Child Obesity

                    Child Obesity

Child obesity is a problem in today's society that seems to get awareness but does not produce any type of results. Globally, the rate of obesity jumped from 28% in adults and 47% in children between 1980 and 2013 and if this current trend continues, by the year 2030 another 20% of the population will be obese and 38% of the population will be overweight (Smith K.B., Smith M.S. 2016). According to these statistics, children are the ones who suffer more with overweight and obesity than adults do. If children start their childhood begin overweight that can lead to multiple health problems such as diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure as well as emotional problems like depression, bullying and low-self esteem (mayoclinic.org). The root of obesity starts at childhood and the child's household and if families do not take action then these health risks follow them through adulthood. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, in a Hispanic household, Hispanics (25.8%) and non-Hispanic blacks (22.0%) had higher obesity prevalence than non-Hispanic whites (14.1%) and non-Hispanic Asians (11.0%) had lower obesity prevalence than non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics (cdc.gov). Obesity is caused due to lack of exercise, poor diet, genetics, stress and socioeconomic factors (mayoclinic.com). Just recently, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) changed their food packages so they can start increasing the purchase of fruits and vegetables,whole grains and low-fat milk and therefore reducing the obesity rates of low-income toddlers (M. Jenco, 2019). With the help of these changes to the federal food vouchers, the rate of obesity dropped from 15.9% to 14.5% and the rate of severe obesity dropped from 2.12% to 1.96% (stateofobesity.org). Changes like these can help us step closer to a better and healthy future for our kids and ourselves.

Personal Impact

If you stop for a moment and think to yourself, "how many people that I know are overweight or obese?". Maybe your answer might shock you or maybe it might not, I knew it shocked me. I come from a Hispanic background and I have a couple of friends and family members that are considered overweight. My parents are aware of this problem and try to change by cooking healthier alternatives but ultimately we succumb to large portions of food and we end up purchasing a lot of unhealthy snacks and I feel like this is what most children go through as well. The reason this issue is so important to me is because were aware of our bad choices and we see ourselves struggling with these problems yet we do not do anything about it to change for the better. A couple months ago my aunt had a baby and he was huge! I believe that this part has to do with genetics so there was not much the mother could do to prevent from having an overweight baby but she could definitely prepare for the future to prevent this situation from getting worse. We went to visit them a couple months later and the baby gained so much more weight which was concerning considering he is barely 8 months old. All of my family members were aware of it and they were surprised too but when I mentioned that this could be a serious issue to his health everyone stood quiet and turned a blind eye and instead started stating how cute and chubby he was. I'm not degrading my aunt's parenting skills but I'm trying to show how indifferent we are to problems like these. We're acknowledge these problems but we do not do anything about it until it's too late. Losing weight or at least changing up your diet is easier said than done but NOT IMPOSSIBLE!!! I feel like we trap ourselves in a negative mind space and tell ourselves that we can't do it which also affects our self-esteem and our confidence; the more we do nothing about it, the worse it will get. I think parents are the ones who can make the bigger difference for children and I think that's where we should start.

 "I was always an athletic kid but I was also bigger than other kids and I think that affected me emotionally cause I didn't want to be known as the 'fat kid'. I just kept eating junk food after big meals and I think that's what affected me. I do believe that there are many things that we can to fix child obesity." - Helio R.

"As a former child who suffered from childhood obesity, I have to advocate for the importance of health awareness. Since poor lack of nutritional diet lead me to have various health problems at a young age. Thankfully none of them were permanent but if I had continued this form of lifestyle, it might have been." - Enrique M.



References

"Obesity Statistics" Smith K.B., Smith M.S. (2016)  Primary Care - Clinics in Office Practice,  43  (1), pp. 121-135. 

"Childhood Obesity." Mayo Clinic. December 05, 2018. Accessed June 30, 2019. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/childhood-obesity/symptoms-causes/syc-20354827

"Childhood Obesity Facts | Overweight & Obesity | CDC." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed June 30, 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html.

Jenco, Melissa. "Study: WIC Changes Linked to Decline in Obesity among Toddlers." AAP Gateway. June 26, 2019. Accessed June 30, 2019. https://www.aappublications.org/news/2019/04/01/wicchanges040119.

"The State of Childhood Obesity." The State of Obesity. Accessed June 30, 2019. https://www.stateofobesity.org/childhood/.