Analysis of Childhood Diet's Impact on Health: A Comprehensive Report

This report examines the significant impact of diet on children's health and wellbeing, differentiating between short-term and long-term effects. The introduction emphasizes the importance of a balanced diet for children's growth, highlighting the adverse effects of poor eating habits, such as obesity and related health complications. The main body of the report delves into the long-term consequences of unhealthy diets, including mental health issues, bone and teeth problems, cardiovascular diseases, chronic illnesses, and psychological effects. It also addresses the short-term impacts, such as energy deficiencies, digestive issues, sleep disturbances, and tooth decay. Furthermore, it differentiates between malnutrition and malnourishment, concluding with the recommendation for children to consume proper, healthy foods to maintain both physical and mental health. The report underscores the need for parents and children to adopt healthy eating habits and engage in regular exercise to prevent diseases and ensure optimal development.

Childcare

sTable of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Main Body ......................................................................................................................................3
Long term impact of poor diet on children's health and well-being ..........................................3
Short term impact of poor diet on children's health and well-being ..........................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
The relationship of lifestyle as well as health should be considered .Poor diet may lead to
sever health issues such as obesity. A healthy diet is considered to be as diet which help in
maintaining or improving over all health. Nutritious food provides the body with essential
nutrition: fluid, micronutrients, micronutrients, and adequate calories. Children belonging to
different age segment has different nutrition requirement, if such needs are not fulfilled then in
such situation , it may create big hurdles in the growth of children. In present scenario, life style
as well as eating habits is considered to be as root cause of health problems in children.
Unhealthy life style leads to illness, disability and even death. Some of the disease which are
generally caused due to unhealthy eating habits are metabolic disease,overweight,cardio-vascular
diseases, hypertension, etc. It is required by parents and children to develop understanding
about relationship between lifestyle and health. Poor eating habit also have negative effect on
the quality of life. Some of other disease which can be caused due to insufficient nutritious food
include high blood pressure, heart disease etc.
The purpose of the report is to analyse the effect of diet on children's health and well-
being in the Short as well as long term.
Main Body
Long term impact of poor diet on children's health and well-being
Children who have poor diet are more likely to develop certain long-term health
problems and complications such as Osteoporosis Cardiovascular diseases. Growing up eating
foods high in fat, sugar, and salt can increase the risk for high cholesterol, high blood pressure.
In addition to these children who have bad eating habits might have to suffer from obesity.
Complications which might have effect on the health of children due to obesity include bone
development , problem in breathing, hip development problems, liver infection , increase in

physical in activeness , diabetes which can occur in later life. Some other impacts of diet effects
on the children's health and well-being in long term include :
Mental health: The important nutrition such as vitamin B is very much essential for
development of brain in children. Deficiency of Vitamin B can lead to high level of depression
in children. Some unhealthy food leads to the generation of fatty acids which may further leads
to the anxiety and mood disorders in children which also have negative impact on their
behaviour. It is very important for children to take well-balanced diet , as this eating habit will
help children in managing their mental health conditions (Ebadi , Vahdaninia, Azin and et al.,
2011)
Teeth and bones: calcium is considered to be essential nutrition for the health of these crucial
organ systems. Deficiency of calcium may lead to the slow bone growth in children. Improper
intake of nutrition as well as diet can lead to the can cause muscle cramps. Food which contain
high calcium as well as magnesium help in reducing the muscle cramps.
Cardio-vascular system:lack of physical activity , insufficient diet and unhealthy eating habit
may give rise to the heart disease. Such type of illness or disease can be avoided with improving
diet habit and regular exercise (Farhud and Tahavorgar, 2013) The longer a child is overweight,
the greater the health risks and this is particularly true in the case of cardiovascular diseases –
diseases of the heart and the arteries. Cardio-vascular disease can occur due to generates of fatty
acids which has been built up due to high fat diet. This is called atherosclerosis and reduces the
flow of oxygen-carrying blood to the heart muscle which further results in the heart attacks.
Atherosclerosis is considered to be diseases partly a result of a high fat diet. The saturated fat in
the body increases the level of cholesterol in the blood, such as butter, cheese and fatty cuts of
meat.
Chronic illness: These diseases include diabetes to cancer to arthritis which might occur due to
unhealthy food (Thomee, Harenstam and Hagberg, 2011)
Psychological effects- An overweight child is at greater risk of being teased and bullied at
school. Which have negative effect on their mental health.
Poor memory as well as cognitive skills (Poor brain development) : eating proper diet as well
as consuming healthy food is considered to be as important in terms of rapid brain development
in children. Eating habit also have direct as well as significant impact on the capacity to learn
and builds cognitive skills .Children requires food which consist of iodine, choline, Zinc ,

copper, vitamin A etc. Poor intake of these nutrients can lead to deficiency in brain development
in children. Malnutrition might cause learning disabilities.
Short term impact of poor diet on children's health and well-being
Energy- The improper diet as well as unhealthy habits may lead to the Complex carbs, which
further results in lack of energy and increase in activeness in children.
Indigestion – The unhealthy or over eating habits may lead to the digestion problems such as
heartburn, or acid reflux after a big meal.
Sleep-Food habits have direct as well as significant impact on the sleeping pattern. Sleeping after
consuming or eating extra before bedtime can lead to the insomnia or stomach aches.
Tooth decay – Bad eating habit increases the chances of tooth decay in children. This types of
problems are faced by children to to improper intake of calcium. children , eating of chocolate
before sleeping can also hinder children efforts to get shut eye (Ziglio Currie and Rasmussen,
2004)
Diabetes 2 -Unchecked type 2 diabetes, resulting from poor nutrition in childhood, can give rise
or birth to a lifetime problems such high blood pressure, heart disease. Poor nutrition in
childhood also has the potential to adverse effect on children reproductive health.
Obesity-lack of physical activity, unhealthy eating patterns, or a combination of these factors
give birth to obesity in children due to which generally become inactive which has further impact
on their growth. There might be other disease which might have to be suffer by overweight
children such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, fatty liver disease,
gallstones and risk factors for heart disease.
Difference between malnourishment and malnutrition
malnutrition is defined as the state resulting from eating a diet in which nutrients are
either not enough or are too much such that the diet causes' health problems. It is also considered
to to be as lack of adequate nutrition caused by inadequate food or imbalanced diet. On the other
hand, malnourishment is defined as a state in considered to be as a situation in which child does
not eat enough food which is required for normally functioning of body.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the project that children should consumes proper diet and
healthy food which is very beneficial for their physical as well as mental health. Study has
highlighted the negative effect of unhealthy diet on the health of children.

It has been suggested to parents as well as parents to motivate children for conducting
regular exercise and improving eating habit. As this activity will aid children in preventing
themselves from the harmful or deadly disease which might have negative effect on their
development.
REFERENCES
Books and journal:
Farhud DD, and Tahavorgar A.,2013. Melatonin hormone, metabolism & its clinical effects: a
review. Iran J Endocrinol Metabol, 15 (2): 221– 236 (In Persian).
Ebadi M, Vahdaninia M, Azin A, and et al., 2011. Prevalence of smoking: health in view of
Iranian. Peyesh Quarterly. 10 (3); 365– 372.
Thomee S, Harenstam A, and Hagberg M., 2011) Mobile phone use and stress, sleep
disturbances, and symptom of depression among young adults. BMC Public Health. 11: 66–77
Ziglio E, Currie C, and Rasmussen VB., 2004) The WHO cross-national study of health behavior
in school aged children from 35 countries: findings from 2001–2002. J School Health, 74
(6): 204– 206