Childhood Obesity

Published under category: Custom Writing | 2015-05-05 06:06:14 UTC

Context: Health: Obesity

The below writing was written for English as a second language student in the United States. Child hood obesity is a problem in America, and universities are taking up the role of educating future parents on the topic. Therefore, research papers on this topic are common. You can read the essay below before ordering your custom written research papers. We live in a world that believes in the principle; the bigger the better. Every edible commodity seems to come with a small, medium, large, and even an extra-large size. For some, the fancy name ‘king size’ is used. Unfortunately, this grading system exists in the one thing that is most dangerous to our bodies, junk food. Junk food has always proved to be a threat. Despite many interventions, it still proves to be a difficult problem to counter. The end result of junk food is that it leads to obesity. Obesity is a lifestyle disease. Basically, it comes as a result of eating wrong, eating more, and exercising less. The culprit eats a lot junk food. This food usually contains excess amounts of fat and sugar. Most people who eat junk food, unfortunately, do not exercise. The end result is a rapid gain in weight, often leading to health problems. Recently, a new type of diabetes is emerging, childhood diabetes. Childhood diabetes affects children and teenagers. In this essay, I researched on the causes of childhood obesity, their effects, and remedies to childhood obesity. The research materials were mostly previously recorded statistics and literature on diabetes. No single factor has been established as of yet, as the sole cause of obesity. It is caused by various factors including eating habits, environment, genetic factors, or even a person’s lifestyle. Eating habits, however, appear to be the leading cause of diabetes. Most children are exposed to foods with excessive sugar content, and a lot of fat. When excessive fat or sugar is ingested, the body converts the body converts it to fat, which is stored in the adipocytes in the adipose tissue to provide energy for a later time. When the fat being stored is more than the fat being broken down, it accumulates in the adipose tissue, causing one to grow fat. Most of the children who are obese are victims of this behavior. Most probably, they do not healthy foods, which have low fat and sugar content. A person’s environment may also be a contributing factor. Most people live in an environment that does not provide an allocation for exercise and self-development. For children, it even gets worse. Gone are the days when a child would go out to play soccer with the neighboring kids. The days of going to the beach on a Sunday afternoon to build sand castles, are long gone. What we have now are more sofa-friendly games. Games, which encourage children to be couch potatoes. With the discovery of the PlayStation, children nowadays spend their free time playing their favorite games. They remain glued to television screens for hours, some even forgetting to eat. The result of this is children who are highly unfit. When one eats, little by little activity is needed for maximal food absorption. In this case, children just eat, but do not take part in any exercises. Consequently, excess energy, which is supposed to be expended during playtime, is stored up as fat, leading to childhood obesity. Unfortunately, for some children, childhood obesity is a genetic factor. They inherit genes from their parents, which make their bodies gain weight easily. Therefore, this puts these children at a greater risk of obesity. They have to always watch the amount of food they eat. A little increase in their food intake, or a reduction in exercise levels, puts them at risk of obesity. Certain medical conditions also contribute to childhood obesity. Low thyroid gland function, for example, leads to low levels of thyroid hormone in the body. Consequently, a child’s appetite is increasing, causing an abnormal craving for food. Certain drugs, especially those containing steroids, and anti-seizure medication, have also been known to increase a child’s appetite. Therefore, evidently, not all cases of childhood obesity are as a cause of inappropriate lifestyles. Although the leading cases are majorly because of unhealthy living, some can be because of a health condition. Childhood obesity has often been associated with developed countries to a greater extent than in developing and underdeveloped countries. This has been the case for the past three decades. However, the trend seems to be turning tables globally. Childhood obesity is no longer considered a disease of the West; it is now a worldwide phenomenon. Health research around the globe comes to the agreement that childhood obesity is on the rise in developing countries at a rate that is more than alarming; it is unprecedented. This is a disease that in Africa was considered foreign and unimaginable. This is not the case at the moment as Second world countries like South Africa are experiencing childhood obesity as much as diabetes and other lifestyle related diseases. Children at the age of five and above weigh more than their predecessors when they were of that age. Countries, such as Nigeria, have fallen victim too despite being advanced economically in the developing continent. At least 10 % of their children are obese or overweight. This trend has rung bells at their Public Health offices, more like many other countries in Africa. The exception in developing countries is the fact that this disease remains to be rampant in urban centers more than rural regions. Urban families who adopt sedentary lifestyles pass the same to their children at a very age, exposing their children to the stings of childhood obesity. Rural regions in developing countries seem to be spared because of malnutrition and scarcity of food. The available food is not usually the type to cause a tremendous increase in weight. If anything, the food is only enough to keep the children and their families going till the next day. Health research further shows that developed countries continue to steepen the trend of childhood obesity. The slope is getting steeper owing to the fact that infants are now included in the menace. Developed countries in the South American continent have not yet escaped the cunning trap yet. Brazil and Argentina are experiencing the same effects. However, the poverty indexes in most parts of these countries continue to prove to be a blessing in disguise, at least in the case of childhood obesity. Other countries in that region such as Uruguay and Paraguay have little to show of childhood obesity research-wise. There are various effects that can be associated with childhood obesity. It poses both psychological and physical problems. Unfortunately, children find it very difficult to cope with obesity due to their young age. Unlike adults, children cannot understand why and how they came to suffer from such a condition. Majorly, childhood obesity poses a great risk to a child’s health and general wellbeing. The accumulation of fat in the body poses a huge health risk. If this fat accumulates around the heart, the child might suffer from breathing problems. This is because the heart will find it difficult to pump blood to the whole body. An extra load will be added to the heart, which is a very delicate structure. The effects of this will be seen in how a child is in physical activity. An obese child will find it very hard to perform strenuous or even basic activities like playing or walking. Walking will be a task, since they will quickly run out of breath. Engaging in games will also be very challenging. With the heart not pumping blood efficiently enough, even the easiest of basic activity will be very hard for an obese child. Worse still, an obese child is very prone to heart attacks. The heart might get compressed to the point where it is not able to pump blood. As a result, a child will suffer from a heart attack, which might even lead to death. Moreover, a child will suffer from great psychological distress in addition to the medical implication. Most obese children find it hard to cope in school. Most of them are the subject of criticism and jeering from the class. They become the easiest target for the verbal bullies in the class. Moreover, obese children are normally sidelined and treated differently, as if they have a contagious disease. They are often all by themselves and do not have many friends, unlike most of their classmates. Most of the other classmates fear associating with them, fearing what other children will think of them. To make matters worse, obese children find it hard to participate in the games that their age mates engage in, considering their health status. Children are known to be very full of energy, and are always looking for adventure. Play, for a child, is very important, majorly for both physical and mental development. Every child values gives very great value to their playtime. Therefore, for an obese child, who is not able to join his/her friends in what they are doing, it gets depressing. As a result, obese children grow up to be people who are not happy with who they are. They grow up knowing that they are different. Not different in a good way, but different because they are oversize. This haunts them and devours their self-esteem (Langwith, 2013). They end up knowing that they are not good enough, beautiful enough, or even worthy in this world. They end up wishing they could be as some of their friends. These thought become very detrimental to their esteem. They do not live life to the fullest, become afraid of taking chances, and may even want to seek approval from others. Some are even at risk of engaging in destructive behavior, like drinking or abusing drugs, in an attempt to find their place in this world, and their identity. In academics, if they do not receive a lot of guidance and encouragement, obese children may lag behind in academics. They may find it hard to concentrate in class. They may even believe that their fellow classmates are better than they are which may as well not be the case. Subsequently, they may find it hard to study, or even participate in class. Some may even drop about of school as a result. Having witnessed the harmful effects of childhood obesity, it really helps to know its remedies. The remedy that has been in place for a long time is exercise. As we have seen, obesity is caused by an excessive accumulation of fat in the body. This fat accumulates because it is not being broken down to be used as energy for the body. Obese children should be enrolled in a fitness program. The aim should be to break down the excessive fat through exercise. However, they should not engage in exercises, which are aimed to build muscle. They should indulge in exercises aimed at burning fat. Cardiovascular exercises are a good example of such exercises. These include activities such as jogging. During jogging, a lot of energy is required by the muscle. The glucose capacity in the body is not enough to satisfy this need. Fat is therefore broken down to cater for this deficit. In the process, one loses a lot of calories. On the other hand, jogging and other cardiovascular activities strengthen the heart. During exercises, oxygen requirement by muscles is high. To cater for this, the heart is required to pump blood faster and stronger. In the long run, the heart is strengthened and becomes more fit. As a result, one is less prone to heart attacks. If a child is committed to a weight loss program, they can easily shed off the extra calories. Another method used is by changing the child’s diet. Most children become obese because of having an unhealthy diet. A remedy for this is by enrolling the child in a dieting plan. The child’s diet is controlled. The type of food they eat is checked, to ensure that it is healthy. Moreover, even the rations are controlled. A child is only allowed to eat what is enough for them. They also have to abstain from unhealthy foods, and foods with a lot of fat. This is to prevent accumulation of more fat in the body. If most parents were to take responsibility of what their children eat from an early age, most cases of childhood obesity would be prevented. This method has also proved to very effective in countering obesity. In addition to countering obesity, a good balanced and healthy diet is advantageous for a healthy lifestyle. Some people have also resulted to surgical interventions. Tummy tucks are the most popular procedures. The excess fat is removed from the body through surgery. However, this method is not very effective. Furthermore, post-operative complications might arise, since patients respond differently. For those whose obesity is as a result of defective hormones, hormone therapy can be employed. For example, synthetic thyroid hormone can be administered, to curb excessive appetite for food. Medical advances are still being made as regards genetic intervention, for those whose obesity is genetic. A success in this field will see it possible for doctors to be able to correct genetic dysfunction by altering the defective genes. These are some of the remedies that can be used to counter obesity. They require a lot of commitment and dedication. Like any other health condition, those under medication need to adhere to the designated doses. Most importantly, obese children need support and encouragement. They need to be made to feel that they belong, and they are not any different from anyone else. Childhood obesity can be corrected. Better still, it can be prevented. This is the best option. As it is often said, prevention is better than cure. ORDER PLAGIARISM FREE PAPER