Children Obesity
Children Obesity: Nutrition and Well Being
There has always been overweight children, and there always will be, but it is becoming a serious problem. It is said that chubby babies and toddlers were more likely to survive infections and contagious diseases, and overweight children and family members were often signs of affluence and financial security in a community. In some cultures, overweight was valued body type.
In today’s world being overweight puts a child at risk of developing chronic diseases such as type II diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol levels. Obesity can cause so many problems like degenerative joint disease, which will result in painful knees, hips, feet, and back, and it can severely limit the persons activity. These health concerns were previously only seen in adults and they were usually over the age of 40, but in today’s world obesity starts earlier than it ever has. Obesity is usually measured by a tool called body mass index, also known as a BMI. The BMI of an individual can be derived from tables or calculated using formula , weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. In 2000, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also known as CDC, released updated growth charts incorporating BMI percentiles for children, beginning with children two years of age and extending the curves to age twenty. Children, adolescents, and young adults are at risk for overweight at the 85th through 89.9th percentages and are classified as overweight at the 95 percentile or greater. Children and teens are not labeled “obese,” they are said to just be “at risk of overweight” or “overweight.”
Nutritionalists and researchers have been keeping data that shows an increasing trend of overweight children in the United States. While watching the proportion of overweight children was identified as one of the ran leading health indicators. There has been an increase of obesity in all ethnic, racial, gender,...