The role of schools in addressing childhood obesity

Childhood Obesity

While standing in line at my local McDonald's I was struck by the number of overweight children.

Everywhere I gazed, the children surrounding me were overweight

I wondered why

What is Childhood Obesity?

O is an excess of body fat that negatively affects a child's health and well being

is classified by a child's BMI (Body Mass Index)

What causes Childhood Obesity?

Dietary

Today's prepackaged food is calorie rich and a significant contributor

High sugar drinks (soda, juice, so called "energy drinks)

Fast Food nation

High calorie snacks

Surprisingly, whole milk was not found to negatively affect a child's weight

Sedentary lifestyle

Students who are obese, tend to be sedentary

Researchers discovered obese children were 35% less active on school days and 65% less active on weekends compared to non-obese children.

Obese children live in a televisual world, rather than a physical world: TV, computers, video games

Researchers discovered, discovered children were 21.5% more likely to be overweight when watching 4+ hours of TV per day, 4.5% more likely to be overweight when using a computer one or more hours per day, and unaffected by potential weight gain from playing video games

c. Genetics

i. Obese kids tend to come from obese parents

ii. One study found that 80% of the offspring of two obese parents were obese in contrast to less than 10% of the offspring of two parents who were of normal weight iii. The percentage of obesity that can be attributed to genetics varies from 6% to 85% depending on the population examined

d. Home Environment

i. Obese children experience different food choices at home in comparison to non-obese children

ii. Obese children are four times more likely to make their own food choices than non-obese children iii. Obese children are also 19% less likely to report poor consumption of vegetables

iv. 22% less likely to report poor consumption of fruits, and 19% less likely to report poor consumption of dairy products

e. Psychological Factors

i. Researchers discovered a positive correlation between low self-esteem and childhood obesity

ii. Researchers discovered decreased self-esteem led to 19% of obese children feeling sad, 48% of them feeling bored, and 21% of them feeling nervous iii. Compare that with, 8% of normal weight children felt sad, 42% of them felt bored, and 12% of them felt nervous