How Can Americans Manage Obesity Throughout the United States - Essay Example

As researchers gain knowledge more of about the health hazards of obesity, the increase in the incidence of obesity in children, and in grown up people as well, is progressively becoming more a foremost concern to a society at large and thus a societal health dilemma requiring nationwide attention. Over the previous decades, the pervasiveness of overweight children has enlarged remarkably in the United States, making it more probable that children and adolescents nowadays will be more vulnerable to various serious, fatal diseases and illnesses prematurely in life, including diabetes.

The increase in obese children arrives at a time when present-day conveniences and establishment such as fast food, video game and most importantly the Internet, have contributed dramatically to inactive lifestyles, a pattern that is becoming progressively pervasive among today’s children and adolescents (Caprio, 2006). Approximations of the population of overweight and obese children and youths in the United States differ. Figures from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reveal that “13 per cent of children and 14 per cent of adolescents are affected by obesity—triple the adolescent rate since 1980” (Holloway, 2005, 118).

An article of the American Family Physician released in 1999 approximates that the population fall roughly between 25 per cent and 30 per cent of young children and teenagers. The boost spreads across ethnic and social groups (ibid, 118). Dr. Shiriki Kumanyika, a childhood obesity specialist, and others are attempting to pinpoint the cause for the steep increase in overweight children. “We’re trying to figure out how much of the problem is food intake and how much is the result of little to no physical activity (Koplan, 2005, 58),” says Dr.

Kumanyika. “The social trends affecting children are definitely in favor of overeating. The impact of eating portions that are