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CHILDHOOD OBESITY: A Concern For The Society Aditi M Sengupta, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan, 48197 “The term used in the definition of childhood obesity applied by the Institute of Medicine is: A body mass index (BMI) at or above the 95th percentile of a fixed reference group of U.S. children of the same age and sex”. The concerning factors for childhood obesity includes racial makeup, ethnic background, income and educations levels, employment patterns, family composition, housing and access to supermarkets. Children with the age between 6-17 years are estimated to have an above average risk for childhood obesity.40 percent of children living in poor households have the chances of developing childhood obesity. Reversing the childhood obesity is a major challenge in the modern day society.Childhood obesity has infact tripled since 1980 at the United States.Early onset obesity has been seen to be of major concern of the younger generation as well.It is only through improvement of health and the quality of life with proper education can help the health care system work more efficiently concerning the management. Demographic data shows that body mass index (BMI) is of particular importance in measuring childhood obesity.The concern at present is the obesity epidemic can exacerbate the economic crisis. The main place where childhood obesity can be controlled is the school.The assessments as well as the nutritional educational values developed in school are a major source of setting standards for childhood obesity. Screening for childhood obesity includes exclusion of diseases like Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and physical inactivity. At present the adult obesity rate is ranging between 20- 25 percent in the different geographic areas of the United States. Public health data concerning demographics, household structure, education, income, supermarkets spending with regards to per capita income, and other relevant data are of major concern in progression of childhood obesity to adult obesity. As obesity is becoming a pressing problem the main concern is the associated poverty rate, unemployment rate, increase in uninsured population,and some underlying community problems, like crime, overcrowding, lack of community participation to mention a few. Reports show that around 9.1% of the medical spending is attributable to Obesity and overweight. The healthy eating guidelines below are recommended by the U.S,. Surgeon General’s Office: 1.Eat a healthy breakfast. 2.Encourage your child to eat when hungry and to eat slowly. 3.Eat meals together as a family as often as possible. 4.Carefully cut down on the amount of fat and calories your family consumes. 5.Guide your family’s choices rather than dictating foods. 6.Don’t place your child on a restrictive diet. 7.Avoid the use of food as a reward. 8.Avoid withholding food as punishment. 9.Encourage children to drink more water and fewer beverages with added sugars as soft drinks and sport drinks. 10.Stock the refrigerator with healthy snacks, low fat milk, fruits and vegetables. 11.Discourage eating meals or snacks while watching TV. Reference: 1.Publicatiuons and Research of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation http://www.rwjf.org/pr/ 2.Finkelstein, E., Fiebelkorn, I., and Wang, G. (2003). National Medical Spending Attributable to Overweight and Obesity:How Much, And Who’s Paying? Health Affairs—Web Exclusive, Project HOPE, The People-to-People Health Foundation. Copyrighted 2009.
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obesity, Body mass index, society, epidemic, economic crisis, nutrition, education, type 2 diabetes, physical inactivity, poverty, per capita income.,
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