Increased Prevalence of Childhood Obesity in America - Research Proposal Example

? Increased prevalence of Childhood Obesity in America s This paper is primarily based on a profoundly important and critical issue of the present world related to the increasing incidence of obesity in the children, especially in the western world. The pace with which obesity is increasing in the children poses a serious threat to the futures of such poor children, because obesity is highly potential of impacting the psychological thinking and behavior in myriad adverse ways. This paper presents the evidence related to the growing incidence of obesity in the American youth and how is it affecting them negatively. The overwhelming evidence of prevalence of unhealthy obese lifestyle among the American youth originates a serious issue related to health. Children with obesity have to cope with numerous diseases linked with obesity that are discussed in this paper. Some of the research presented in this paper also deals with the factors that explain why the incidence of obesity is increasing among the American youth. Increase in the availability of affordable junk foods and sedentary lifestyle are also highlighted in the paper that contribute to incidence of obesity. Some factors that make it difficult to decrease the likelihood of obesity in the youth are also identified in the paper and backed up with authentic evidence. 1. Introduction: For the past many years, research reports have been illuminating that more and more children are getting overweight owing to the increased adaptation of sedentary lifestyle and increased consumption of junk food and sugar beverages. Childhood obesity presents one of the greatest health challenges to the world. Obesity is especially drastic and devastating for the youth owing to the many other diseases it develops like emotional disturbances, heart problems, type 2 diabetes, and increased blood pressure. Over the past years, decrease in the prices of beverages and fast food has made it convenient for the youth to consume these readymade products excessively. Affordability of such foods that are high in calories, fat, and sugar has made the likelihood of obesity among youth all the more potent. There are numerous alarming side effects associated with this growing epidemic which are highly capable of destroying the futures of many children. The rate of obesity among the American youth is so markedly high that according to a report by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity, “today, more than 23 million U.S. children and teens—nearly one in three young people—are either overweight or obese.” (Thompson, 2010). What aggravates the situation is that only a minimal percentage of youth is on diet that meets the national recommendations and even less percentage of youth considers the necessary 60 minute daily physical activity presently in America. Outdoor activity has been almost completely replaced with television and video games, and this greatly increases the incidence of obesity among the American youth. 2. Research review: a. Prevalence of obesity in the American youth: (Thompson, 2010) mentions that “obesity is becoming a problem at an earlier age, with 24.4 percent of children ages 2 to 5 already obese or overweight.” The problem of childhood obesity is prevalent in the American youth irrespective of race, religion, family income, and location. Still, some populations or communities are at more risk of childhood obesity than others because of their unhealthy lifestyle and increased consumption of foods that go against the recommended healthy diet. Some particular races like Blacks, American Indians, and Latinos are at more risk of childhood obesity than other races owing to genetic factors. Sedentary lifestyle and social environments play more active role in increasing childhood obesity incidence than the genetic factors. Obesity significantly destroys the futures of many children because the adverse disease it brings with itself, cause a serious setback to such children. This epidemic affects the future potential of obese children because they cannot attend their schools regularly ad as conveniently as their healthy normal-weight age fellows. High blood pressure problems and other cardiovascular diseases like atherosclerosis affect such obese children at early ages. Myriad other health issues related to obesity prove to be major obstacles in the path of attending the schools on daily basis. b. Increasing incidence of childhood obesity: According to a survey done by Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the prevalence of obesity among the American youth is on a threatening rise. The survey suggests that among children aged 6 to 11 years, the rate of childhood obesity has increased from “6.5% in 1980 to 19.6% in 2008”, while “among adolescents aged 12 to 19 years, it increased from 5.0% to 18.1%.” (CDC, 2010). These statistical facts present a highly critical scenario related to the situation of the American youth and demands a lot of attention from the higher authorities. This is because the probability of developing risk factors for cardiovascular diseases like high cholesterol level and high blood pressure is more common in obese children than normal weight children. The point that needs to be considered is that obesity is not a single-facet disease, instead it is a multi-facet disease and develops many critical health problems in the obese children in a very short span of time. Caloric imbalance forms the bedrock of obesity and this imbalance is more aggravated by inactive lifestyle based on excessive television watching. Behavioral and environmental factors like sedentary attitudes and affordable junk foods also contribute to the caloric imbalance and the intensity of these factors varies from person to person. c. Implications of childhood obesity: It is mentioned by (Mayo Clinic staff, 2010) that obesity can produces drastic implications for the social, physical, and emotional well-being of the children. Physical complications associated with obesity include sleep disorders, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and respiratory problems like asthma. These complications get severe gradually with the passing time and result in the restriction of an obese child’s activity to his/her home. This results in increased absenteeism from the school and failing grades. Social and emotional complications, on the other hand, are equally disturbing rather even more adverse than physical consequences of obesity in many cases. Depression rules the emotional consequences of obesity bringing with itself other causes of disruptive and defiant behavior like low self-esteem, rebellion, aggressiveness, and self-abuse. It is an established fact that the incidence of self-abuse is particularly raised in the obese children owing to aggravated depression. Such children are also often looked down upon as they move in the society. (kidshealth.org, 2011) lays stress on the effective role that should be played by the parents of such children who are at increased risk of developing obesity or who are in the initial stages of this disease. it is because the children will never follow the recommended nutritional diet unless their parents become a good example for them and themselves avoid the excessive dependency on sweetened beverages and fatty meals. Those children, whose parents keep the kitchens well stocked with junk foods and other unhealthy frozen fast foods owing to the restricted time that they have for cooking themselves, are more prone to developing obesity. Encouraging the children to adapt to a health lifestyle begins with parents who can lead by example. d. Major factors behind obesity development: According to a study done by (American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, 2008), “the annual cost to society for obesity is estimated at nearly $100 billion.” This fact presents a clear demonstration of the negative impact of obesity on the society. Most of the adult obese persons have had the problem of obesity since their childhoods, because it is such a disease that is pretty much difficult to reduce or overcome once it develops in a person. This is because the clinical complications associated with it do not let a physician deal with obesity alone, instead many complications have to be treated at the same time in case of obesity. Poor diet and lack of exercise are highlighted as two major reasons behind the development of obesity in the study. More and more children are seen nowadays stuck in front of their televisions immersed in their favorite progammes. Hu (2003) conducted a research study finally coming to the result that owing to the promotion of the sedentary lifestyle in Americans, obesity and diabetes have reached epidemic proportions almost everywhere. Diabetes is closely associated with obesity, which shows that excessive TV watching do not only promote one disease, rather this lifestyle is reflective of many clinical problems. Hu (2003) claims in the study that obesity is not an outcome of only decreased physical activity, rather it more often results because of prolonged TV watching. This situation demands that more campaigns should be organized to convince the children about eliminating such an attitude from their lives. e. Contribution of environmental factors to obesity: (Bellows & Roach, 2009) lay stress on the contribution of environmental factors in the development of obesity in the American youth. Obesity development cannot be related to any one domain, rather it involves a giant network of complications and demands consideration at length. There are myriad environmental factors like home, childcare settings, school, and the community, which contribute to and can potentiate childhood overweight. This is because schools and communities setups are the places where the children learn and develop eating habits. If children do not engage in daily physical activities and prefer playing video games all day long or watching television, the chance of obesity increases rapidly. “The American Advertising Federation said that a major underlying cause obesity was a lack of strenuous exercise.” (Burros, 2005). Moreover, if there is an established ritual of excessive junk food promotion in the schools via selling fast foods and cola beverages at cheap affordable prices, obesity is sure to develop at a fast pace. This is exactly why the school administrations need to learn the importance of staring health awareness programs in schools because children need to be acknowledged about the cons of unhealthy lifestyle leading to obesity. f. How childhood obesity can be reduced in America? The Albuquerque Healthy Eating by Design project is one good example of awareness programs that aims at increasing the adaption to healthy lifestyle by children. According to the (Health Eating by Design National Program Report, 2009), this project involved providing the children with fresh snacks like fruit salads and vegetables in the break time, so that the increased consumption of junk foods could be replaced with healthy nutritional food. This effective program provided a guideline for the students regarding the ways in which unhealthy foods can be avoided. This also encouraged the principal to make a guideline for the parents as well related to healthy eating tips. Increased physical activity, healthier eating habits, and improved health literacy are identified to be the three major factors that need to be considered for reducing or eliminating childhood obesity in America by (Carmona, 2003). It is a fact that the American children deserve much more than being left to deal with the threatening probability and consequences of childhood obesity. Therefore, increasing the awareness about the healthy lifestyle and healthy diet is profoundly important. Physical activity classes and healthy food choices need to be introduced in every school in America so that children could benefit from them and restrain from consuming myriad cola beverages and fatty burgers everyday. Health literacy rate should also be increased by setting up awareness camps in the schools where proper training should be provided to the students regarding the ways to access and use health-related information. Better food choices at affordable prices should be made available and accessible in every corner of America, so that children can resist the temptations to go for fast food. Low health literacy rates significantly contribute to the nation’s epidemic of childhood overweight and obesity. 3. Conclusion: Summing up, this much becomes clear from the above discussion that the physical, psychological, emotional, and societal implications of childhood obesity are too grave to be overlooked, because the future potentials of the American youth is directly linked to them. All the factors like lack of physical exercise and increased consumption of junk foods should be restricted for the betterment of the American children. This can be done by introducing health awareness programs in every American school because low health literacy rates lead to increased prevalence of childhood obesity. References: American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry. (2008). Obesity in Children and Teens. Retrieved from http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/obesity_in_children_and_teens Bellows, L. & Roach, J. (2009). Childhood Overweight. Retrieved from http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09317.html Burros, M. (06 Dec. 2005). Report Links TV Ads and Childhood Obesity. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/06/business/media/06cnd-kids.html?_r=1 Carmona, R.H. (2003). The Obesity Crisis in America. Retrieved from http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/news/testimony/obesity07162003.htm CDC. (2010). Childhood Obesity. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/ Health Eating by Design National Program Report. (2009). Albuquerque: Introducing Fresh Snacks to Students. Retrieved from http://www.rwjf.org/childhoodobesity/product.jsp?id=37931 Hu, F. B. (2003). Sedentary lifestyle and risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes. LIPIDS, 38, 103-108. Kidshealth.org. (2011). Overweight and Obesity. Retrieved from http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/body/overweight_obesity.html Mayo Clinic staff. (2010). Childhood obesity. Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/childhood-obesity/DS00698/DSECTION=complications Thompson, J.W. (2010). Childhood Obesity: Beginning the Dialogue on Reversing the Epidemic. Retrieved from http://help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Thompson2.pdf Read More