The Occurrences of Child Obesity in U.S and Canada

Abstract

This paper I will be summarizing four different articles from four different sources that’s associated with Child Obesity. Topic includes: (1) Prevalence of Obesity and Severe Obesity in US Children,1999-2014. (2) Canadian kids aren’t playing outside enough, experts say, and it’s harming their health. (3) Understanding and removing barriers to physical activity: one key in addressing child obesity & (4). Obesity Definition: “the quality or fact of being very fat, in a way that is not healthy”. Children’s health is next generation future, there are way were Child obesity could be prevented. What are few barriers that’s in the way and I will show explain how it occurs from every aspect from the articles. Child Obesity is not a lifetime disease, it could be controlled while being pregnant & also after during childhood.

Prevalence of Obesity and Severe Obesity in US Children,1999-2014

There is way to measure Obesity one common method:” The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2014, was used. Weight status was defined using measured height and weight and standard definitions as follows: overweight as ≥85th percentile for age- and sex-specific BMI; class I obesity as ≥95th percentile; class II obesity as ≥120 of the 95th percentile, or BMI ≥35; and class III obesity as ≥140% of the 95th percentile, or BMI ≥40.”- Skinner, Asheley Cockrell. According to the article 1999-2014 obesity rate was growing from age 2-19 non-stop. There has been no evidence in decreasing rate of obesity in any age. Its hard to tell by group, age, race & time. Obesity is a serious problem when it comes to children, not only children but growing young kids. It is hard to tell if your obese or not without monitoring certain measures. Its growing worldwide and we should act against it. Obesity is preventable and treatable with right, exercise, food and mental health. First step is to take is diet & and physical activity. Certain family has financial barrier, mental support and so on to participate with their kids to act. Age group 2-19 is a common age group to be diagnosed with obesity. Purpose of this article is that obesity is not a notable disease and there are few awareness about it around, parents should act up on their child health and mental health and build a bright future for them by simply communicating with them and making them get physically active, and teach them healthy food choices.

Canadian kids aren’t playing outside enough, experts say, and it’s harming their health

Kids shows low interest in playing outside as older generations once wanted it to. There are few known reasons and one of the main reasons is parents. Parents think kids are safer inside but “the biggest myth going, because from a health perspective almost nothing good happens indoors.”-Dr Mark Tremblay scientist at Children hospital eastern Ontario. Inactive kids have a higher chance to diagnose with Child obesity. Obese kids have increased chance of type 2 diabetic, lower bone mineral density and mental health issues. There for letting kids play outside is a much safer option than keep kids at home. “A recent Statistics Canada report found that children between the ages of five and 17 had an average of three hours of screen time per day.” Which adds up to 27hour a week and over a day spend on screen. Kids who spend most of their time indoor “When you’re indoors near the cupboard, you tend to snack more, he said. And all that sitting hurts kids’ bones, too — some studies have shown increased rates of forearm fractures among children over time.”-Mark Tremblay Also, for exercising and being active is the only way to get stronger bone. For kids’ better future, parents should act on how much time is being spend on screen and how active or inactive they are. One needs to go for all to join.

Understanding and removing barriers to physical activity: one key in addressing child obesity

Child Obesity is increasing rapidly number wise world wide “Latest worldwide estimates suggest that by 2016, 41 million children under 5 years and 337 million aged 5–19 years were overweight; obesity rates in the latter population had seen a tenfold increase in just four decades.1 2”- Dr Alessandro R Demaio. Family income is a barrier for low income family, such as fear of kids playing off ground where traffic flow is higher than expected play area, some play grounds are not supervised these factors make low income family to make a decision to keep their kids at home from danger. High income family has financial support and income to sign up their kids for extracurricular activity with extra support from parents. Lastly middleclass family who tends to spend their time in their community park, playing and staying active without supervision. Ethnicity, culture, etc. makes a huge impact in health, and physical shape. Young people(child) mental health is very important as they can lack in motivation, physical activity and eventually stress comes in play. Objective is to understand that children who are obese not cause of their health only, it’s the community, country, place, culture & income can play a role. Child obesity is increasing in percentage and we need to act up on it.