Childhood Obesity in the United States

Childhood Obesity in the United States

Arnold Cavazos

COM/155

01/12/2014

Carol Bagley

Childhood Obesity in the United States

There is a major problem in this country and it is severely affecting our children’s health and wellbeing. This problem is childhood obesity. There is a great chance that this generation of our children will live shorter lives than their parents. Childhood obesity is not a problem we can afford to ignore. Over the last thirty years the rate of childhood obesity in the United States has tripled and continues to soar at a dangerously rapid rate. Today nearly 17 percent of all children are overweight or obese. The numbers in African American and Hispanic communities are even higher with a staggering 40 percent of the children being overweight or obese. With the continued increase in childhood obesity in the United States, many children will face obesity related health issues, both physical and psychological.

Obesity is caused by the body’s accumulating of so much body fat that it might have a negative effect on the person’s health. The Body Mass Index (BMI) is the measure that is used to determine if a child is obese; it is calculated using a child's height and weight. Although BMI does not measure body fat directly, it is a reasonable indicator of body fatness for most children. Because children's body composition varies as they age and varies between boys and girls, a child's weight status is determined using an age and sex-specific percentile for BMI instead of the categories used for adults. Growth Charts from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) are used to determine the corresponding BMI-for-age and sex percentile. A person is considered obese if he or her BMI is 20% or more than it should be.

Extremely harmful physical effect s can be caused on the body in several ways because of childhood obesity. The risk factors for cardiovascular disease are greatly increased in children that are obese due to the increase in high...