Agp Reviewpaper Pp
- 1. The Bigger, The Better: The Unseen Damages of Childhood Obesity LaToya M. Johnson
- 2. Introduction There are a lot of issues affecting our society in the world today; the issue I would like to focus on is childhood obesity. . The reason I have chosen this topic is because it being ignored and I do not feel that it is not being brought into the light like it should be. By ignoring this problem, we are putting future generations at risk because of all the health issues that tag along with obesity and how being obese during childhood can affect you as an adult. During this slideshow, I am going to show how childhood obesity can affect your life and future generations.
- 3. Medical & Physical Complications Medical complications that occur from childhood obesity are: Cardiovascular problems, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes, certain cancers, decreased fertility, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea (pulmonary problems), liver disease, and gallbladder disease (Moriarty-Kelsey & Daniels, 2010)
- 4. Medical & Physical Complications continue The physical complications that walk hand in hand with childhood obesity are: Weaker muscle strength and structure, hip and join problems (Santrock, 2009); all this in turns affects their motor gross ability. Also, they tend to have difficulty performing physical related activities when compared to their nonobese peers (Santrock, 2009).
- 5. Contributing Factors to Childhood Obesity After viewing the list of health problems that occurs from obesity, we need to talk about the contributing factors for childhood obesity because children did not learn their eating habits by themselves. Experts feel that the problem lies and starts with the family and the school system. However, genetics, psychological problems, and slow metabolism can also play a role in childhood obesity.
- 6. Home-life Factors Improper food portions sizes and excessive snacking Eating out the majority of the time and fast foods Sitting around playing videogames and watching TV Not encouraging or supporting physical activities; or being active with your children or showing them how to be active.
- 7. Schools Role in Childhood Obesity One of the reasons that schools are thrown into the mix is because children spend the majority of their days at school. Robert Colin Carter states, “Because many of the lifestyle and behavior choices associated with obesity develop during school-age years, a child's food intake and physical activity at school are important determinants of body weight (Carter, 2011).”
- 8. Serious, how bad is this problem? According to the U.S Department of Health & Human Services states that “overweight adolescents have a 70 percent chance of becoming overweight or obese adults, which increases to 80 percent if one or more parent is overweight or obese (U.S Department of Health & Human Services, 2011).”
- 10. What can be done? Preventing Childhood Obesity According to LL Birch and AK Ventura, they state that if we want to prevent childhood obesity we need to start with: “changing dietary patterns, increasing physical activity, decreasing sedentary behaviors and reducing weight status or weight gain (Birch & Ventura, 2009).” However, at the moment, reducing childhood obesity is limited; if we want to really reduce it, we need to start early prevention. The reason being is, as Birch and Ventura stated, “ early prevention may be our best opportunity because this is a time when children are primed to learn about food and eating and are very responsive to the influence of parents and caregivers.
- 11. What can be done? Preventing Childhood Obesity continue Paul J. Veugelers and Angela L. Fitzgerald developed a study comparing school prevention programs in contrast to preventing excess body weight. In their study, they surveyed 5200 5 th grade students along with their parents and school principals; also, they assessed dietary intake, and collected information on physical and sedentary activities. With that information they compared excess body weight, diet, and physical activity across schools with and without nutrition programs. (Veugelers & Fitzgerald, 2005).
- 12. What can be done? Preventing Childhood Obesity continue Veugelers and Fitzgerald study results showed that “ of the 5200 5 th grade students who completed the YAQ (Youth Adolescent Food Prequency Questionnaire- detailed information on the frequency and kinds of foods that students consume), 3656 (70.3%) attended one of the 199 study schools without a nutrition program, 1350 (26%) attended one of the 73 schools with a nutrition program, and 133 (2.6%) attended one of the 7 schools participating in the AVHPSP (Annapolis Valley Health Promoting Schools Project).
- 13. Closing Overall, the problem of childhood obesity falls on parents and educators; children first learn their eating habits from parents. If all you give your children is fast food, processed TV dinners, or fried foods, we cannot except them to eat anything else. The schools are not helping either; with vending machines on almost every hallway and in the cafeteria, they are only contributing more to the problem. Also, budgets cuts are affecting schools to. While working as a substitute teacher, I heard about how the school district was going to cut the P.E. and art programs out of the elementary schools. It was bad enough that the students at the elementary school were only having P.E. once a week, but to fully take it away? This is only showing students that exercise really is not all that important, when in fact it really is.
- 14. Reference Birch, LL & Ventura, AK. (2009). Preventing childhood obesity: what works? International Journal of Obesity 33, S74-S81 Carter, Robert Colin. (2002). The Impact of Public Schools on Childhood Obesity. The Journal of the American Medical Association. Retrieved May 13, 2011 from http: //jama . ama-assn .org/content/288/17/2180.full Gable, Sara & Lutz, Susan. (2000). Household, parent, and child contributions to childhood obesity . Family Relations 49 (3), 293-300 Moriarty-Kelsey, Megan & Daniels, Stephen R. (2010). Childhood Obesity Is the Fuel That Fires Adult Metabolic Abnormalities and Cardiovascular Disease. Mary Ann Liebert, Inc, 6 (5), 250-256 Santrock, J.W. (2009). Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle and Late Childhood. Life-Span Development 12 th ed. (pp.281-298) . McGraw-Hill. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2011). Childhood Obesity. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Retrieved May 13, 2011 from http: //aspe . hhs . gov/health/reports/child_obesity/ Veugelers, Paul J. & Fitzgerald, Angela L. (2005). Effectiveness of School Programs in Preventing Childhood Obesity: A Multilevel Comparison. American Journal of Public Health 95 (3), 432-435
Editor's Notes
- #4: There are a lot of medical that tag-a-long with being obese- that most people are very unaware of; the reason being is because it gets written off as ‘oh, its nothing serious because a lot of people experiences it’ or they are just not aware. Example: I know a women that went five years with type diabetes but did not know until something major happened and had to go to hospital. Then she found out. According to Fitness Weight Loss Center, more than half the people in the United States are overweight even though a lot of them are not aware that they are. Approximately 65% of Americans are overweight and half of those people are considered obese (fitnessweightlosscenter.com, 2011).Fitness Weight Loss Center also goes on to state that obesity stresses joints and can complicate having any surgery done (we will talk about physical complications in the next sid) (fitnessweightlosscenter.com, 2011).
- #7: . According to Sara Gable and Susan Lutz, “Parents’ beliefs about children’s nutritional needs and their attitudes towards mealtimes can also make a difference for children’s weight (Gable & Lutz, 2000).” They go on to report that according to the NHANES III, children that fell between 8 years old to 16 years old, “leaner children tend to watch less TV than heavier children, were rated more physically active by their teachers and parents (Gable & Lutz, 2000). Their studied went on to show that parents who control and regulate what their children eat, their children tend not to be able to self-regulate their own food intake which leads to overeating (Gable & Lutz, 2000).
- #8: Carter goes on to report that more than 25 million students uses in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) daily but only about 7 million students uses the National School Breakfast program (NSBP) daily (Carter, 2011). Now, with those statistics, “the total and saturated fat contents of meals provided by most schools exceed the limits required by the NSLP and NSBP programs (Carter, 2011). Not only do schools provide unhealthy food, but also they have snack bars, student stores, and vending machines. With that being said, the majority of school children eat over half their meals at school; the school is only evolving the problem further.
- #10: The images above show the increasing rates of obesity nationwide.
- #11: Basically, the study was talking how it already too late for those that are obesity but if we want to save future generations we need to education them while they are young and can be easily taught. But it needs to be done by both parents and school systems.
- #13: Also, the results showed “that students from schools that were part of the AVHPSP showed lower rates of overweight and obesity and had better dietary habits in terms of higher consumption of fruits and vegetables, less calorie intake from fats, and higher dietary quality index scores. Also, these students reported more participation in sedentary activities (Veugelers & Fitzgerald, 2005).”