Causes and Effects Essay

Childhood Obesity

Children obesity is an acute problem that is frequently met in the western society. An unhealthy
diet and the abundance of the junk food in the children’s menu leads to their gaining weight
rapidly. In order to address this problem properly, it is essential to examine its roots as well as
to identify the ways of performing a positive change. A particular focus of the paper will be put
on determining the ways school menus can be improved as the major part of children meals is
consumed at school. Childhood obesity has become a worldwide epidemic, and the condition is
now obvious much earlier in life. Thirty years ago, less than five percent of children were
considered obese. Today’s figures put the number of obese American children to 20%. That
translates into millions of children, preteens, and teens suffering from very adult conditions like
diabetes and depression related to weight gain. Obesity is defined as a disproportionate buildup
of stored fat tissue when compared to other tissues. Childhood obesity is now considered a
disease and is diagnosed by doctors. Children become overweight for a variety of reasons.

Causes of Childhood Obesity

There are several causes that lead children to become obese. First of all, many children get
obese because of heredity. Because of some genes inherited from parents, those children have
higher risk of becoming overweight. For example, not all children that watch television several
hours a day or are inactive or just eat junk food develop obesity. Therefore, heredity has been
found to have effect on fatness, distribution of fat on body, and response to overfeeding. It has
also been suggested that heredity does not only concern the genes but also resulting dietary
habits, food intake, and lifestyle, including physical activity level and spontaneous interest in
exercise. Moreover, mothers whom are overweight are found to born neonates that are less
active and gain more weight compared to neonates born of normal weight mothers, which
suggest a preserving energy inborn drive. The information taken from genes can suggest that
genetic factors can take role to determine the susceptibility of adding or losing fat in response
to physical activity and diet. Children spend several hours each day watching television, and
eating lot of snacks that is high in calorie. However the general effect of these changes in
consumption behaviour with the high intake of total fat is the increase in the occurrence of
obesity.

Effects of Childhood Obesity

There are certain effects that might result in children from being obese. The physical effects in
childhood obesity include, for example, the increase adult morbidity in men for gout, and in
women for arthritis. Obese children are usually above average height for age. Obesity in
childhood is responsible of early development in girls and delayed development in boys. For
women, menstrual problems in middle age are found to be associated with childhood. Men
whom are overweight during adolescence have three times more possibility to develop gout
when compared with men whom where normal weight. Furthermore, Obesity in childhood is
associated with numerous medical problems related to physiological, metabolic, and structural
changes. It’s suggested that adult obesity developed from childhood may be more problematic
than adult-onset obesity due to an increased risk of the metabolic syndrome. Obese children
have a higher risk for developing hypertension, high cholesterol levels, diabetes, and metabolic
syndrome. Research shows that obesity in children, particularly during adolescence, persists
into adulthood and is associated with an increased risk of many diseases including
atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, cancers, respiratory disorders, gall bladder disease,
infertility and several non-fatal but debilitating conditions.

Childhood obesity is now considered a global epidemic. There are multiple causes that lead
certain children to become obese. Genetic factors and environmental conditions play a great
role in the early development of childhood obesity, but the condition varies in different
countries. In addition, it appears that there are dangerous effects that result from being obese
which can continue till adulthood. Therefore, parents should be aware of their children life style
and the food they consume to avoid such health problems in their later adulthood. Moreover,
the picture of the obese child as unhealthy, unfriendly and fat is best to prevent as early as
possible. As for prevention of childhood obesity, it is also recommended that parents,
physicians and nutritionists set together to set the proper plan. Nevertheless, there must be
raising in alertness, consideration, and public understanding for the matter of childhood obesity.