Childhood Obesity and prevention: Action by parents and children.
Obesity, also known as overweight is defined by WHO (2018:1) as the excessive accumulation of fats that can cause harm to the health of an individuals. Obesity or overweight metrics are measured through the use of internationally accepted formula Body Mass Index (BMI). This involves the juxtaposition of body weight in kilograms against the body height in Meters. Simply put dividing the weight of an individual in KGs by the Square of the Height in Meters. Once the result is obtained, the individual can be classified as either normal weight, overweight or obese. For instance, an adult whose BMI is between 25 and 29.9 is said to be overweight, but when it goes beyond that then he is considered obese as observed by the WHO.
The audience of immediate interest in this case is the parents and the children both of whom are affected either directly or indirectly by the challenge of childhood obesity. The parents are connected to the children from their early age to the level where they become independent in their late teenage years.
The parents are great contributors to the diet and lifestyle of the children,...
The children are also direct players in the health matters affecting them and their dietary habits hence these two groups form the core focus of the literature herein.
Significant data for parents
Studies have it that some parts of the US post two-thirds of the residents as being either obese or overweight. The numbers are so massive hence a practical challenge to hospitals that needs to handle this massive number of obese people, the parents and the community stakeholders too feel the burden of obesity in the American society today.
Over the last three decades, many states have been recording ever rising trends in the obesity cases. The challenge of obesity has been ranked as a public health threat due to the number of children with obesity in the US and the increasing
numbers. Among children of between the ages of 6 and 11 years, it has been observed that the rates of obesity have more than tripled over the last three decades. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) in their 2011:1 report indicates that 20% of all American children are obese, even…
