Childhood Obesity Essay

IntroductionObesity is one of the historic contributing factors to diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, Type 2 diabetes, stroke, arthritis, depression and several forms of malignant neoplastic disease Williams, 2006. Obesity is often established in adolescence, Williams, 2006 examined the effect of child and adolescence gamey Body Mass Index (BMI) on the prospect of being fat at 21 and reported that 40% of those who were large(p) at 21 could be identified by fester of 7, an advance(prenominal)(a) 25% were recognis equal to(p) by the metre they were 15. Genetic, familial, socioeconomic, psychological, behavioral and environmental factors have been identified as contributors to increasing prevalence of sarcoid in the population. Of these, contractables is the only factor, which for the time being is not possible to alter a known genetic disposition towards all threatening however provides more(prenominal) reason to try to give the factors that fall under human c ontrol.P arnts have an important role in ensuring that their children adopt unsloped eating and physical activity habits from the very set out to prevent fleshiness in their children.  P bents have to provide the critical developing phase support, beginning before birth and continuing through adolescence.  They are the key in ensuring that their children do not develop habits contributing to laborious and fleshiness. Family meals, balanced diet, support in getting adequate physical kick the bucket and exercise and a watchful eye to encounter that their children do not acquire sedentary habits will result in reduced riskiness of overweight in children and adolescents.Unfortunately economic pressures, working parents, broken families and other affable worrys means that parents ceasenot exercise the kind of control required to ensure control of the problem through parental control and guidance.  Another problem is that children and adolescents spend most of thei r time away from home, in schools. The role school-based approaches can play in preventing and controlling corpulency, therefore, acquires immense importance. Social scientists, physicians, schoolteachers, administrators, and parents have foresighted recognized this role.The role schools have played in contributing to the overweight and fleshiness problem in school age children and adolescents has been the prevail over of appreciable research. Many researchers have developed new school-based approaches and analyzed the effectiveness of the approaches for the ginmill and control of obesity.Body Mass Index (BMI)In estimating the overweight and obesity problem, we ideally need to tax the percentage body fat of the subject however this is an impractical measure. A much more convenient measure of Body mass Index (BMI) is widely apply for determining if the mortal meets the desirable body/mass ratio. The body mass business leader (BMI) is delimitate asBMI= (weight/height2)Where weight is measured in kg and height is specify in meters.For adult population, the cut off point for overweight is taken as 25 kg/m2 eon people with BMI of 30 kg/m2 or over are considered obese.  The body mass index among children and adolescents varies importantly with age. Cole et al, 2000 report the result of their research based on international info consisting of 97,876 males and 94,851 females from birth to 25 years of age from 6 countries including United States. They used this statistical data to tabulate boundary values for children up to 18 years of age.International cut off points for body mass index for overweight and obesity by sex between 2 and 18 years Cole, 2000Age (years)Body mass index 25 kg/m2 Body mass index 30 kg/m2MalesFemalesMalesFemales 218.418.0 20.120.1417.617.3 19.319.1617.617.3 19.819.7818.418.3 21.621.61019.819.9 24.024.11221.221.7 26.026.71422.623.3 27.628.61623.924.4 28.929.418252 5 3030Sub gatherings at Increased try of OverweightSherwood et al, 2004 investigated the children at increased risk of obesity and reported that darn childhood obesity is present across all demographic and social classes however, African American girls were at a higher risk. The data analyses showed that African-American girls of age group 6-11 years of age were almost twice more likely to be overweight. In this age group 22.2% of African- American girls were over weight compared 11.6 % white Americans. Among the adolescents (11-19 years age group), 26.6% African-American girls were overweight while 12.4% white girls were considered overweight.Sherwood et al, 2004 believe that AfricanAmerican girls do not guinea pig the same kind of social pressure near their weight as their white counterparts. Black American girls face less negative attitudes about overweight and are therefore less likely to be bear on about watching their weight Kumanyika et al, 1993.Correct Age for Overwe ight intervention in SchoolsA 5-year British schools-based research project carried out by Wardle et al, 2006 highlighted the need to target obesity prevention measures to <11 years age group.  Wardle et al, 2006 study was found that the overall average of overweight children among the age group 11-12 years was 25%. The prevalence of overweight was highest among the black girls (38%), while the students from trim down socio-economic backgrounds were also more likely to be overweight (31%).Their study counterpane over 5-year period found that over the period of study, prevalence of overweight increased at the expense of obese, while the proportion of students in tidy BMI range remained unchanged. They argued that while a few of the obese and overweight students were able to reduce to healthy BMI values, the proportion of overweight largely remained unchanged aft(prenominal) 11-12 years of age. In addition, no evidence was found of new cases of obesity or overweight over th e adolescence period. This research showed that the problem of overweight/obesity needs to be tackled before the childhood (< 11 years).ConclusionsOverweight and obesity is a multi-faceted problem. The problem begins in early child hood and by the time the child enters adolescence, the problem is well established. The parents have the most important role to play in countering the problem right from infancy. Building good eating habits, physical exercise and avoiding snacks and sedentary life style are critical to avoiding overweight and obesity problem.As children spend most of their solar day at school, school based interventions such as physical activities, sports and games and a balanced diet program can play a snappy role in building good habits and countering the risk of childhood from an early age. The government support to schools in building a healthy line is important for the welfare of our children and also reducing the risk and costs of obesity related diseases.Works CitedCole, TJ, Bellizzi, MC, Flegal, KM, Dietz, WZ, Establishing a standard definition for child overweight and obesity worldwide international survey, British Medical Journal, January 2000Kumanyika, S, Wilson, J, Guilford-Davenport, M., Weight-related attitudes and behaviors of black women, J Am Diet Assoc. 1993, 416-422Sherwood, NE Mary Story, M., and Obarzanek, E., Correlates of Obesity in African-American Girls An Overview, Obesity Research 123S-6S, 2004Wardle J Brodersen NH Cole TJ Jarvis MJ Boniface DR, knowledge of adiposity in adolescence five-year longitudinal study of an ethnically and socio-economically diverse prototype of young people in Britain. British Medical Journal,, 2006 332(7550)1130-5Williams, S.,  Overweight at age 21 the association with body mass index in childhood and adolescence and parents body mass index, International Journal of  Obesity link up Metabolic Disorders  2001,  Volume 25, Issue 2, pp 158-63