Causing Childhood Obesity - Assignment Example

Over the last two decades, there has been a precipitous rise in child obesity raising serious health concerns, particularly in the upper socio-economic strata. Obesity is now being considered as one of the major risk factors associated with increased morbidity and mortality rates. Obesity is determined by using a measure called Body Mass Index (BMI). According to the World Health Organization, “a BMI greater than or equal to 25 is overweight and a BMI greater than or equal to 30 is an obesity”.

Globally, around 35 million children in developing countries and 8 million in the developed world are either obese or overweight.  As children’s bodies are under continuous growth and development, they also become vulnerable to other obesity-related diseases uncommon in adults. There is a wide set of severe health problems associated with obesity including cardiovascular problems, metabolic disorders, pulmonary complications, gastrointestinal disorders, and skeletal abnormalities. A number of factors are responsible for causing obesity in children.

In some cases, genetic characteristics along with other environmental interactions result in increased susceptibility to excess body weight. Energy imbalance is also a major cause of weight gain. It occurs when a child’s body consumes more calories than he actually expended. Mostly, behaviors such as high-calorie nutrition diet and physical inactivity contribute to energy imbalance. Technological advancements such as advertisements have attracted children to choose less-nutrient, high-calorie foods and greatly reduced their physical activity to television and computers.

Such sedentary behaviors have decreased the metabolic rate of the body resulting in the accumulation of excessive fat. Open spaces for physical exertion such as parks and playgrounds are gradually becoming extinct due to rapid urbanization. It has been observed that congested areas provide children with fewer opportunities to engage in physical activities. Research reveals that individuals facing obesity in their childhood and/or adolescence are at a greater risk to become obese in their adulthood.

Moreover, there is a lack of healthful environments in school as well as the community. Due to minimal parental supervision, children gradually adapt to attractive, unhealthy food choices and entertainment activities deviating from their normal healthy routines. All drug treatments available for childhood obesity have done little to reduce it. In fact, such quick-fix drug treatments can affect a child’s health adversely. Appropriate measures should be taken to effectively prevent the epidemic of childhood obesity at the early stages of children’s life.

Parents, teachers, caretakers, and the community should actively participate in promoting healthy habits for weight control. They should ensure the availability of opportunities for children to engage in physical activities throughout the day. Extensive research has proved that breastfeeding is very preventive against the obesity issues at later stages of development. Balanced and adequate nutrition including fruits, vegetables, grains, and low-fat dairy products must be provided to children for proper growth and development.

Parents can help children to adapt to healthy behaviors being good role models. Governments and organizations should play their role by ensuring effective implementation of health-related policies and regulations in order to restrict companies selling unhealthy food products.            Despite the fact that childhood obesity is growing at a rapid pace, there still exists a lot of room for identification of disease contributors and prevention.