The Role of Parents in Increase of Childhood Obesity in the United Kingdom - Literature review Example

 Obesity is the foremost contributor to deaths associated with CHDs in both adults and children (Adler & Stewart 2009). While the condition is perfectly preventable, the trend of childhood obesity is increasingly becoming a major health concern in most developed countries. It is vital to note that more than 75% of incidences occur without significant concern from parents (Canoy & Buchan 2007; Falaschetti et al. 2010). Thus, the thesis statement for this study is to examine the role of parents in childhood obesity in the UK.

1.2 Background
The prevalence of childhood obesity in the UK has been on the rise since 1995 and the trend seems to worsen by day (Reilly & Dorosty 1999; Kellow 2012). According to the BHF (2012), at least 33% of girls and 25% of boys aged 2-19 years in the UK are obese. That notwithstanding, it is projected that the prevalence of childhood obesity will be around 10.7% or higher by the year 2015 (BHF 2012). In a study conducted by the National Child Measurement Programme in 2012, it was ascertained that an estimated 33.9% of all children between 10 and 11 years of age in England are overweight (BHF 2012).

When parents find it less important to define what their children should eat or what they should not, it becomes a pivotal issue as to how much parents determine the state of their children’s health. According to Kellow (2012), one in every ten parents in the UK raises concerns about their children’s low body weight. Conversely, about 33% of mothers and 57% of fathers considered the weight of their children as normal when such children were actually obese (Stamatakis et al. 2010; Ferry 2013).

Whereas the majority of parents in the UK are too busy to plan a healthy diet for their children, 73% do not care what their children watch or eat outside the home (Kellow 2012). In contrast, few parents encourage their children to take regular exercise while others are less concerned with the eating behaviour of children during school hours. As a result, nine in every ten children indulge in junk food with high calories, high fat and sugar content but little vitamins or minerals as noted by Ferry (2013). The unfortunate fact is that parents in the UK are becoming used to the picture and there is little effort to address that issue yet obesity costs the country over £2 billion every year in addition to reducing victim’s life by 9 years (BHF 2012).