Causes of Childhood Obesity in America

We are watching with anguish and frustration that hi tech age is taking its toll on the health of children. Children, particularly adolescent or near the age of adolescence are spending more time for watching televisions and / or sitting on the Internet in his / her computer or working in his / her computer.

Not only watching or working by sitting for long hours, they use to take high calorie snacks during their period of watching or working on their computers. As a result low energy is being expended for these children for longer period by which excess fat is accumulated in these children's body making them obese which is not at all desired.

In fact this child hood obesity has gripped the children in the United States of America to such an extent that in average one in every five children in the USA are generally found to be obese. We are very much concerned that the general health of average citizens of America will be bad if the children who are the future citizens of America are obese which invites many diseases to them like pediatric hypertension, Type II Diabetes Mellitus risk of coronary heart disease, stress on weight carrying body and above all lower self esteem resulting in relationship with peers.

Whom should we call obese? Generally it is defined as excessive accumulation of body fat. Child hood obesity is often defined as a weight for height in excess of 120 percent of ideal. However, a more accurate determinants of fatness is the measurement of skin fold. If the measurement exceeds the optimal level the child is called obese.

Now we shall discuss about the causes of childhood obesity. Our flat opinion is the imbalance between the energy in and energy out for children is the root cause of Childhood Obesity for the children in America. What is Energy in? The calorie is coming from the food the child takes. What is energy out? The calories expended in the basal metabolic rate and physical activities. So as I told at the starting of this writing that long hours with TV or with computer and taking high calorie snacks hampers the balance of energy in and out. Lot of studies have been carried out in this regard, which showed that Childhood Obesity is most likely the results from an interaction of nutritional, Psychological, familial, and Physiological factors.

The risk of a child to be obese is more, who has both the two obese parents. Some strong genetic factor or parents' desire may lead to obesity to the child. This is the familial cause.

We have already discussed about the low energy expenditure, which is the most rampant cause for children obesity.

Heredity some times influences fatness, regional fat distribution and response to overfeeding.

Obesity treatment for children seldom uses Weight Loss programs. Instead the aim is generally to slow or halt weight gain so the child will grow into his or her body weight over a period of months to years.

However, cases are there where risky Obesity Surgery had to be carried out even for teenagers, when the Obesity level reached the danger zone and no effective solution was at hand.

In general, early and appropriate intervention for obesity treatment for an obese and overweight child is the most important. We can name three forms of intervention.

Physical Activity - More and more physical activities, be it exercise, playing outdoor games like tennis swimming, football etc are the most healthy way to burn calories. Children should be motivated to take part in these outdoor games or exercises. Overall health and outlook to life of the child will see a miracle change.

There are two other forms of Interventions, which are Diet Management and Behavior Modification. Parental guidance will be required to encourage the child to take balance diet, restriction in taking fast food, cola drinks etc., taking part in outdoor games and exercises, and keeping record of improvement in weight maintenance etc, restricting time for watching TV etc.

We want to put on stress on the behavior of parents for proper intervention at proper time to guide their children so that the children do not suffer from obesity for which they themselves may not be totally responsible.


About the Author
Ftranklin Doughe is an associated editor to the website www.figurefirst.com. Figurefirst is dedicated to solve all your weight related queries and provide you up to the mark information on weight loss,diet pills obesity, healthy recipes, obesity diseases, and latest news. Your feedback & comments will be highly appreciated at fdoughe@gmail.com.