Why Are So Many Of Our Children Suffering From Obesity Nowadays?
Wednesday, December 24th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
As rates for obesity continue to climb in in the United States it is not surprising that we are seeing more and more obese children. Naturally the effects of child obesity are only too obvious, but exactly what is it that results in obesity in our children?
As is frequently the case there is no single cause of childhood obesity and there are numerous things which give rise to obesity in our children.
For example, it is usually the case that a child whose parents are overweight or obese will be overweight or obese and this suggests that there could well be a genetic or inherited component to obesity. But, despite the fact that this is an area that is actively being studied, no genetic link has been established yet and it is felt far more likely that it is the diet within the family that produce obesity rather than genetics.
In the past few years we have witnessed a considerable change in eating habits with fast food restaurants springing up on every street corner, junk food available just about everywhere and our supermarket shelves overflowing with ‘convenience’ foods that are generally extremely high in sugar. The days when we enjoyed home cooked meals are far behind us in most households and have been superceded by microwave meals or take-away food. In fact, many parents are now opting to take their children to fast food restaurants instead of preparing meals at home not only because it is simpler than cooking a meal but also because it saves on the washing up!
In addition, we have seen a very marked drop in activity levels for many groups of children, helped in no small degree by the advent of video games consoles, computers and now the ever present mobile phone. Unsurprisingly, as activity levels have dropped so children have lost their god given ability to burn up the calories gained from eating more and more junk food.
The Internet, television, magazines and other types of media also play an important role as they dominate our childrens’ lives and fast food, junk food and candy manufacturers are not slow in jumping onto this bandwagon and take full advantage of the advertising opportunity that the media provides. A lot of people would argue that advertising has done more to encourage the rise in child obesity than almost anything else in the past few years.
There are also a lot of psychological factors at play in the world today and many children today will simply eat out of boredom. In addition, they will turn to the comfort of food when they find themselves stressed, angry, anxious or depressed.
Today a lot of medical research is being aimed at the causes of child obesity and its treatment and most of this research is aimed at solving the problem through a combination of diet and exercise once presented with an obese child. However, with child obesity continuing to increase at a frightening rate, and with the obvious dangers of child obesity, perhaps it is now time to attack the roots of the problem and to stop our children from getting obese in the first place.
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September 24th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Hi, yes child hood obesity is spiralling out of control. Im into fixing the problem and not laying blame. The newest problem in Australia is the rise of children with eating disorders. The advertising and media has meant that children of larger sizes are being bullied by others and their self image and confidence is taking a bashing. The incidence of male anorexia has greatly increased.
I have some ideas to help. In Australia where the tempeture rises to 42 degrees celcius children are not provided with fridges for their lunches. Many parents pack processed bars and snacks as a main lunch food as they fear their child getting food poisoning.Its impossible to send a healthy tossed salad when you know it will not be eaten due to limp lettuce and sweaty cheese.Ice blocks in the lunch box dont work adequetly. And how about human rights. The teachers have a fridge provided for their lunch, office workers have a lunch room. Children deserve the same as adults for the provision of a safe place to store their lunch. OR we could adopt the UK way and provide a healthy lunch at school for the kids.
Another factor to the weight gain is the increasing shrinking of the home size. As a child we had a big backyard where you could play in atree or kick a ball. now there are these tiny yards that are too small for a chiquawa let alone children. Parents dont want their kids wandering the streets so they stay home sedentary. Just afew thoughtsfrom Rebeel