Childhood Obesity“Experts fear that this is the first generation of American children who will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.” After watching The Weight of The Nation, Part 3: Children in Crisis, this is only one of many disturbing statements that were said during this documentary. Experts say that over 18% of children in America are obese and if “you go with the flow in America today, you will end up overweight or obese as 2/3’rds of American’s do. Obesity is defined as an excessively high amount of body fat in relation to lean body mass. Child obesity can cause many medical problems for an obese child. One major impact that a child faces when overweight is major health problems. One of the most dangerous health problems that an obese child can get is type 2 diabetes, which has increased dramatically in overweight children and adolescents. The heavier a child is, the more likely they are to develop this disease, which makes it harder to lose weight. Child obesity can also include a greater risk of heart diseases, high blood pressure, asthma and other serious illnesses. Technology has substituted normal childhood play exercises with computer games that take less physical effort. There is a link between TV watching and overweight/obesity among children. The more television watching or video game playing a child does is the less amount of time they are spending outside. Kids need outside play to increase their daily exercise through running around or riding a bike. There has been a growing debate over the effects of foodmarketing on the childhood obesity epidemic. Advertising is now directed towardschildren, because food marketing to children is powerful, pernicious and predatory. These are factors that will affect physical growth in children or adolescents. Nutrition can be a controlling factor because early in life relative nutrition needs are very important. There are cases when overweight children cannot help their condition based on heredity. Given adequate environmental supports, height and rate of growth are largely controlled by hereditary or genetics. Not only can obesity be directly correlated to physical development, butalso environment. I believe that we are a product of our environment. Our lifestyle has become so industrialized that everything is so easily obtained. For example, a family that is living paycheck to paycheck and do not have the funds to stock up on groceries, might go to a fast food place because it’s convenient and inexpensive. If this becomes a pattern for this child’s family, they child is lacking the basic nutrients they need to obtain. In addition, some children might live in poorer neighborhoods that lack parks or safe neighborhoods creating an environment where children will not go outside, disrupting basic daily exercise. There are numerous changes we can do to help prevent childhood obesity. There needs to be more responsible parenting, tackling health challenges head on. Doing hard work and finding supportive, healthy communities that will instill long-term habits that promote healthy living. Cutting out TV and sugar sweetened drinks may help reduce a children’s weight or prevent future weight gain. The documentary taught me that four sodas a day is equivalent of an entire extra meal in terms of calories! Parents need to be a better role model for their child. For example, if your child sees you enjoyinghealthy foods and physical activity, they will most likely want to do the same. Emphasizing healthy eating, keep fatty and sugary snacks to a minimum and keep fruits, vegetables and low-fat snacks available. Schools should offer after school programs about nutrition that can inform parents about the basic facts of healthy eating and exercise. For example, I like that at my boyfriend’s son elementary school, they provide monthly calendars that have healthy food suggestions and have started providing healthier cafeteria lunches! Public policy can help enforce more affordable and healthful food as well as making this food more accessible to people in low-income neighborhoods. In addition, television commercials for children would encourage them to eat fresh fruits or vegetables rather than wanting sugar snacks etc. Schools or daycare centers should offer only healthful foods to children during lunchtime, and should enforce P.E. classesto every grade making them mandatory. All of these little changes would make a huge impact on decreasing child obesity! For my interview, I interviewed Michelle Canis who is a pediatrician in California for over 27+ years! Below are my list of questions and her responses. During my interview I tried to ask her questions relevant to topics I have learned in class as well as the documentary I watched. As Dr. Canis was extremely busy, I was able to learn about the risks that come from childhood obesity, which is outline in our textbook as well as mentioned in the documentary. Also, my interview with Dr. Canis discussed why obesity has increased and how fast it isincreasing. This correlated with the documentary stating that obesity is one of thefastest growing epidemics in America. 1. Why do you think the prevalence has changed so drastically? Access to healthy food has diminished greatly especially with urban areas.Diets aren’t as strict anymore and families are eating out more often as well as consuming fattier and bigger meals. Healthy food has risen in price while unhealthy food prices have dropped making it much more convenient for families.2. Has the prevalence of childhood obesity been growing over the years?In my belief, over the past 30+ years childhood obesity has risen dramatically. The real issue is that childhood obesity is affecting many low- and middle-income families. They lack the resources to gain healthful foods or the area to exercise in. The food they can afford is cheap and inexpensive, which usually lacks the essential nutrition for children. 3. What risks can come from childhood obesity?Obesity comes increasing risks of cardiovascular disease, diabetes (Type 2), muscoskeltical disorders and some cancers. Cardiovascular disease is already the world’s number one cause of death, mainly heart disease or stroke. Type 2 Diabetes is becoming extremely prevalent in children and has rapidly become a global epidemic. Also, childhood obesity is associated with a higher chance of premature death and disability. 4. How can we locally address the problem of