So What Is Childhood Obesity?
Is your child or a child you care about struggling with weight related issues?
Don’t feel alone. It is estimated that up to 30% of children in the United States, Canada and Australia are overweight or obese. You’ve seen it on television, in magazines, and on the internet. You see it every day. Childhood obesity is the number one concern for our children today. So what is childhood obesity and what can we do to prevent it?
Although the definition of obesity and overweight has changed over time, obesity traditionally has been defined as a weight at least 20% above the weight corresponding to the ideal weight for individuals of a specific height, gender, and age. Twenty to forty percent over ideal weight is considered mildly obese; 40–100% over ideal weight is considered moderately obese; and 100% over ideal weight is considered severely, or morbidly, obese. More recent guidelines use a measurement called BMI (body mass index) which is the individual’s weight multiplied by 703 and then divided by twice the height in inches. BMI of 25.9–29 is considered overweight; BMI over 30 is considered obese. Additionally, some researchers classify children as overweight if their percentage of body fat was at least 25% and 30%, respectively, for males and females.
So what is causing this worldwide epidemic? Although the majority of people you ask would blame fast food chains and increased fat intake as the main causes of childhood obesity, research may point to other factors as the real culprits. Result of NHANES(National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) has shown that fat consumption of American children has fallen over the last three decades. The main objection to the notion that dietary fat is responsible for the accelerated pediatric obesity epidemic is the fact that at the same time that childhood obesity was increasing, the consumption of dietary fat was decreasing. Although fat eaten in excess leads to obesity, there is not strong enough evidence that fat intake is the chief reason for the ascending trend of childhood obesity. Additionally, numerous studies have shown that sedentary behaviors like watching television and playing computer games are associated with the increased prevalence of obesity. In fact, parents report that they prefer having their children engaged with the “electronic babysitter” rather than playing outside unattended because parents are then able to catch up on household chores while keeping an eye on their children. To further compound the problem, an increased number of children are being driven to school and participating less frequently in sports and physical education, particularly adolescent girls. Since both parent’s and children’s choices fashion these behaviors, it is not surprising that overweight children tend to have overweight parents and are themselves more likely to grow into overweight adults than normal weight children.
Obesity is a chronic disorder that has multiple causes. Overweight and obesity in childhood have significant impact on both physical and psychological health. In addition, psychological disorders such as depression occur with increased frequency in obese children. Overweight children are more likely to have cardiovascular and digestive diseases in adulthood as compared with those who are lean. It is believed that both over-consumption of calories and reduced physical activity are mainly involved in childhood obesity.
Tags: childhood obesity, childrens health, diets for kids, obesity, overweight children
