Overweight
Children: The New Childhood Epidemic
Increasing
numbers of overweight children in the United States is an
alarming trend which should have the attention of all parents.
Statistics show that the percentage of overweight children
in the United States has more than doubled since the seventies
and this epidemic shows no signs of slowing down. Today,
about 15 percent of children are overweight and another
15 percent are at risk for gaining weight. Overall, one
third of U.S. children are either overweight now or are
at risk of being overweight children.
Parents
across the country can be valuable partners in the goal
to reduce the number of overweight children in the United
States. First, each parent should determine if any of their
children are overweight. Most parents can look at their
children and tell if the child appears to be overweight.
A child’s proportion between height and weight is
also a good measure. If your child is in the 95th percentile
of weight but only the 50th percentile in height, there’s
a good possibility that the child is overweight.
To
help solve the problem, it helps to understand the many
possible causes for the increasing number of overweight
children in our country. In most cases, overweight children
are probably affected by a number of factors including genetics,
lifestyle habits, and food choices. When you combine the
effects of a sedentary lifestyle with a high-calorie, processed
diet, it’s only natural that overweight children would
become more common in our culture. Television and video
games are a major factor for overweight children. It is
estimated that American children spend an average of 4.5
hours a day in front of a screen. Along with video time,
children are juggling school and homework as well, leaving
little time for exercise. Parents are extremely busy, too,
which gets in the way of preparing fresh, healthy, lower-calorie
meals. Unfortunately, schools may also be contributing to
the problem of overweight children as gym classes and other
fitness programs have dwindled down to about a half-hour
a week.
Obviously,
there are several medical conditions that may cause a child
to gain too much weight and these should be ruled out first.
If it is determined that a child is overweight because of
lifestyle factors, parents can work with their kids to learn
healthier habits. Preventing overweight children means the
entire family becomes involved in exercising, eating right,
and limiting time in front of the TV or computer. By helping
overweight children to limit weight gain as they grow taller,
parents can prevent their kids from developing some very
serious health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart
disease, and high blood pressure. Sometimes, instead of
losing weight, it’s easier for overweight children
to stop gaining weight while they allow their bodies to
“grow into” their weight.
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