Obesity in Childhood - Annotated Bibliography Example

 Arenz, S. 2004 “Breast-feeding and childhood obesity- a systematic review.” International Journal of Obesity. http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v28/n10/full/0802758a.html (accessed August 19, 2010) The aim of the study was to find out the relationship between breast feeding and obesity in children. The study was conducted by systematically reviewing the researches on the topic published in different literatures and by meta-analysis of published epidemiological studies. The strength of the study was the number of participants which were 69000 from nine different studies. The method of study included population - based cohort, cross-sectional or case-control studies which broadened the scope of the study. Total of 954 publications were systematically reviewed for the research. The study concluded that there was a small but consistent protective effect of breast feeding against obesity risk in later childhood. Guillaume, Michèle. July 1999. “Defining obesity in childhood: current practice1,2.” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/70/1/126S? (accessed August 19, 2010) The author used data from 30 countries to analyze the secular trends used in different countries to assess the prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents all over the world. It was found that Body mass index (BMI), weight-for-height and weight/ideal weight are the standard methods used for weight assessment in children and adolescents in many countries. The research is an in depth look at the measuring standards used to assess the obesity in children as it has covered the data from various countries in Europe, Asia and America, and have also included data from Australia. The research also revealed the lack of standard definition of the obesity in children and adolescents among the researchers across the world. The research revealed the urgent and important need of standard definition of obesity in childhood and adolescence as according to the author, it will help in understanding and resolving the prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents in the world. Kimm, Sue, Y.S. & Obarzanek, Eva. 2002, “Childhood Obesity: A New Pandemic of the New Millennium.” Pediatrics. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/110/5/1003 (accessed August 19, 2010) Authors Sue Kimm and Eva Obarzanek are qualified as MD and PhD respectively. The authors’ qualification is a strong point of this paper as it had made it possible to give an in depth look at the issue of childhood obesity and the reasons behind it. The authors have discussed the findings of NGHS. It has been found that the combination of sedentary lifestyle and abundance of food has increased the obesity prevalence in children. The prevalence of obesity has resulted in increase of obesity related chronic diseases like Type 2 diabetes. The longitudinal study for ten years by NGHS, which included 1213 black girls and 1166 white girls revealed an upward trend of obesity in children and indicated acceleration in the trend. The study revealed that the biological factors like pubertal maturation and resting energy expenditure (REE) play an important role in susceptibility to obesity. It was found that black girls experience early menarche than white girls and display lower REE than white girls. This makes them more susceptible to obesity. Although the study shed some light on the effects of dietary factors, physical activity, psychosocial factors and socioeconomic factors on the prevalence of obesity in children, the low number of participants in the study makes it weak and inconclusive. Hence, this can be considered as a weakness of the article. The need of one standard definition of obesity and standard diagnostic evaluations is mentioned in the article. Miller, Jennifer, Rosenbloom, Arlan & Silverstein, Janet. 2004 “Childhood Obesity.” The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.. http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/89/9/4211? (accessed August 19, 2010) The study aims at understanding the reason behind the huge increase in prevalence of obesity among children. The focus of the study is to find out the extent to which the genes (nature) and the lifestyle (nurture) play role in the development of obesity in children. The study reveals the harmful effects of obesity on the health of human being. The study has revealed that the increase in obesity parallels the increase in the incidence of Type 2 diabetes in the children. The authors have discussed findings from different studies revealing the relation between Type 2 diabetes and obesity in children from different ethnic group. Obesity in childhood leads to development of metabolic syndrome which increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. The authors state that prevention is the best policy to reduce the risk of obesity and related diseases in the children. The authors conclude that the effect of obesity on different organs and functions of the body has made it important for specialists in different medical fields to treat the obesity as a disease and treat the children before it is late. Reilly, John J. et al. “Early life risk factors for obesity in childhood: cohort study.” British Medical Journal 330, (2005): 1357-1359. The study aimed at identifying the risk factors in early life for obesity in children in United Kingdom. The study included parents and children and was called Avon longitudinal study. 8234 children were included in the study. The number of participant was a very strong point of the study. These children attended the clinic at age 7. Association of increasing birth weight and maternal smoking with increase in weight was identified. It was found that the chances of child becoming obese were higher when both the parents were obese. Lifestyle habits like sleep, sedentary behavior and dietary patterns were found to have great impact on increase in risk of obesity at age 7. For example, obesity risk increased with increase in hours of television watching and increase in consumption of junk food. The large sample size, longitudinal design, contemporary nature and analysis at multiple levels are the strengths of the study. This study proved that environment in early life determines the later obesity. By changing the lifestyle and environment in early life, the risk of development of obesity in children can be avoided. This study was the first one to reveal the relation between early life environment and obesity, made it extremely strong. Veugelers, Paul J. & Fitzgerald, Angela L. “Effectiveness of School Programs in Preventing Childhood Obesity: A Multilevel Comparison.” American Journal of Public Health 95, no 3 (2005): 432-435. The authors Veugelers and Fitzgerald being PhD and MSc respectively, were qualified and experienced in the field of community health when they conducted the research. The authors included the 5200 grade 5 students along with their principals and parents, to study the effectiveness of school programs in preventing the obesity in children and encouraging healthy physical development. The authors assessed quality and quantity of food intake and number of hours spent in organized sports and leisure time physical activity by school children. Body mass index (BMI) was used as a method to assess the obesity in children and adolescents. It was found that students from schools following healthy eating program exhibited lower obesity rate and higher rate of healthy eating habits. The healthy eating habits increased their energy levels and increased participation in physical activities and decrease in sedentary activities. The research revealed that the rate of obesity and overweight among the students from schools not following the nutrition program was higher than in students from schools following the nutrition program. This reveals how important it is to implement nutrition based, healthy eating and physical activity programs in school. The research revealed that these programs significantly influences the future learning patterns, social development , growth process, maturation, reduction in rate of chronic diseases and development of healthy and life long habit of healthy lifestyle in children. High rate of participants, inclusion of large number of schools and participation from principals and parents in the research is a very strong point of the research. Read More