Addressing the issue of childhood obesity - Research Paper Example

Addressing the issue of childhood obesity Introduction Childhood obesity became an urgent problem in the United s, because it directly effected overall health of the modern society. It resulted into higher obesity rates and obesity-related diseases among adults, especially in high-risk groups. Official statistics of US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and scientific studies showed that African-Americans and Hispanic Americans were more susceptible to obesity than Non-Hispanic Whites. Unfortunately, preliminary scale and importance of this issue in the USA was often neglected. Sharp increase of obesity rate occurred owing to various alterations in food market, in the built environment, in school curricula and health care settings. Overweight children of pre-school and school age would gain numerous health problems in adulthood and, thus, would require extra insurance coverage. Parents, employers, school administrations, state authorities and health care professionals were interested into decreasing obesity rates among children. Beverages Impact on Obesity Inclination to corpulence could be easier prevented in childhood through healthy way of life, daily physical activity, regulation of BMI, energy balance/intake and basal metabolic rate (BMR). “This means that each child will consume enough of the right kinds of food and beverages and get enough physical activity to maintain a healthy weight while supporting normal growth and development and protecting overall health.” (Koplan, Liverman and Kraak, 2005) In this case, erroneous nutrition could not be regarded as the only reason of children’s high obesity rate. It was conditioned by joint influence of different factors, including sedentary activities and reduction of PE lessons. In comparison with 5 – 7% of obese US children in 1976 – 1980, this number almost tripled in 2005. The same tendency was identified in all age groups, which meant that current health care policy of US could not deal with the forthcoming difficulties. Statistical data for three preceding decades showed that US children tended to buying energy-dense food, “junk” food and soft drinks, which negatively impacted their health. According to Patricia Anderson and Kristin Butcher (2006), students’ consumption of non-diet sodas had quickly started growing since 1987; this trend remained steady in 1990 – 2000th. Food-away-from-home index almost doubled and, thus, children could oftener buy harmful drinks. Installation of vending machines at school cafeterias and halls only aggravated the situation. Instead of buying juices, milk, yogurts, stewed juice and other useful drinks, students preferred sweet beverages, which did not contain vitamins. Vending machines only tempted and simplified access of students of elementary and middle schools to high-calorie drinks. Many school administrations concluded contracts with soft drink companies for selling and advertising of their products. In the United States “pouring rights” contracts became an effective source of school budget recharge. At present 73% of high schools, round 60% of middle and 42% of elementary schools entered into “pouring rights” contracts. (Anderson and Butcher, 2006) Thus, pupils of elementary and middle schools, as a high-risk category, were restricted in choice of food and beverages. Above contracts affected variety of menus of school cafeterias, which had been previously completed only according to National School Lunch Program (NSLP). This tendency was widespread and profitable in schools with insufficient state financing. Therefore high-risk obesity group - African and Hispanic Americans and students from low-income families – comprised basic target audience for soft drink and snack companies. “10 percentage point increase in the availability of junk food increases average BMI by 1 percent. For adolescents with an overweight parent the effect is double.” (Anderson and Butcher, 2006) Propagated beverages and snacks did not meet NSLP food safety standards. For instance, posters and fliers with Pepsi-Cola advertising could be spread over school territory and, thus, implicitly affected students’ preferences. First of all, possible influence of soft-drinks upon obesity and general health state was hardly considered. Secondly, such policy did not correspond to National School Lunch Act. In such a way administrations tried to maintain self-supporting official food programs. Food Safety Standards vs. Obesity Major students from low-income (SES) families regularly bought energy-dense drinks and snacks, because they were cheaper. School lunches should cover 1/3 of daily dietary allowances, including vitamins A, B, C, protein and useful minerals. Therefore they should contain grains, fresh fruits and vegetables; percentage of convenience foods and soda consumption should be restricted. In SES families both parents often worked and did not draw enough attention to make-up of school lunches and home dietary. Nutrition of pre-school children was very important, because their dietary depended on preferences of parents, elder brothers and sisters, family income and genetic susceptibility to obesity. “Among preschool children aged two to five, overweight has doubled over the past thirty years. Almost one in every four preschoolers is either overweight or at risk of overweight. Prevalence rates are highest among African American, Hispanic, and Native American preschoolers.” (Story, Kaphingst and French, 2006) At school and outdoors their children could easily consume convenience food, canned, frozen products, sandwiches, fast food dishes, which promote overweight and obesity. Within the last years food-at-home index sharply reduced, because parents lacked of time for preparation or provided children with pin money for snacks. Besides, small budget limited ration of SES families with cheaper and less nourishing foodstuff, i.e. pizza, prepared chickens, chops, sausages, fast-food dishes. Fried potatoes and sweet beverages turned out to be the most popular obesity-related dishes. Anderson and Butcher’s research (2006) showed that prices for convenience products and fast-food were lower, that’s why it impacted eating patterns of the above obesity-related group. School administration, full-service restaurants and health care organization should propagate obesity-related information among students and their parents. Health campaigns, specialized training programs, lessons of food safety, propagation of healthy lifestyle in local health care organizations would improve the situation. NSLP provided free or reduced price meals for students from low-income of having-many-children families. To reduce growth of obesity rate, school meals for high-risk students should contain nourishing and fresh food. School meals should also contain calcium-rich food and fiber and minimum quantity of added salt and sugar. “Restaurants should continue to expand their healthier meal options by offering more fruits, vegetables, low-fat milk, and calorie-free beverages, and they should mount information campaigns to provide consumers at the point of purchase with easily understandable nutrition information about all of their products.” (Koplan et al, 2005) Elimination of junk food would allow decreasing rate of obesity-related diseases such as 1 / 2 diabetes, elevated cholesterol, and hypertension. Built Environment and Sedentary Activities There were different points of view as to correlation of daily physical activity and obesity rate of US children. Although in the previous times physical training was not obligatory, required physical activity compensated in long walks and household assistance. At present there was a trend to shortage of PE lessons in various educational institutions of the United States. Only 25% of all students had passed FITNESSGRAM test, which proved failure of obesity prevention policy, food safety policy, and daily portion of PE. This test was developed for assessment of correlation of physical activity level, academic achievement and obesity. FITNESSGRAM epidemiological tool allowed determining discrepancy of existing curricula and PE lessons, which caused energy misbalance. Although children were usually more active than adults, lack of regular physical activity would affect their life style, sedentary activities, eating patterns, selection of profession, hobbies in adulthood. According to CDC, 60% of children were engaged in for exercise several times per months. This range included everyday morning exercises, jogging, long walks, cycling, exercises in gym or on home gyms, physical activity related to household/work etc. Many adolescents preferred aerobics, dancing, swimming, martial arts. Nevertheless, this percentage was declining steadily due to growth of sedentary activities percentage. “Sedentarism was defined as spending less than 10% of one’s total energy expenditure in physical activities with at least an intensity of 3.9 basal metabolic rate, which corresponds to moderate walking.” (Morabia and Costanza, 2004) Modern kids and teenagers spent a lot of time by TV set, computer or playing video games. TV and Internet had additional negative impact on children of all ages, because they advertised energy-dense snacks and sweet beverages. Sedentary activities decreased children’s motor skills, mobility and active development. Movement and physical training allowed observing energy balance equitation of children of pre-school and school ages. Alfredo Morabia and Michael Costanza (2004) had examined negative impact of sedentarism on obesity among children and adults. They concluded that at least 15 minutes walking per day would be enough to prevent obesity-related epidemic in the USA. Even such activities as shopping or walking with a dog could be regarded as useful. At the same time, high overweight/obesity rate showed that such physical activity was irregular and insufficient to improve the situation. School curricula should provide sufficient daily physical activity in form of PE lessons, active games, pauses for physical jerk, lessons outdoors etc. Conclusion Above evidence proved that lack of physical activity was the main reason of obesity rate growing. Non-observance of food safety standards and consumption of sweet beverages also significantly affected the situation. Certainly, genetic diseases, endocrinological and neurological syndromes also could cause obesity, but they made round 5% of all obesity cases. Children from SES families often did not get timely qualified help of health-care specialists at school or in hospital. School administration unofficially broke NSLP guidelines and transformed school meals according to contracts with food/soft drinks companies. All factors mentioned above aggravated the situation in the United States and accelerated sharp growth of obesity rate within the last thirty years. Separately they would not have been so dangerous for children’s health. An irregular load distribution and day plan of children often broke biological clock and impacted metabolism. For normal development toddlers and pre-school children should be involved in physical activity at least 30 – 60 minutes per day. Unhealthy nutrition of students was caused by poor control of parents, teaching staff and health care professionals. Anderson and Butcher’s study revealed that NSLP standards were not properly observed and school meals really could increase inclination to overweight by 2 – 3% per year. Thus, NLSP efficiency had been called in question and it required further improvement. Bibliography 1. Anderson, P.M. and Butcher, F.K. (2006). Childhood Obesity: Trends and Potential Causes. The Future of Children, 16 (1), 19 - 25. 2. Koplan, J.P., Liverman, C. and Kraak, I.V. (2005). Preventing Childhood Obesity: The Nation Must Act Now, or It Will Watch Its Children Grow into Adults with Excessive Levels of Diabetes, Heart Disease, Cancer, and Other Weight-Related Ailments. Issues in Science and Technology, 21(3), 57 – 64. 1. Morabia, A. and Costanza, C.M. (2004). Does Walking 15 Minutes per Day Keep the Obesity Epidemic Away? Simulation of the Efficacy of a Populationwide Campaign. American Journal of Public Health, 94 (3), 437 – 440. 2. Story, M., Kaphingst, M.K., and French, S. (2006). The Role of Child Care Settings in Obesity Prevention. The Future of Children, 16 (1), 143 - 150. Read More