Analysis of Obesity in Children - Assignment Example

OBESITY IN CHILDREN Introduction Obesity refers to a medical condition whereby there is increased body fat to a level that causes negative health problems or even reduced life expectancy. Various books like “Understanding Obesity” by Clinton Smith strive to explore on how this syndrome comes to existence. Through various books, journals, articles, web sites, and statistical data, various findings have been achieved on the same. Books about Obesity Various authors have scrutinized obesity in their individual mechanisms and capacity. Among the books that discourse about this disorder are Understanding childhood obesity and A matter of fat as well as Understanding and overcoming obesity in kids. In their work, these authors strive to find out what obesity is in America, actors that prevent obesity, measures of preventing it, and counter measures in case the measures do not work. He also goes a mile forward and gives some new approaches to combat obesity. Among the new discoveries include the discovery of leptin and the leptin receptor as well as the new genetic discovery that strives to explain why some individuals are prone to obesity and not others. Richard Collins a renowned nutritionist along with Rosemary Santon who is a prominent exercise scientist strives to answer common questions that entail weight problems and obesity in children. Through that, they elucidate some facts about health activities, good eating habits, and accumulation of body fats while at the same time focusing on the risks. In addition, they give advice on various weight problems and nutrition knowledge. They continue to state that good food is delicious but, it should not be calorific. Journal Sources on Obesity Some journal articles that are highlighted here are Growth and Nutrition, Obesity in America, Nutritional Journal, International Journal of Obesity and Elsevier. According to an article entitled Childhood Obesity Prevalence and Prevention published in the 2nd of September in 2005, child hood obesity has reached epidemic levels in the developed countries. In America, twenty percent of children are overweight while 11% are obese but the causes of obesity are not yet fully found. A number of factors such as environmental factors, lifestyle preferences, and cultural environments are responsible for the worldwide rising cases of obesity. The journal also notes that behavioral and social factors are the core causes of obesity. Diet, calorie intake, fat consumption, and lack of adequate physical activity lie under the behavioral factors. Avoidance may comprise of crucial prevention of overweight or plumpness, secondary preclusion or prevention of mass regains, and prevention of additional weight surges in chunky individuals who are incapable of losing weight. Up to now, most methods have concentrated on altering the behavior of persons on diet and workout and it seems that these approaches have had petite impact on the increasing upsurge of the obesity prevalence. The amount of knowledge that is rapidly gathering in the category of weight supervision will definitely lead to safe and operative mediations. Larger trainings are required before precise recommendations about dietary information can be made with buoyancy. The International journal on obesity concludes that, general, important progress has been prepared in the area of epigenetics and obesity and the first possible epigenetic indicators for obesity that might be noticed at birth have been highlighted. Finally, this may benefit in forecasting a person’s obesity peril at a tender age and unlocks options for familiarizing targeted inhibition approaches. It has equally turned out to be clear that numerous epigenetic marks are adjustable by altering the exposure in utero, but also by changes in children lifestyles, which suggest that there is the possibility for involvements to be acquainted with postnatal existence to adjust negative epigenomic profiles. The elusive journal also focuses on the causes, effects, and preventive mechanisms and solutions to combating obesity among the children in the American society. However, most of this journal sources do not give a clear account on the exact causes, the effects and the possible solutions to check on this problem. This therefore leaves a gap on the solution of the issue. This topic is still under research and it is open for new discoveries and future scientific experimentations. Academic Related Websites According to the National Lung and Blood Institute, in the last 30years, children’s rate of obesity has doubled between those aged 2-5 years old. It further states that in the American environment, various factors result to obesity. It states that the choices, the environment, the metabolism rate, and the genes that an individual possesses often are the causes of obesity. On the other hand, the obesity action coalition have set up some goals do deal with the same. Their main focus is to promote consciousness and increase contact to the deterrence and handling of obesity, offer evidence-based training on obesity and its cures, eliminating weight bias and discrimination, elevate the conversation of weight, and its impact on health as well as offer community support for the individuals affected (Akabas, Lederman, & Moore, 2012, p. 67). Certain physical and mental illnesses and the pharmaceutical substances used to treat them can increase the risk of obesity. Some medical diseases that intensify obesity risks comprise of several sporadic genetic conditions as well as some inherited or acquired disorders such as hypothyroidism, growth hormone deficiency, crushing’s syndrome and eating disorders for example, night eating syndrome and binge eating disorder. Obesity is not considered as a psychiatric disorder since it is not itemized as a psychiatric illness. The report concludes that the risk of obesity syndrome is higher in patients with psychiatrist disorders as compared to those without. Electronic Sources about Obesity The main objective is to produce systems to join/ link medical and clinical staff with public resources to increase health performances in children (patients) through constant development of the Electronic Community Resource Database (ECRD). The method employed was a probing evocative study that used semi-structured consultation procedure to get data from main participants on the up-to-date type of the ECRD to decide what variations they endorse in the subsequent stage of ECRD improvement. The National Association of Chronic Disease Directors is another website dealing with this disorder (Schlosser, 2012, p. 67). Organizations Summary about obesity The World Health Organization (WHO) reputes childhood obesity as one of the main diseases that needs to be put under consideration in the 21st century. It further states that obese children and adolescents have a higher proximity to getting disease as well as becoming obese adults. The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) takes measurements of the stature and mass of one million school children in England yearly by giving a detailed account of the rates of child obesity. The up-to-date statistics for 2013/14 show that 19.1% of children in 6th year (aged 10-11) were obese and an additional 14.4% were weighty. In treatment (children aged between 4 to 5 years), 9.5% were obese and an extra 13.1% were overweight. This implies that a third of 10-11 year olds and over a fifth of 4-5 year olds were overweight or obese. The Centre for disease management and deterrence also adds that obesity is related with augmented risk for many varieties of cancer such as breast, endometrium, ovary, esophagus, thyroid, colon, kidney, gall bladder, cervix, prostate cancers, and not limited to multiple myeloma, Hodgkin’s lymphoma and pancreas. Statistical Data on Obesity The objective of the American Health Association in a research on the Prevalence of High body Mass Index in U.S.A (2007-2008) was to determine the latest estimates of high Body Mass Index among children and adolescents and high weight for horizontal length amongst infants and toddlers as well as to evaluate tendencies in frequency between 1999 and 2008. A typical model of the US population included determined heights and weights on 3281 children and adolescents (2 through 19 years of age) and 719 infants and toddlers (birth to 2 years of age). It was decided that no statistically significant linear trends in high weight for recumbent length or high BMI were found over the time periods of 1999-2000, 2001-2002, 2003-2004, 2005-2006, and 2007-2008 among girls and boys (Smith, 1999, p. 78). Obesity in Young Children Childhood obesity is a chief public health disaster countrywide and globally. The frequency of childhood obesity has amplified over a few years. It is instigated by disparity between calorie consumption and calories exploited. Among the major factors causing obesity in children are genetic, social, and environmental in nature. Psychological, social and physical health difficulties are a product of childhood obesity. Hence, operative involvement approaches are being put in place to stop and regulate obesity in children. The drive of this script is to look into various features prompting childhood obesity, a number of mediations and governmental involvements on obesity, and the tasks for handling this epidemic. Healthy People 2010 have ranked obesity as the number one health problem showing that occurrence of childhood obesity has been on the rise over the years. Augmented pervasiveness of childhood obesity may have antagonistic illness and mortality insinuations in the mature life of the child. There has been an increase in the occurrence of childhood obesity in England, particularly among school children in the last few years. Childhood obesity is widespread in United Kingdom and according to the health examination piloted in 2004; obesity among 2-10 year olds was 14% and 15% among 11-15-year olds. Many health-related problems are linked with obesity in children. Childhood obesity also adds to health risks in maturity. Health difficulties connected to obesity are not only physical but also psychological. Children who are obese have a deleterious body-image, which results to a lower self-esteem. Children feel stressed and are anxious about their fatness issue, which has a destructive outcome on their activities. This may also replicate adversely on their educational and social progress. They feel socially sidelined and denounced by their age mates and adults. They also stand a higher chance of getting cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, and increased cholesterol levels. It also increases the risk of having insulin resistant type 2 diabetes. They may have a greater risk of having inhalation problems like asthma as well. Obesity causes shortness of breath and sleep apnea. The physical effects may also reflect on musculoskeletal system causing uneasiness due to amplified weight on joint, causing muscle and bone disorder. Obesity may affect people by causing fatty degeneration of the liver. The family, however, can come in handy in assisting the child in terms of behavior and lifestyle. Parents should be the watch dogs of their children since they can do a lot of activities to check on this issue. They need to keep a keen eye as well as advice on the diet of their kids and what they eat. They should ensure they eat more of healthy food than the common fast foods or junk foods. Parents can also regulate their child’s time on indoor activities and encourage them to play outdoors or do other outdoor activities. Cars can also be parked a distance away from shopping stores to make sure that the children walk for some distance to and from the shopping mall. Some precautionary programs rotate around enlightening the wide-ranging population about healthy diet and providing information on health complications resulting from childhood obesity. Health care specialists can counsel their patients, mainly parents, about ideal child nutrition, tackling health glitches due to childhood obesity, and importance of breast feeding amongst newborn children to avert obesity. Centralized or state actions to combat childhood obesity are guiding all the nutrition and food vendors to deliver precise calorie readable tags on their foodstuffs, revealing calories straight on menus, limiting commercials of harmful foods, and endorsing healthy food preparation among parents. Some of the other activities are to develop transportation facilities for the public such as providing bike paths, creation of sidewalks, and providing harmless and clean environments for children to walk and play. According to the Centers for Disease Management and Prevention, recognizing actual involvement approaches that can aim both enhancements in physical actions and provision of beneficial diet to curb childhood obesity are significant. These evidence-based platforms can be operative in handling obesity in children. The United States government is altering the health policies linking transportation, land use, education, agriculture, and economics so that it can have a significant influence on healthy environment and wellbeing of people to decrease obesity. The United States government along with a number of health organizations is mounting healthy surroundings like increasing population contact with healthy and fresh foods, building walk paths, bike paths, and parks in underserved communities. State administrations with the aid of different health organizations are also getting tangled in encouraging healthy lifestyles for the public. The First Lady has also introduced an obesity curbing and control platform titled ‘Let's move’. Monetary investment in these involvements is very essential. All the intervention-based platforms need observation of development and sustainability over numerous years, which may be expensive. In today's world of financial hitches, funding for such programs is imperfect. School-based involvement programs necessitate much energy on accounting and planning, as the rate of enlightening the teachers about the package, and giving out facilities as well as organization to carry out physical actions is massive and excessive. Communities also find it puzzling to make the locality harmless for children to play, to consolidate events, and to offer adequate amenities. Childhood obesity is a chief public health draw back. Henceforth, employment of the existing actual involvement programs is vital. Significant information concerning assessment of childhood obesity anticipation schemes can be composed and re-used to brand stronger and additional operational policies including policy formulation to decrease forthcoming childhood obesity rates. Childhood obesity has developed into a community health disaster not just in the United States, but all over the domain. Childhood obesity delinquent can be condensed by enlightening children and parents about healthy nutrition steps as well as inspiring them to be substantially active. There are actual involvements and administrative policies for prevention and control of childhood obesity. Sustainability of these mediations is a chief factor so that children can embrace these healthy conducts as a permanent exercise and have a healthy existence. This willpower will lead to a global healthy future for the children. Conclusion Until now, most remedial methods have concentrated on altering the behavior of persons on diet and workout and it seems that these approaches have had petite impact on the increasing upsurge of the obesity prevalence. In addition, they give advice on various weight problems and nutrition knowledge. They continue to state that good food is delicious but, it should not be calorific. Some precautionary programs rotate around enlightening the wide-ranging population about healthy diet and providing information on health complications resulting from childhood obesity. Psychological, social and physical health difficulties are a product of childhood obesity. Hence, operative involvement approaches are being put in place to stop and regulate obesity in children. The amount of knowledge that is rapidly gathering in the category of weight supervision will definitely lead to safe and operative mediations. Larger trainings are required before precise recommendations about dietary information can be made with buoyancy. Bibliography Akabas, S. R., Lederman, S. A., & Moore, B. J. (2012). Textbook of obesity: biological, psychological, and cultural influences. Chichester, West Sussex, UK, Wiley-Blackwell. Schlosser, E. (2012). Fast food nation: the dark side of the all-American meal. Boston, Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Smith, J. C. (1999). Understanding childhood obesity. Jackson, University Press of Mississippi. Retrieved from http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=515652. Read More