Childhood Obesity

Many people believe that the cause of childhood obesity is over eating and laziness - to an extent they are right, but the main causes of childhood obesity are actually two. They are the child’s DNA and their parents.

If people in the child's family have been struggling with weight gain for most of their life then there is a high probability the genes in that child will make him or her more susceptible to follow the same pattern. However, such an outcome can be prevented by healthy eating and exercise- which is where the parents come in.

Children imitate their parents behavior so if the parents eat healthily and live active lifestyles the child is much more to do the same. Sadly, in this day and age TV and media saturation- that is not always the case. Children and adoloescent’s television programming batters kids with demographically targeted commercials, largely for sweetened foods and drinks.

A recent study at the Harvard School of Public Health, found that for every additional hour of television viewing per day, fruit and vegetable eating was reduced by one serving every six days when compared to children who did not watch television.

Additionally, because more adults are going down the road of obesity more children are following them and ultimately will suffer the same fate as their parents. It could easily be prevented.

Parents have the most influence on their child's life, they have the power to control their children,s television watching, they have the power to show the child that over eating is unhealthy and that lack of exercise is not acceptable in a young person’s life and that this is the cause of obesity problems later on in life. Especially if they themselves suffer from obesity.

Obesity has some dreadful side affects and day to day life can be very unpleasant; simple tasks such as climbing stairs, taking a shower and other things take more time and more effort because of the extra weight. This is even worse for a child, they need to be actively exploring the world and having fun.

The causes of childhood obesity are not so severe that obesity cannot be avoided. If you we teach our children how to live an active and healthy lifestyle there is no reason why they should become obese even if they’re family is full of obese people. Obesity is a cause and effect disease. It is caused by a combination of factors, including over eating, metabolism and genetics.

The effects can also be a combination of complicated medical problems. Problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, gallstone formation and coronary heart disease, as well as making surgery more risky. Childhood obesity can be avoided. Let us take a pledge to combat it and help our children lead happy healthy lives.