Decrease childhood obesity - Research Paper Example

? Decrease childhood obesity Institute of affiliate Introduction According to the study done by Mayo clinic in US, it is evident that one of the serious medical conditions affecting adolescent and children is childhood obesity (Metcalf, & Metcalf, 2008.). Childhood obesity is a weight condition that surpasses the normal weigh of a child corresponding to his or her height and age. It is troubling for a child to have extra weight since it can be a source of healthy problems. Some of the noted problems are high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, which were once confined as health problems for the adults. Unfortunately, the study has it that child obesity can lead to depression and poor self-esteem. Statistically, according to US’s department of health, there is a dramatic increase in number of children suffering from obesity. Considerably, it is noted that almost ten percent of children aged four and five are overweight, and the above number is double to that of twenty years ago. The research argues that obesity is a gender related disorder where, girls are the ones who suffer obesity more compared to boys. It is agreed that childhood obesity is an alarming disorder that needs immediate action. Therefore, to decrease childhood obesity, it is pertinent for all schools in the US to incorporate salad bars into the children’s lunch program. In so doing, those children will be able to access fresh vegetables and fruits, which in turn will develop healthier life from long eating habits (Linsley, Kane, & Owen, 2011.p.81). This essay tactically illustrates the policy recommendations for obesity in children, obesity regulations program and the US federal laws, assumptions and pertinent secondary recommendations to mention but a few, all converging to the childhood obesity issue. According to experts’ study, it is evident that childhood obesity is a disorder of the children who are living in poverty. After a twelve-year study involving surveillance system, it is pertinent to note that the result affirms that the rates of obesity in the year 1998, increased from 13.05 percent to 15.21 percent in the year 2003. Further, the surveillance system showed that there was a shift of obesity increasing from 1.75 percent to 2.22 percent in 1998 to 2003, before declining to 2.07 in the year 2010 (Markides, 2007.p.71). Although the shift may seem small, the size of the sample collected for the study makes it significant. Notably it is unbelievable to realize that each percent stated above points for almost 26,700 in the population study, which are either extremely obese or no longer obese. Forcibly, the Obama’s administration involving in the fight for obesity in children shows the severity of the disease among the US children who live in poverty. First lady Obama Michele has tirelessly fought the eradication of poverty through her message involving not only healthier diet but also physical activities. According to recent research, it is pertinent to note that the new trends in obesity levels indicate a modest progress of prevention of obesity in young children. The above study is pertinent for the implications of health risks for extreme obesity and obesity in young children. Therefore, the above passage outlines the importance of tackling obesity in children by the US government. It is evident that obesity can to some extent affect the young US generation undesired diseases that were supposedly to be for adults. Policy Recommendations for childhood obesity Controlling and preventing childhood obesity requires a multifaceted and wide programs staged by the communities as well as formulation of policies where parent will play a vital or critical roles. Pertinently one of the important elements that can regulate obesity involves the parents. Here, the children’s behaviors are affected by the eating habits of the parents, level of education as well as physical education. According to the study, it is noted that parents are role models and they influence to some extend the physical opportunities that the children requires to minimize the raging level of obesity. The eating emotional context of food , the size of the portion offered to a child, the type of food as well as physical activities are some of the factors that parents should adhere to in order to regulate the health of their children. However, the policy recommendations to some extend plays a vital role in working hand in hand with the parents to enhance child development. Some of the policies are as follows; nation’s childcare centers should develop physical activity and uniform nutrition. Here, for nutrition factor, it is mandated that all the preschool, day or child care settings to embrace the nutritious snacks and meals that consist of items with fresh produce as possible, fruits, low –fat dairy and whole grains. In addition, for beverages children should be given low-fat milk and lots of water (Haslam, & Witterst, 2009.p.22). The above information should be effectively discriminated to parents, as also be included in the efforts for nutritional efforts. If the above is precisely followed then the policy on activity and nutrition will be helpful to not only the children but also the parents. Another policy is the adult and childcare program on food, which is primarily administered by the department t of agriculture. The above policy is vital since the program enable each day provision of the funds for meals such as snacks. Those who receive the above funds should strictly serve meals to the children that have required meal patterns. Another notable policy is standards of physical activities. Here, the physical standards should specify the time that each child should spent for moderate or vigorous activities in day care. According to the policy, it is pertinent to note that all day care stagings should consider a day activity of almost 60 minutes. However, this will ensure all the children are getting enough physical exercise hence it will aid in the reduction of the obesity. Thirty minutes of screen time should be allowed in any childcare setting. The above is another policy that all caregivers should follow to ensure a good environment to the children. Another pertinent policy is that it is mandatory for each parent to take a course in physical activity and nutrition. Taking courses only, is not all that parents needs; they also need to provide playing kits and tools as part of their credentials. Besides, another policy is all teachers or caregivers are required to take a course in physical and nutritional activities incorporated with toolkits and resources materials. The above is pertinent since it is not wise for caregivers to have little knowledge on the nutrition and physical activities. This is because they are immediate role models to the children they are nurturing. More so all the care gives or a preschool setting should allow children to nap on a daily basis. The above is true with the accordance of the research done on obesity, which depicts that there is a relationship between depression and obesity. Increases of surveillance and research on nutrition as well as activity behaviors are another pertinent policy that should not be ignored in childcare setting. Another ban policy should be introduced on the advertisement and marketing of unhealthy foods to children who are in childcare programs. Lastly, another un-avoided policy is the incorporation of risk factors of diseases for instance growth screening and blood pressures with the health assessment of the preschool. The above is a policy from America heart association. The policy is formulated to be used in the health care environment for the treatment of obesity in childhood. All the above are some policies that all those who take care of children should follow not only the caregivers but also the parents. Apart from policy of childcare, here are pertinent secondary recommendations that should be followed when dealing with obesity in children. Therefore, the following recommendations are designed to prevent childhood obesity; first, there is the growth monitoring. It is pertinent for the health care providers to take a step in measuring the length and weight as well as height in a more standard way. The standard ways are plotted on the chart by world health organization. Second, another recommendation is that of physical activities. It is wise for the agencies that are caregivers to provide for toddlers, infants as well as preschool children an opportunity of being active physically throughout the day. All of the above should be done under the guidance of adult in infants since that will ensure good interpersonal interaction. Thirdly, another recommendation is healthy eating. Here it is pertinent for the promotion of exclusive breastfeeding, or continuous feeding incorporated with complementary foods for almost a year. Considerably sleep is another recommendation. Here, it is pertinent for the childcare agencies to take into consideration the fact that a child should be subjected to sleep durations. However, it is wise for the guardians to create a restful environment. A restful environment involves a room that do not have media screens, and room that has a low noise and light travel during napping. Again, it is wise for a caregiver to adapt practices and behaviors that promotes self-regulation of sleep, some of the regulations includes sleep drowsing. According to the above recommendations and policies on childhood obesity, it is vital to make the following assumptions. First, it is pertinent as per the article that for a child to have an obese disorder, in most cases the parents and caregivers usually ignore the above stated policies. Another thing that facilitates obesity in US is that those who are poor parents cannot learn on how to feed their children accordingly. This is because the said parents are not in a position to purchase playing kits and further they cannot attend a nutritional training to get themselves updated on the type of food required to feed children. Another assumption made here is that, governmental policy as well as health institutions is not that effective and that is why still many children in the United States are suffering from obesity. The inefficient of the above policies and recommendations is because many of the parents who are poor cannot access the programs that are being run for the benefit of the parents who have obese children. It follows that despite of the efforts by the government and health organizations, still it is difficult for obesity to be completely eradicated in the US. Supporting Material Here it is pertinent to note that several materials tent to support the fight of obesity. The materials range from governmental articles persona all the way to non-governmental articles. Materials by Mayo health care in the unite state argues that one of the factors that will diminish of cease the obese nature of US children is the employ of financial disincentives. Here it is worth to note that many financial disincentives are being used to discourage behaviors that are unhealthy. One of the main acts of using counter strategies for the provision of the incentives to encourage primarily behavior that attracts healthiness is by the use of law. One of the preferred laws is taxation, which work perfectly in correcting the unhealthy behaviors. It is pertinent to heed that in the past, taxation has been an important tool in controlling the tobacco and alcoholic consumptions, the above is control by federal, local taxes as well as states. Despite of the addiction nature, the above rule has worked a great deal. Therefore, tax should heavily be subjected to those foods that are fatter and unworthy for the children. Following the above, it is notable that individuals who are always concerned with economy will not buy such foods and so the children will have been conserved to some extend. To crown the above, it is important to heed that if federal laws are properly improvised then automatically the quantity will slowly be reduced and many will start to embrace quality of food. Another program is the requirement of quality, availability and diversity of food. Fortunately, the requirement of government’s nutrition improvement applies to setting where the natives obtain food. One of the examples where government literally sets on food control is the public schools. According to the US agricultural program, it is mandated that food be provided to the public schools under the condition that nutritional rules be followed. Due to inability for the federal state to regulate the food that is sold via vending machines, snack bars or school stores, then it is vital for the schools to stop vending of foods in public schools. The above to some extent will reduce the taking of foods that are unworthy to children. The above as per the report released in 2007, where the IOM argued for the reduction of competitive foods in public schools. It the above program is followed then obesity will have been reduced by 10 percent. Notably, another program and federal laws is the compensation of persons who are in injury and further are seeking for recourse. As a viable option in the US, compensation of the obese consumers is increasingly seen. It follows that some companies tent to mislead their consumers on the food content, and so, if such cases arise, it is pertinent for the concerned to bear a big compensation so that it can sound as a warning. The above program will act as a revelation to both consumers and companies. Companies will give the best to the customers and the consumers will be keen to buy what they are interested to buy. Obesity rated cases on compensation is widely outlined in the article by Pelma V. McDonald’s corporation. Another program is the access to unhealthy food restriction. Pertinently, if restaurants voluntary actions in conjunction with the government zoning laws restrict the accessibility of unhealthy food to consumers, then human health will improve at great length. Here, the human nutrition will limit the availability of detrimental foods, which will open a channel where people will get access to wholesome choices of food. Therefore, the above article outlines the importance of government and voluntary firms to have a relation with one aim of eradicating unhealthy food access. Another regulatory measure is the consumer choice measures. Consumers usually fall short of information; therefore, it is pertinent for them to get a reliable source of healthy foods so that they can make a good decision when choosing good foods to their children. It follows that the US government has increased nutritional regulations as well as menu labels. According to education act and labeling of the federal nutrition, the firm argues that it is pertinent for the food to basically for retailing purposes should be labeled with ingredients and nutrition with accordance of health standards. Another program involves fitness education requirements, mandates on insurance cover and community creation for the healthy lifestyle support. In conclusion, the above obese illegality offers larger area of interventions to directly and indirectly combat the public health in US that has been alarming in the current fight against economy. However, all of the above inequities of obesity include efforts that are focused by norms and individual behaviors, as well as communal objectives. Examples of the individual behaviors are the financial incentives while communal objectives are school programs on nutrition and zoning laws. Private sectors and public actors usually use the above laws to fight for the obesity disorder in young heroes. It is necessary to balance other legal perspectives and laudable interest when fighting for the protection of the health populations. Legal themes in curbing the obesity are sometimes uncertain (Hamid, 2009.p.61). Further, according to the article it is pertinent to understand that obesity in children is looming because sometimes, the measurement of any legal intervention intended to reduce obesity is sometimes challenging. It is pertinent to note that due to the above challenges it is either hard for the interventions from private sectors or public effectively control obesity. Moral and social values at stake is that, for social values it is vital for the parents to take care of sleep apart form food in order to develop the child’s development t ability. On moral values the article affirms that parents and caregivers for the obsess children should have good eating habit and further they should consider training so that they became well equipped we it comes to childcare (Finkelstein, & Zuckerman, 2008.p.45). Currently the issue on obesity outlines the fact that many children in US has been under the attack of obesity. Objectively, those children who fall as victims are those children that their parents are living in a poverty-stricken environment. To crown it all, the primary argument is that, it is pertinent for all stakeholders to fight jointly for the obesity so that children may get a relief on disease such as diabetes. Another primary argument is the fact that parents are the primary guardians that should embrace the nutrition in order to supplement the children with required nutrients (Collins, 2010.p.23). It is pertinent to note that this position of controlling the obesity, the primary proponents is the teachers, caregivers and parents. Government and voluntary firms comes in as third party in the fight of the obesity. Unfortunately, the third party here is the ones that have a bigger influence as opposed to primary parties. The above is so because, government and voluntary actions has got enough money to tackle and deal with the disorder. In other word, what hinders the primary agents to fight effectively against the obesity is lack of resources. Conclusion By concluding this essay, it is pertinent to note that the entire article has been emphasizing and elaborating on the issue of obesity. However, the discussion has centered different types of groups, name children, parents, caregivers, government as well as non-government actions. Among the groups, it is pertinent to note that the best argument has been the parents and caregivers. Some of the arguments involved the training session they should attend in order to improve their knowledge on nutrition. Another central point was the act of engaging children in a play mostly infants to raise the interpersonal connectivity. In the policy area, it is evident that the policy outlined above is the best when it comes to obesity eradication in the US country (Barbour, 2011.p.25). Therefore, the government should push for the implementing procedures since many of the childcares do not follow the strict rule on policy. In addition, some of the policies are not well know to the parents or caregivers and that is why it is pertinent for the government to move into the interiors of rather countryside to fetch for parents and advice them accordingly so that they can heed the importance the stated policy. It is pertinent for the government to heed the following policy recommendations. First, obesity is increasing at a higher rate in the US country; therefore, government should formulate a policy that will educate the parents specifically on the importance and types of essential nutrients (Akers, 2000.p.12). This is because some parents cannot afford the fees for the training. Secondly, government should not wait for the caregivers and parents to maneuver their way to the foods ministry so that they can complain for any mislead by the company on the food constitutes. Government should form a program that will visits parents and caregivers at their homes so as to listen to their episodes concerning the fight on obesity. If the above is well followed by the government body, then all the obese children to some extend will get relief. It is troubling for a child to have extra weight since it can be a source of healthy problems. Some of the noted problems are high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, which were once confined as health problems for the adults. Unfortunately, the study has it that child obesity can lead to depression and poor self-esteem. Statistically, according to US’s department of health, there is a dramatic increase in number of children suffering from obesity. Considerably, it is noted that almost ten percent of children aged four and five are overweight, the above number is double to that of twenty years ago References Akers, C. (2000). Obesity. San Diego: Lucent Books. Barbour, S. (2011). Obesity. farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press. Collins, F. S. (2010). The language of life: DNA and the revolution in personalized medicine. New York: Harper. Finkelstein, E., & Zuckerman, L. (2008). The fattening of America: how the economy makes us fat, if it matters, and what to do about it. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. Hamid, T. K. (2009). Thinking in circles about obesity applying systems thinking to weight management. New York: Springer. Haslam, D. W., & Witterst, G. (2009). Obesity. Abingdon: Health Press. Kelly, E. B. (2006). Obesity. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. Linsley, P., Kane, R., & Owen, S. (2011). Nursing for public health: promotion, principles, and practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Markides, K. S. (2007). Encyclopedia of health & aging. Los Angeles: Sage Publications. Metcalf, T., & Metcalf, G. (2008). Obesity. Detroit: Thomson / Gale. Read More