Causes of Childhood Obesity - Research Paper Example

Causes of childhood obesity Introduction An epidemic disease in US is Obesity and it has been seen among children’s in huge numbers. This issue of obesity among the children’s causes high cost to the well-being; it has also affected health of children’s and leads in causing chronic diseases with their growth. This has also affected highly to the economic conditions of the individuals in the country. It leads to high burden on the health care systems and increases the economic expenses on the heath sector. Even with so much of public attention it is not sure at all which programs and policies are most effective to fight against childhood obesity. The US government has estimated that only in New York out of 4 children’s under age of 18 one is affected with obesity as a result of which approximately 1.1 million children’s are obese. Major problem is not with the lack of understanding of the causes but with the high number of cases coming up with obesity among children’s it is difficult to decide which policy and program is the best to fight this problem. Some of the factors like changes in life style and also changes in culture has made kids not so healthy and have increased the cases of obesity in the last few decades. Research question The research question for this research paper is been selected as given bellow. What are the causes of childhood obesity? Literature review As per Ebbelung et al, currently across the globe 18000000 childhood obese cases are been seen which is a very crucial matter to be looked upon by all the countries to reduce the affects arising from obesity. According to Lissauet al. 2004, the countries with less obesity in the earlier years have shown signs for higher childhood cases from the last few decades because of the change in culture and their living standards (kalies, Jacksonville and Kries 112-120). Klein in 2008 stated that America is the fastest developed nation and also richest country in world, but the cases of obese has always hindered the name of the country in different countries. Robert Burton has said that to speak over the remedies and cures for fighting obesity is a waste until the perfect cause for the problem is been found and searched. In an international review Silventoinen et al. explained that genetics played a strong on variation of body mass index (BMI) among various ages and this factor is far stronger than the environmental influence of the country over the children’s. Even in 2004 Baur and O’Connor said that the rise in obesity among children’s is due to the changes in physical and social environment (Paxon 234-240). Research Methodology This particular research over the causes for the rise in obesity in US is been done using secondary data. The secondary data is been obtained by having a good study of a large number of books, journals, articles and also materials found in online sources. This data is been analyzed critically to achieve the correct reasons for the cause. The method of collecting information from the secondary data is done to get the clear view from the studies made by scholars earlier regarding the obesity and its affects and also the major causes for which the rate of obesity has increased at so fast rate. Qualitative method is used for getting the findings because this method we can come out with the correct causes and quantitative data cannot be done as causes cannot have any numerical data for calculations. Analysis and findings Obesity gets its impact over people from a very young age. Lot of children’s in US is overweight, which can lead them to serious health problems in their future life like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and cause heart problems. Getting overweight might be because of the reason of the family members who do not allow the students to get enough exercise or play outdoor games (Frugier 45-50). The research paper to find the causes is based majorly over three major factors, which are been listed below. The behavior and characteristics of child which decides over the diet intake and physical activities done by the children’s. The child’s life style is highly affected by the family and parenting styles. The community, social and demographic characteristics which has a great role to play in forming the life style of parents and as a result children’s are also affected. In this the socioeconomic status, physical environment, advertising and ethnicity is been seen. Child behaviors and characteristics Genetics is a strong factor that does exist in the development of obesity among the children’s. Huge number of genes is linked with the fat generated in the body. Six of the major genes which cause obesity from childhood are been found but this cases is very rare to happen it cannot lead to such high rise in obesity over the last few years in the US. Thus the major chances of such high-rise are related with the life style of the children’s in the society (Smith 67-75). The birth weight of child seems to be having its impact over the weight among children’s. Various research reports have shown that birth weight and BMI are interrelated to each other. Nut studies have also shown that BMI (Body Mass Index) does not affect the body composition and covers both fat and lean mass (Brownell and Kelly 56-60). Dietary intake is the major reason which shows the amount of energy consumed. The food intake of children have change a lot over the last few decades which has affected the rise in the obesity among children’s in such a fast rate (Brownell and Kelly 334-340). This change of diet has come up because of many reasons and has influenced the cost and also the time for consumption of food items. The innovations in agriculture and processing process of food have led t reduction I cost of food and secondly the rise in income among the parents of the children’s have given them more opportunity to increase their spending power over food and thus their food styles have changed a lot . Thirdly with the increasing stress of studies and work has reduced them with the time for consuming food as a result children’s have started to take more of fat foods. The biggest surprise is that children’s who consume high amount of fruits and vegetables were found to be more overweight than those who consume less, this is because of the over consumption in volume of the food consumed by the children’s as they have also started consuming lots of cold drinks which are highly fat drinks and also the consumption of fast food has gone up in huge numbers. Apart from the high increase in intake of food items the amount of physical activities among the children’s have gone down in huge way because of the stress of high competitive studies environment and also children’s find themselves busy with so many new coming up activities and attractive features in social media, mobiles and laptops. Change in Parenting styles and family characteristics Parents play a major role in shaping the characteristics of their children’s. With increasing time of working for the parents and both mother and father working the amount of breast feeding to be given to a child goes down to a great ratio as a result of which other substitutes are been given as food for the child. This results in wrong food practices among the parents which influences a lot over the children and they also start taking various fast food, soft drinks and other sugar drinks which are good in taste though not good for health and as a result affect the child’s health in a huge way as these foods have lots of fat in them and these fat leads to obesity among the children’s in huge way. Thus the changes in parenting style over the last few decades have affected a lot in the high rise of obesity among the children’s. Community, demographic and societal characteristics Advertisements shown on TV and also various other media advertisings also cause child obesity. Through these media advertisements to which children’s of this generation are very much attached a they get a lot influenced by seeing the various advertises which show huge variety of soft drinks and other sugar drinks promoted by celebrities who are looked upon as super heroes by child’s thus children’s look to take those kind of food and drink products more than healthy foods as a result of which the obesity gets into child’s and over the last few decades it has increased in huge numbers causing a lot of problems for the country (Lorentz 340-346). Socioeconomic status (SES) is the status of individual’s connection with group and society. It affects the rise in obesity with the increasing changes in economic condition and with increase in income the consumption of food has also increased and because of the jobs pressure in the parents they develop a lot of sedentary behavior wherein the physical activity is very low as a result of which the children’s also get influenced and stop more of physical activity. Conclusion By using this research it is seen that the rise in case of obesity among the children’s in USA has increased in huge numbers in the last few decades. There are many reasons for such a high rise in the obesity among the children’s. The major causes that are found for this huge rise is parenting style, the changing lifestyle characteristics which has changed their food habits starting from childhood where children’s are been fed with alternate food items than breast feeding them. This change in lifestyle of parents has also reduced the amount of physical activities done by them as a result they become more lethargic and have also increase the amount of volume of food been taken by the children’s as a result children’s grow in lots of fat and it brings obesity in them from a very small age and this can lead to many other diseases in the future life for them. Works Cited Brownell, Kelly D. Childhood obesity. 2005. Web.5 March 2014. Vol.21 (4). Print Brownell, Kelly D. Public Concern Regarding Childhood Obesity. 2006. Vol.42 (9). Print Frugier, Marie K. Childhood Obesity in the United States. Russia. Novinka Books. 2004. Print. Kalies, hamburg, Jacksonville il lenz, Kries von. Prevalence of overweight and obesity and trends in body mass index in German pre-school children. 2002. Vol.26 (9). Print. Lorentz, Dan. Childhood Obesity Epidemic Spurs State Action. 2005. Vol.48 (6). Print. Paxon, Christina. Childhood Obesity. Washington. Brookings Institution Press. 2010. Print Smith, Clinton J. Understanding Childhood Obesity. Britain. Univ. Press of Mississippi. 1999. Print. Read More