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...

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…