Main contributors to childhood obesity in America

Childhood Obesity

Obesity in childhood is a recent problem. Not so long ago, in the '60s and '70s, less than 5% of children were overweight. By the '80s and '90s the percentage had doubled and today it is up to 15%, so three times as many children are seriously overweight as there were in the '60's. "Morbid Obesity" does not describe a sad, fat kid, but a child who is in danger of dying because of too much body weight (Belsky, p. 145).

One of the reasons for overweight children today is lack of exercise. Since there are fewer gym programs in schools these days because of the emphasis on academics. Children watch TV instead of playing outside because parents are afraid for them to play where there is danger; instead, children sit for hours and play computer games, rather than running and playing with other children (Belsky 146).

Another reason children are overweight is the availability of inexpensive, fat-filled snacks. They eat more either because they are bored and there are snacks available to fill the time, or because they are hungry and the high carbohydrates are a cheap appetite appeaser. But there is still an amazing amount of growth that may not be fully explained by reasons listed above.

Some people tend to be overweight because they have a low metabolism. This might have been an advantage in the days when food was scarce, but today food is readily available and when the slow-burner eats the same amount as anyone else, he or she gains weight because it is not burned off as fast as everyone else's food.

Today's overweight kids sometimes get serious health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, diseases from which only older people used to suffer. Metabolic syndrome is higher with obese children and increases as obesity worsens. Metabolic syndrome is a condition where the child resists insulin, which burns sugar. The metabolic syndrome which these overweight children have, showed C-reactive protein, which is normally present when one has an acute infection. These children also have dangerously high adiponectin levels, which is a hormone that regulates glucose and fatty acids. These children were also found to have "biomarkers" for future heart problems and cardiovascular conditions, simply as a result of their being overweight. The children find they have bone and joint problems from the strain of being heavy. Shortness of breath keeps them from exercising, playing sports or other activities where heavy breathing might lead to asthma or heart problems. They do not sleep very well, they tend to mature early and be more sexually mature and taller than other kids their age. Numerous other bad results, such as gall bladder, liver and heart problems are present to some degree. Depression is common (Gavin, p. 1).

Another reason children may be overweight which is not addressed in the Belsky book is the fact that developing and more highly developed countries are eating more beef and the meat, especially in the United States, has growth hormones in it in trace amounts. The laws in the United States allow cattle to be slaughtered for meat within hours of having been fed growth hormones, while in Europe this is forbidden. Studies have shown that growth hormones create overweight children, with early development and growth spurts during pre-teen years (Raloff, p. 10).

I knew a family with five children. The mother did not like to cook and so for dinner every night, she took her kids to McDonalds. The children ate hamburgers almost every night for most of their childhood. They also ate lots of French fries and drank gallons of Coke, all of which had lots of carbohydrates, sugar and fat in them. But the resulting thing that happened to these five kids showed up as they developed. When they were four or five years of age both the boys and the girls tended to be overweight, but tall and muscular for their age. They were all very active physically, so did not become morbidly obese, but would still be considered obese. When they reached 10, 11 and 12 years of age they began to grow even more than they had as children and were extraordinarily tall and heavy. The oldest girl was over six feet tall and had developed breasts by the time she was 12. She was taller than her father and much taller than her mother. She looked as if she were over 20, but still was a small child in her social and intellectual development. At 12, she was taken on a one-hour train ride to visit the sights in a city and when it was noon her (older) companion decided to stay in the city and tried to send her back home on the afternoon train, along the same route by herself, where her father would meet her at the home depot. But she refused; she was too frightened to travel by herself on the train, as she had never been anywhere alone in her life; so the companion had to travel back home with her, recalling that after all, she was only 12, even if she was twice as tall as she.