University Report on Childhood Obesity: Causes and Impacts

This report addresses the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity, a significant global health concern. It defines childhood obesity using BMI measurements and highlights its rising rates, with prevalence data from various countries and demographics. The report explores the multifaceted causes, including genetic predispositions, environmental factors, and lifestyle choices such as technology use, dietary habits, and reduced physical activity. It details the health impacts, including type 2 diabetes, eating disorders, respiratory issues, and long-term health problems extending into adulthood. The report also outlines public health actions, such as school policies, parental interventions, and public health campaigns promoting healthy eating and physical activity, as well as legal measures to restrict unhealthy food access. The conclusion underscores the need for concerted efforts to reverse the rising trends and safeguard public health.

UNIVERSITY:
NAME :
STUDENT ID:
COURSE CODE
COURSE NAME
ASSIGNMENT
Obesity In Children: A Rising In Health Concern

Obesity In Children: A Rising In Health Concern
Introduction
Childhood obesity refers to the condition whereby there is excess fat which poses
significant health challenges to the child. It’s diagnosed with measurements of BMI. Normal
estimates for BMI among children vary with age and sexual orientations. According to
Fleming et al., (2014), BMI above the 85th percentile is defined as overweight while that
equal to or greater to 95th percentile is referred to as obesity. The rising cases of overweight
children globally are disturbing and have caused serious health problems which have spilled
over to social issues. Overweight children are highly likely to be teased by their peers and
end up developing low self esteem. Overweight issues and obesity among children have
proven to be an important factor in the long term health status of children later in future. It
predisposes children to insulin resistance, a curse of type 2 diabetes, hypertension,
hyperlipidemia, liver and renal diseases development.
Prevalence rates
International data reporting on childhood obesity variation and accuracy is less than
optimal. According to study by Hamid, Islam & Rey, (2014) the prevalence of child hood
obesity was 10% in 77% of the countries analyzed. Highest rates of childhood occurrence
were seen in state of Malta which had 25.4% and the US which had 25.1% among states,
Sweden’s state had lower occurrences of childhood obesity for adolescence.
Race and ethnicity have been found to have an impact on the rates of obesity among
children. Cuban, American and Native American preschoolers have been found to have an
impact of high prevalence of childhood obesity. Interestingly, 25% of black adolescents are
obese.
Gender parity has been observed with occurrence of obesity. Females are more likely to
be obese more than the females. Adolescence obesity has a predictive value high that, 80% of
childhood teens continue to be obese till their adulthood. Obesity has been observed to
occurring at specific periods in time especially when the children are ages 5-7 years old,
(Levitan et al., 2015).
Causes of obesity
Childhood obesity has been linked wide range of factors as causative factors, (Ogden et
al., 2014). The obesogenic environment has been used to refer to mix of factors which an
impact of health state of the children. Often the greatest risk for obesity in child hood is the
obesity of the parents. A review done in 2010 revealed that obesity often occurs as a result of
interaction of natural selection with more concern for more energy dense food, which are a
2

Obesity In Children: A Rising In Health Concern
factor in body weight gain.
Obesity among the children has often been attributed to increased use of technology,
snack intake rich in energy based content and decline in the patterns of physical activity
among children.
Family practices have been the most recent factor towards obesity among children.
There is decreasing number of mothers who breast feed and this makes more children to be
more obese and their growth pattern is characterised with high intake of formula foods which
plays crucial role in obesity index, (Scott-Jupp, 2017). Further as the family influence
decreases, the children often have high control power on family matters and force their
parents to do what they want. This ability has enabled them to have more access to calorie
dense foods like candy and soft drinks which contributes to obesity factor.
Impacts caused
Due to the increasing prevalence of obesity among children globally, its accompanying
health effects have significant impact on the health state and has led it being recognised as a
serious public health challenge. The impacts of obesity in child hood have been shown to
spill over to adulthood. Potential health problems have been observed to include development
of type 2 diabetes, eating disorders such as bulimia, liver issues characterised by fatty liver,
respiratory disorders which often leads to block airways and restrictionson the airways and
chests. Sleap apnea has been linked to childhood obesity among the young children. it is
associated with snoring, poor sleep and waking up easily, (Mehta, 2015).
Obesity is causative factor for possible complications. A child who is obese is more
likely to be overweight later in future and start to develop health problems that have been
often been traditionally been observed among adults, (Alexander et al., 2017). Common
health problems likely to be caused by obesity include diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia,
heart attacksand sleep apnea. Obese girsl menutrual periods are likely to be affected by
obesity factor.
Public health actions
Public health actions have been advocated to manage obesity factor in various avenues.
Schools have often been the supporting environment with policies and actions that support
healthy behaviours. Focus on this environment has played a crucial factor in managing
obesity levels, (Mayne et al., 2015). At home parents have the crucial role of ensuring that
prevention of children who become overweight can be managed through changing the dietary
patterns of food consumed at home, (Emmet & Jones, 2015).
Public health campaign on safe dietary foods has taken shape. Calorie rich food and
3

Obesity In Children: A Rising In Health Concern
drinks have always been readily available for consumption to young children and this has
contributed immensely on childhood obesity. to curb , public health fraternity have set out
laws and jurisdictions to curb this in a move aimed at availing healthy foods avail to both
parents and children. Case examples of these laws are the calorie count laws and soft drinks
from sale near schools.
Promotion of physical activities geared towards making the younger generation to be
active has always been fronted to alleviate obesity risks. Research has shown that physical
activity engagement results in burning of excess calories present in the body, (Ewing et al.,
2014). Hence public health administrators have pushed for physical activity in schools
program to enable children become active.
Conclusion
Overweight trends across the globe have indicated the rising prevalence especially in
the industrialised states. The cost of inaction is estimated to be tremendous, however public
actions are being driven to change the trends and concerted efforts are needed to secure the
health of the public in the near future.
4

Obesity In Children: A Rising In Health Concern
References
Alexander, D. S., Alfonso, M. L., Cao, C., & Wright, A. R. (2017). Do Maternal Caregiver
Perceptions of Childhood Obesity Risk Factors and Obesity Complications Predict
Support for Prevention Initiatives Among African Americans?. Maternal and Child
Health Journal, 1-9.
Emmett, P. M., & Jones, L. R. (2015). Diet, growth, and obesity development throughout
childhood in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Nutrition
reviews, 73(suppl_3), 175-206.
Ewing, R., Meakins, G., Hamidi, S., & Nelson, A. C. (2014). Relationship between urban
sprawl and physical activity, obesity, and morbidity–update and refinement. Health
& place, 26, 118-126.
Hamid, F., Islam, R., & Ray, P. C. (2014). Obesity in children–A review. Bangladesh
Medical Journal, 42(3), 92-96.
Levitan, R. D., Rivera, J., Silveira, P. P., Steiner, M., Gaudreau, H., Hamilton, J., ... &
Wazana, A. (2015). Gender differences in the association between stop-signal
reaction times, body mass indices and/or spontaneous food intake in pre-school
children: an early model of compromised inhibitory control and obesity.
International Journal of Obesity, 39(4), 614.
Mayne, S. L., Auchincloss, A. H., & Michael, Y. L. (2015). Impact of policy and built
environment changes on obesity‐related outcomes: a systematic review of naturally
occurring experiments. Obesity reviews, 16(5), 362-375.
Mehta, R. K. (2015). Impacts of obesity and stress on neuromuscular fatigue development
and associated heart rate variability. International Journal of Obesity, 39(2), 208.
Ng, M., Fleming, T., Robinson, M., Thomson, B., Graetz, N., Margono, C., ... & Abraham, J.
P. (2014). Global, regional, and national prevalence of overweight and obesity in
children and adults during 1980–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden
of Disease Study 2013. The lancet, 384(9945), 766-781.
Scott-Jupp, R. (2017). Breastfeeding and obesity. Archives of Disease in Childhood,
archdischild-2017.
5