Childhood Obesity: Causes, Consequences and Prevention Strategies

Childhood obesity is a major public health problem in Australia and globally. This article discusses the causes, consequences and prevention strategies of childhood obesity.

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Childhood Obesity
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(Institutional Affiliation)

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CCHILHOOD OBESITY
Introduction
Childhood obesity has continued to be one of the major public health problems in
Australia (Overweight & obesity Overview 2017). According to the report provided by
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare in 2015, one out of four children in Australia was
either overweight or obese which accounted for 26% or 1.2million of Australian children and the
number seems to have doubled over the past few years(Overweight & obesity Overview 2017).
Childhood obesity is one of the major causes of chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension,
stroke, some cancer, musculoskeletal conditions and other cardiovascular diseases (McMullen,
2014). Having in mind that, children are the future of the country, some interventions and
prevention policies need to be addressed to prevent the future increase of obesity by the year
2020 (Cline, 2014). Obese children are normally at a risk of psychological torture due to
associated ridicules and low self-esteem (McMullen, 2014).Currently, around 63% of Adults
aged over 18 years in Australia are either overweight or obese (Overweight & obesity Overview
2017). This has been linked to the fact that, most of the adults who are obese were either obese
or overweight in childhood (McMullen, 2014). Obesity in children has been increasing due to a
number of reasons including the fact that children are eating more junk foods full of fat and
sugars and spending less time in physical exercises and proper healthy eating (Hong et al, 2016).
However, some of the obesity in children has been linked to environmental, genetic and
hereditary factors (Cline, 2014).
Key Points

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Childhood obesity has continued to be one of the major public health problems in
Australia and globally at large. Kelsey et al (2014) defined childhood obesity as body mass index
(BMI) that is greater than 95% of the age and sex of the child. According to the study by
McMullen in 2014, the prevalence of adult obesity and overweight is estimated to be 35 % of
world population. These treads go hand in hand with the prevalence of childhood obesity thus the
impacts of early onset, prevention, and management of obesity is of great concern (McMullen,
2014).
Obesity in childhood is one of the major contributing factors of most of the adulthood
metabolic and cardiovascular diseases (Cline, 2014). Most of these diseases include metabolic
syndrome, diabetes, renal and retinal complications, obstructive sleep apnea, psychological
conditions like low self-esteem, asthma, infertility, increased rates of some cancers and some
psychiatric diseases (Pulgarón, 2013). The major contributing factors of childhood obesity
include lack of physical exercises and dietary patterns (Pulgarón, 2013). Children are increasing
eating foods with a lot of sugars and fat with physical exercises nearest to zero (Kelsey et al
2014). Long-term consequences like chronic diseases and psychological outcomes associated
with obesity in children are avoidable (Pulgarón, 2013). Therefore there remains an opportunity
to provide effective early interventions that can be used to improve the health of people at
different stages of the lifespan (Pulgarón, 2013).
Health promotion and Intervention strategies
It is important to focus on those groups that are mainly affected when it comes to
childhood obesity( Kelsey et al 2014). There are well known vulnerable groups in Australia than
others. The risk of girls to be overweight or obese is higher than boys (Overweight & obesity
Overview 2017). According to NSW statistics, Aboriginal children are 6% more likely to have

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obese than other children and 15 % more likely in rural areas than in major cities (Overweight &
obesity Overview 2017). Focusing on those groups in terms of resources and public education is
a major contributing factor of obesity reduction (Kelsey et al 2014). For example one of the
Israel obesity strategies is aimed to reduce the obesity of Jewish by 10% and Arabs by 15%. This
is because Arabs are more prone to obesity than Jews (Overweight & obesity Overview 2017).
Government intervention like increasing opportunities for physical activities is essential
in preventing childhood obesity (Hong et al, 2016). This includes developing planning and
guidelines for proper infrastructure development, developing healthy indicators in urban
planning, support development of open green places and include health as an objective in
planning laws(Hong et al, 2016).For example, both Queensland and Tasmania have health-
specific planning laws. In Tasmania Land use and Approval Act have a planning development
that enables people to be provided with open spaces for cultural wellbeing, social economic and
proper health (Hong et al, 2016).
Another approach that can be used in the prevention of childhood obesity includes
improving access to healthy food and limiting access to unhealthy food. ( Bonis et al,2014). For
example, the City of Los Angeles passed a bill prohibiting the opening of new fast food in low-
income areas. In relation to diet and feeding patterns, parents should be provided with proper
education concerning the same(Ekelund, Hildebrand, & Collings ,2014). In addition, policies
should be made to ensure healthy food is affordable. For example, Canada has food mail
program that reduces cost and increases accessibility of nutritious food in rural areas (Ekelund,
Hildebrand, & Collings ,2014).
Other methods include increasing physical activities like increasing physical education
(PE) in schools and encouraging the parents to involve their kids in physical exercise ( Bonis et

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al,2014). Some of the physical exercises approach includes ensuring free or low-cost sports
activities, educating awareness to raise physical activities and increasing behavior change
programs( Bonis et al,2014). Other than that, influencing child can be promoted restricting
advertising of healthy foods. For example, in Sweden and Norway, all advertising directed to
children are prohibited (Ekelund, Hildebrand, & Collings 2014).
Conclusions and Summary
Obesity is one of the major childhood health problems that need to be addressed. This is
due to its increasing trends across the world and its effects in adulthood. Most of these conditions
include cardiovascular diseases and other metabolic problems. Other than that, most of the adults
who develop obesity are likely to behave developed the condition in childhood. Although genetic
factors can contribute to obesity in children, lack of physical activities and poor dieting are the
major factors. Therefore, policies and intervention need to be addressed to prevent diseases that
might occur in future. This includes encouraging physical exercises in children at school and
home, parental education, and proper dietary habits.
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