Childhood Obesity: What Are The Causes?

[Guest guest]

Obesity has reached what some feel is epidemic proportions in this

country as well as around the world. Today nearly two thirds of American

adults are considered overweight or obese. Even more concerning is that

15% of children in this country are considered overweight. Just a few

decades ago this number stood at 4%.

 

 

 

We are starting to see diseases that were contracted in adulthood now

affecting children and adolescents. Children that are overweight or

obese have a much higher chance of dying of heart disease when they get

older. This is even affecting the youngest among us with 10% of

preschoolers being overweight.

 

 

 

Being obese has many risk factors for children. Childhood obesity is the

leading cause of pediatric hypertension. It also increases the risk of

heart disease, childhood diabetes, and osteoarthritis. But the most

important consequence may be what is does as far as psychological

pressure and peer pressure that may cause periods of depression in a

child. Social and peer pressures that a child goes through are the main

consequences of childhood obesity.

 

 

 

The causes of childhood obesity are a combination of factors that

include genetics, family history, psychological and nutritional. It is

true that not all obese infants will turn into obese children and not

all obese children will turn into obese adults it is important to

understand these risk factors.

 

 

 

What role does family play? Children that are born to parents that are

obese have a better chance of either being born obese or developing the

condition over time. This can be related to several factors. Genetics

could play a role; the parents could have a sedimentary lifestyle and

does not include enough physical exercise. Or they may not have

developed good nutritional habits.

 

 

 

A lack of activity can also cause a child to be obese. We all know that

children in general are much less active than pervious generations.

Children now spend more time on computers or watching television than

they do in outside activities such as sports. This causes children to

become couch potatoes and put on more pounds than is healthy for them.

If your child develops these bad habits at an early age it is more

likely that being overweight will develop into obesity as they age. We

have to make sure that our children are getting the physical activity

that they require.

 

 

 

Nutrition is also a key factor. In today's world of fast and

processed foods our children are not getting the proper nutrition that

is needed. These foods contain high levels of fat and provide little

nutritional value. The surprising thing is that with all the knowledge

we have gained in the last few decades in the field of nutrition somehow

it is not being utilized. One factor here is that with the huge amount

of information available people are confused as to how to interpret it.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the American Cancer

Society and The American Heart Association have all come out with

guidelines that help people make sense of this.

 

 

 

How does heredity affect obesity? We all know children that get very

little exercise and do not eat a nutritious diet but are not overweight

or obese. This is why researchers are taking a look at heredity as a

factor. We know that infants born to overweight mothers generally gain

more weight in the first three months of life than infants born to

mothers that are not. Could there be an inborn drive to conserve energy?

More research is needed in the area to come to any long term

conclusions.

 

 

 

Childhood obesity is much easier to prevent than to fix all the health

problems that a generation is going to have to endure because of it. The

first step has to be the education of parents. They need to be told the

importance of breast feeding, exercise and proper eating habits. They

also need to be introduced to low fat snack foods and exactly what

proper nutrition for their children entails. In cases where heredity is

the problem they need to know how to build self esteem in their children

and deal with psychological problems as they arise.

 

 

 

 

John Bradstreet is a nutritional biochemist. He has extensive knowledge

and expertise in the area of nutritional supplementation. To learn more

about this topic visit

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