Childhood Obesity Is Becoming Prevalent With Every

Childhood obesity is becoming prevalent with every passing day, almost uniformly in the developed parts of the world. This problem needs to be discussed on important forums so that substantial solutions can be sort for this issue as this is creating a lot of burden on the government as well as the parents of the children who become obese.

Childhood obesity is defined as a condition in which the child has excess amount of body fat that has the tendency to affect the health of a child in a negative way. However, there are no specific methods to determine the obesity of a child directly, physicians and nutritionists often use the index of BMI to determine whether or not a child is normal, overweight or obese. As mentioned earlier, obesity in children is becoming more prevalent than ever and is also affecting the well-being and health of the children adversely; this problem is recognized as an important public health concern (Rabbitt and Coyne, 2012). Since the use of the word obese is stigmatizing, the word overweight is often use when referring to obese children.

For children who are aged two or above, Body Mass Index or BMI can be used to determine whether or not they are obese and to determine their level of obesity. According to the BMI charts that are being used universally, the index varies for age and sex of the child. The definition that has been presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and that has been accepted by nutritionists and physicians all over the world is that a child or person is said to be obese when his or her BMI is equal to or greater than the 95th percentile of the standard value. These centers have also published and issued tables for the determination of obesity in children.

Epidemiology

According to the statistics, the rates of childhood obesity in the developed parts of the world increased at an exponential rate between the years 1980 and 2010. As per the current data, it has been reported that 10% of the children all over the world are either obese or at least overweight. In this section we shall see what the rates of childhood obesity are and whether they have increased or decreased over the years in different parts of the world.

Canada

In recent years, the number of overweight and obese children in Canada increased significantly. As for the boys, this rate increased from 11% to 30%, from 1980s to 1990s respectively.

Brazil

The rate of obese and overweight children in Brazil was 4% in the year 1980 and it increased to 14% in the 1990s, which is indeed a dramatic increase in such a short period of time.

United States

The rates of overweight children as well as young adults in the United States have increased more than they did in any other part of the world. According to the data, the rates tripled in just 20 years. However, the rates have not shown any variations between the years 2000 and 2006 and as for the current statistics; the rate of overweight and obese children is almost 17%. The rate of obese and overweight children that was recorded in the year 2008 was almost 32% and has not increased as such after that. A national cohort study of infants and toddlers was carried out in the year 2011 that showed that almost one third of all the children in the United States were obese or overweight when they were either 9 months of age of 2 years. On the other hand, the infant weight status presented a strong link with the status of the child in his preschool years.

Australia

Ever since the start of the 21st century, statistics suggest that Australia followed the rates of childhood obesity of the United States. Many researchers and studies have been carried out on this subject and these studies have concluded that the prevalence of childhood obesity in more in the lower socioeconomic areas where people are not nutritionally educated.

Effects on Health

The first problems that the children who are obese or overweight have to face are psychological or emotional in nature. However, these are not the only problems that these children have to face; there are some life threatening conditions that these children can find themselves in. These conditions include high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, sleep problems and diabetes, to name a few. Some of the other disorders that develop in the obese children and are way less common in children with normal weight include early puberty or menarche, liver disease and some serious eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia. These children are also prone to asthma, skin infections and respiratory issues. Studies have also concluded that there is a strong link between the obesity that a child develops when he or she is still young and the weight status of the same child when he or she is an adult. Childhood obesity leads to adolescent obesity and that is linked with high mortality rates in early adulthood. Apart from these health problems, obese children have to face the suffering that comes from the teasing and bullying by their friends and colleagues at school. Some of the overweight and obese children are often discriminated in their own families and incidences of harassment have also been reported. All such things are associated with the development of depression and low self-esteem and these children can have permanent scars in their personality.

According to a study that was conducted by researchers in the year 2008 it was concluded that overweight and obese children's carotid arteries age prematurely by a difference that can be as much as 30 years. Also, it goes without saying that these children have abnormally high levels of cholesterol.

There are also many long-term effects of obesity on the health of the children. At an older age, the people who were obese as children have a greater tendency to develop type 2 diabetes mellitus, many different types of cancer and stroke than the ones who had normal weight. Many articles have been published in the magazines and newspapers for the awareness of the people and these studies suggest that the health factors that are involved in childhood obesity can even result in a shorter lifespan of children than that of their parents, which is indeed unfortunate.

Causes

There is not just one single cause of childhood obesity; rather it's brought on by a combination of many different factors. As for the greatest risk factor, many analysts and health workers have claimed that obesity of both the parents is the single major factor that contributes to the obesity of a child. This implies that in certain families, obesity is genetic and can also be attributed to the environment of the family and their eating habits that makes the children obese. Another reason for childhood obesity is the psychological working of the child's mind that influences his or her eating habits and also the body type of the child is a factor that can contribute to childhood obesity.

"You are what you eat" is an adage that is very appropriate to be used here. These days, it is common to see that children have stopped eating healthy and nutritious meals and instead of that they eat high-fat food that is rich in calories and junk in consistency. According to the statistics, one third of all the teens and children in the United States eat from the fast food restaurants at least once every day. On the other hand, the average portion size that is available at these fast food chains has also increased significantly over the last 20 years. The dietary habits of the children as well as these large servings result in an increased caloric intake, especially in children who are not able to differentiate between larger portions and the ones that are appropriate for their age (Lueke, 2011).

Literature Review

It has been established that excess fat develops when there is a positive energy balance over a prolonged period of time. In children and adolescents, obesity is a result of progressive decrease in the physical activity that directly results in a positive energy balance along with the abnormal eating habits (Water, 2011). Therefore, the major objective of the intervention programs for childhood obesity is to target the behavioral and food habits of the children to improve their physical activity. When physical activity was made a part of the intervention programs apart from just the change in the dietary habits, the results were very beneficial. The reason for making exercise a part of the management program of childhood obesity along with dietary restrictions is that the addition of physical activity has shown a reduction in the rate of overweight and obese related disorders and health problems. The reason why only hypochaloric diets are not beneficial in that these diets have the potential to retard the growth and stimulate reductions in the resting metabolic rate of the children as compared to the decrease in fat free diet. This implies that when the dietary treatment is stopped, weight regain almost always occurs.

The critical periods in the postnatal as well as the uterine environment pertaining to the development of childhood obesity have been identified by many researchers. Once these critical periods are well-understood by the midwives and nurses, it will be easier for them to devise ways for intervention and prevent the risk of childhood obesity in infants. Apart from the factors that have been identified in the beginning of this paper, recently attention has been given to the significance of the interaction between the physical and social environment with biology that is genes. Many epidemiological studies have suggested that there is a strong statistical connection between the maternal weight in pregnancy and childhood obesity and the development of chronic diseases associated with infant weight and childhood obesity. Researches and studies that have been carried out in the animals have shown that there might be a physiological connection between the weight of the mother when she is carrying the child and the risk of that child to develop childhood obesity (Hochberg et al., 2010). As the researchers have also identified the critical periods during the development of the fetus, they have also identified the insults or the negative factors that could alter the way in which genes are expressed and thus cause abnormalities in children that also includes childhood obesity. When the genes are not expressed in the normal way, there are alterations in the function and the structure of the tissues that can result in the long-term imbalance of energy resulting in increased adiposity (Olstad&McCargar, 2009). Scientists have called these changes as 'epigenetic' in which the underlying arrangement of the DNA does not change but the differentiation and growth of tissues are affected.

There are many approaches to address the issue of childhood obesity. One of the approaches that are in fact the most significant one is the involvement of the family. The center of the child's care and the core to the nursing of the child is his or her family. Family is not just the parents of the children but anyone who is related to the child or is close to them and significant to the child. According to the definition of the family that has been issued in the literatures is that family can be single parents, gay and lesbian couples, separated couples apart from the nuclear family of the person. Since children are mostly embedded within the system of the family, these children cannot be made to change their physical activities and their dietary habits if they do not get any support from their families to alter their lifestyle and eating habits (JD, 2010). This is the reason why the nurses make sure that their action plans and strategies to help the obese children involve their families and the approach are such that the family is able to look over their children. It is important to note here that if nurses and physicians want to see a significant change in weight of the children as well as their dietary and physical habits, they have to involve the families and convince them that their child might have to face miserable consequences if his or her habits are not changed. Ecological approach to the treatment of childhood obesity is probably the only one that can actually benefit the overweight and obese children. Ecological approach is the one that involves the home of the child, the family environment and the routine of the family that can play a very encouraging role in changing the lifestyle of the children. It is important to make sure that obesity is prevented at the very early stages since this can help to prevent any secondary diseases from developing in the children. The secondary diseases are often life-long and strongly impair the health and well-being of the children. These secondary diseases include osteoarthritis, heart diseases, and psychosocial problems and type 2 diabetes mellitus. It is worth noting here that cardiovascular disorders and diabetes are the two single most serious complications of childhood obesity.

Childhood obesity has so many implications that is now referred to as more than just a problem in children. Childhood obesity, with its increasing prevalence is now being linked to obesity that occurs in adults and the adverse effects it has on the health of the children as well that of adults. Children who are obese or even underweight are now being diagnosed with heart problems and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The reason why obesity is now being studied so extensively and methods of intervention are now being considered more seriously and many improvements have been made in these methods to make sure that the results of these approaches are beneficial for the treatment of childhood obesity is that this problem does not only affects the psychosocial and physical health of the children, but it is also a great burden on the economic and social development of the family and the country as well. Economic costs that have been associated with childhood obesity are anticipated to the rise. According to one of the estimates of this economic cost, the direct and indirect cost of obesity in the United States alone was approximately $139 billion in the year 2003 (Li and Hooker, 2010).

Management

Due to the upsurge of technology, there has been an increase in the rate of childhood obesity because the number and size of snack intake has increased and the level of physical activity has decreased in children. There is no doubt in saying that if children were more physically active there would less risk of them getting obese. It is the need of that time that children should give up on their electronic devices, at least partially and start playing and exploring the outside world so that their physical activity increases. According to study, children who use their electronic devises more than three hours a day have a 17-44% increased risk of becoming overweight and a 10-61% increased risk of developing obesity. Therefore, it is important for parents to identify the signs of obesity and push their children to increase their physical activity.

There are two ways to approach the management of childhood obesity. The first one is the prevention of childhood obesity when it is in the primary stages to prevent any secondary diseases from developing in the child and the second approach is to treat the obesity with medications and other treatments.

It is important for us to prevent childhood obesity because it has now become one of the leading causes of preventable deaths after the abuse of tobacco and statistics suggest that it might even take the rate of deaths and morbidities caused by tobacco in the coming years. In order to prevent childhood obesity, it is important for us to identify the causes and the factors that are responsible for this. One of the key factors is the environment of the home in which the child lives in that molds his or her dietary habits. If the child has always seen his parents eating non-healthy and junk food then he will automatically adopt the same habits. As it has been explained earlier that when children consume foods that are only rich in fat and have a high calorie content and there is much less nutrition then there is an increased deposition of excessive fats in the adipose tissues of the children that results in obesity if this happens for a prolonged period of time. Therefore, it is highly recommended that the parents should encourage their children to eat healthy foods and consume vegetables and fruits in their diet. Moreover, parents should also restrict the intake of junk food by their children. Apart from this, parents should also make sure that their children do not become couch potatoes and that they exercise regularly and have adequate physical activity so that the energy balance does not remain positive for a prolonged period of time.

Now we shall discuss the management of childhood obesity once it has developed in the children. Yet again lifestyle has an important role to play in the management of childhood obesity. It is important for mothers to realize that only breast-feeding is recommended to fulfill the dietary needs of the infants since it contains all the beneficial effects for the health of the child and the nutrients that are required. As the infant grows up, parents need to make sure that they are feeding their child in proportion to their size and age of the child and also that the physical activity that the child is showing is adequate. These are the major ways that would decrease the level of childhood obesity.