this syndrome tend to be obese Socio-Economic Causes   Last but not the least socio-economic conditions have a bearing on childhood obesity. It has been seen that children from the low-income groups are more prone to becoming obese. The reason is not too far to seek. The poor families just do not have the money to ensure healthy eating habits for children. Since all the time is spent trying to ensure that they are able to make both ends meet, physical exercise is not at all on the priority list. Prevention Measures and Policies Obesity is regarded as the easiest medical conditions to diagnose but one of the hardest to treat. Thus the best way to combat the issue of childhood obesity is to initiate and implement measures that prevent it, rather than cure it. Given the high rate at which childhood obesity is increasing in the U.S. experts suggest that efforts to prevent obesity should begin long before a child enters school. Looked at from a different perspective, if all the obesity causing factors are addressed and taken care of, the problem of obesity would cease to exist. For e.g. one of the stated causes of obesity is that infants not being breast fed for longer periods of time. Now, if the proportion of mothers who continue to breastfeed their children up to at least one year can be increased dramatically, be it through the support from family, friends, communities, clinicians and health care leaders, or through new regulations, the incidence of childhood obesity in the United States will automatically decrease. Broadly speaking, obesity could be tackled through lifestyle improvement, medical procedures and appropriate policy level interventions. Lifestyle Improvement Better Media Habits The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation report lists numerous preventive measures to reduce the incidence of childhood obesity. Since the report explored the association between media use and childhood obesity, majority of the prevention measures suggest that rules and regulations pertaining to advertising be made more stringent. The report has also recommended either a complete elimination or a considerable reduction in cross-promotions between popular children media characters and food products that do not have nutritional value. The crux of the prevention policies in the report include a complete ban on any advertising to preschoolers, a ban on advertising of junk food to very young children and a prohibition on food product placement in children’s programming. The American Academy of Pediatrics has termed advertising aimed at children to be ‘inherently deceptive.’ Young children cannot distinguish between an advertisement from a regular program or news (Frieden 2010). Keeping this in mind several countries, including the United Kingdom, Norway, and Sweden have banned advertising of unhealthy food to children. The United States, where childhood obesity levels are too high for comfort, should also follow the same path. Some headway towards childhood obesity reduction will be made if the food industry voluntarily develops and adheres to marketing guidelines that minimize the exposure and sale of unhealthy food to children. In case the industry does not take this initiative, appropriate regulations should be framed, implemented and enforced to protect the children (Frieden 2010). The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had taken a step forward in this direction when, in late 2009, it proposed voluntary standards urging companies to refrain from marketing food with less that the specified nutritional value to children. In an earlier attempt in the1970s, the FTC had proposed all-encompassing regulations to restrict television advertising to children but, for some reasons, these proposals were eventually dumped (Frieden 2010). Active Lifestyle A straightforward way for parents to tackle the problem of childhood obesity is to ensure that the ‘obesity causing factors’ cease to exist in the child’s life. This may not be entirely in the hands of parents if the cause of obesity is a medical condition or is genetic in nature; however, if the cause of obesity is due to a sedentary lifestyle, parents can play a pivotal role in curing it. By simply changing a child’s deskbound lifestyle to an active lifestyle, parents can do a lot of good to a child’s health. Preaching here would not be enough though. To convince the child to adopt healthy lifestyle measures, parents have to, first and foremost, themselves be the perfect role models. It will be much easier for the child to adapt goods habits if the elders in the family are ‘doing’ what they are ‘preaching’. Simple measures like restraining children's television and other media viewing, promoting healthy sleeping practices, providing opportunities for physical activity and sending children only to those child-care facilities and preschools which follow the meal patterns established by the U.S. Child and Adult Care Food Program would be of great help in preventing obesity. Medical Procedures Obesity can be reigned in through counseling, medications as well as surgery. General Practitioners can hone their consulting skills and can convince obese children to do exactly what is required to combat obesity. Medications essentially work by making the child fee less hungry. These medications work best when used in conjunction with healthy eating habits and exercise. Surgery should be used as a last resort to cure obesity. The surgery may entail the use of restrictive operations like adjustable gastric band which makes the stomach smaller or malabsorptive operations like Roux-en-Y gastric bypass which makes it harder for the body to digest food. Policy level interventions Ironically, over the years, healthy food has become comparatively more expensive than junk food. One possible way to reduce obesity is to alter the relative food prices in a manner that the healthy food becomes cheaper and affordable to larger sections of the society and unhealthy food is practically out of reach for most. Decreasing costs of nutritional, healthy food would improve the balance of consumption and help in combating obesity. Taxing unhealthy food and using the proceeds from such taxes to support obesity prevention programs will be prove to be of considerable help. One cent an ounce of tax on sugar-sweetened beverages is likely to be the single most effective measure to turn around the scourge of obesity (Frieden 2010). Improving the image of healthy food, through advertising and other campaigns, will also enable children become more receptive to eating food that has high nutritional content and is good for health. Local governments and supermarket chains should join hands to enlarge the functioning of full-service groceries in underserved neighborhoods. Stores can augment sale of healthy food through attractive displays and placement of such food at checkout aisles. Governments should subsidize and thus encourage ‘green cart’ programs wherein farmers bring fresh produce into underserved areas. The government should direct vending machine companies to replace unhealthy items with healthier choices such as fresh fruit in their machines (Frieden 2010). Areas with greater density of neighborhood fast-food outlets are known to have higher rates of obesity (Kimbro 2010). Zoning restrictions, which limit the density of fast-food establishments, are worth given a try. These restrictions can specifically debar setting up of a fast food joint near schools. Conclusion Childhood obesity, one of the biggest problems that the United States confronts today, is a chronic disorder that has multiple causes. Over-consumption of calories, reduced physical activity and genetics play a vital role in causing obesity. Childhood obesity has a considerable affect on an individual’s physical and psychological health. Overweight children are at a higher risk of contracting cardiovascular or digestive diseases vis-a-vis their lean counterparts. A multi-pronged strategy is required to combat childhood obesity. In addition to the policy level interventions of the government, parents and day-care centers’ encouraging of children to eat healthy food and shunning the sedentary lifestyles would be really helpful in impeding childhood obesity in the United States. Works Cited Cookson, Clive. "Common Gene Causes Obesity, Says Study SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH." Financial Times: 7. 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