Childhood Obesity

Child obesity is a name given to a condition where excess body fat negatively affects a child’s health or well being. Obesity is an increase in adipose tissue, so much so that it can cause a variety of adverse health consequences. Obesity is usually defined as a body mass index also known as BMI (BMI = weight divided by height squared) of 30 kg/meter squared or higher. This distinguishes from being overweight as define by a BMI of between 25-29.9 kg/meter squared. It may come as a surprise to many that as per the research and surveys conducted by the National Institute of Diabetes as far as obesity is concerned in America, at least 68% of Americans are overweigh. Of these people at least 2-3% is considered morbidly obese and requires surgery for survival. (Norman, 1990)
Obesity is undoubtedly a major problem in today’s society. From a broader viewpoint over 1 billion people are classes as obese worldwide and cost British NHS alone 1 billion pounds annually. 1n the year 1962 research statistic showed the percentage of obesity in America’s population was at 13%. By 1980 it has risen to 15% and by 1994 to 23%. By the year 2000 the obesity progression in America had reached an unprecedented 31%. This means that this obesity plague is not going to stop and will keep on taking over America, causing disastrous consequences. At least that is what the current statistics depict. (Susan, 2005)
It is shocking to know that according to U.S. Surgeon General Report obesity is held responsible for 300,000 deaths every year. These overwhelming research statistics reveal an alarming obesity trend, the need for diagnosis and a call to action.
Obesity is frightening because of the diseases that are affiliated with it. Obesity not only creates physical disturbance but it also disturbs the emotional stability immensely of the person who is a victim to it. And obviously numerous problems begot with the physical and emotional imbalance. No wonder there are so many deaths associated to it. Before knowing the problems that are caused by obesity in detail, it is essential to know the causes of obesity. (Colleen, 2006)
Even though obesity has been poorly labeled as a cosmetic issue in American perception, weight gain and obesity account for increased heath costs, discrimination lawsuits and decreased productivity but the causes of obesity are not crystal clear. Some factors can still be outlined and pointed out as causes of obesity. Genes and heredity is one of the causes. Obesity tends to run in families, implying genetic factors. The search for an “obesity gene” is complicated, however, by the fact that families also tend to share eating and lifestyle habits, making it difficult to separate genetics per se from behavior. Studies have been designed to determine how significantly genes and family lifestyles affect obesity. Studies carried out recently have shown a condition known as metabolic syndrome that has the potential for defining a cause of obesity. (Wieland, 2004) The premise of the metabolic syndrome, according to researcher Lifton is that clusters of illnesses like high cholesterol and high blood pressure may be directly related to gene mutations in the mitochondria or energy center of the cell. It is yet to be determined if weight gain triggers metabolic syndrome of if metabolic syndrome triggers weigh gain. (Clinton, 1999)
The environment that one lives in is also a fundamental factor to bring into consideration when determining the causes of obesity. In America the fast development and quick adoption of the trend of fast food, processed food and enriched food choices on daily basis cannot be ignored. Advertisements for these food products boast their nutrition values and ease of preparation constitute in making lives easier. People tend to lead their busy lives, eat fast, and choose television or computer over exercise. In cultures where people eat high fat diets and get little exercise, more problems with weight gain are seen than in groups who eat low fat diets and get regular exercise. (Richard, 2006) America falls squarely into the high fat/low exercise category. This is unlikely to change quickly, so anyone trying to lose weight has to contend with a culture that marginalizes the obese while simultaneously creating the perfect environment for weight gain. Trying to deal with this contradiction may be one of the leading psychological causes of obesity as well as eating disorders.
It's no surprise that psychological factors and behavioral problems may cause weight gain in people. Many people eat when they're stressed, bored or angry. Over time, the association between an emotion and food can become firmly fixed. Depression and stress are leading causes of obesity and eating disorders. Indeed, obesity can be traced to behavioral or psychological difficulties. Contrary to popular myth, this does not indicate weakness or lack of will power. A mental disorder is as much a disease as any physical problem, and requires professional treatment.
Certain physical causes of obesity can also be highlighted. Certain physical disorders can lead to overeating, or interfere with the body's mechanism that regulates calorie use. Neurological damage can also interfere with proper calorie intake, especially if the hypothalamus, which regulates appetite, is damaged. In Cushings Syndrome, increased levels of cortisol are secreted. Cortisol, also known as the stress hormone, is known to increase the appetite, which may be a cause of obesity.
Physical causes of obesity should always be considered. A condition known as hypothyroidism can lead to weight gain. In fact, hypothyroidism, a condition of the thyroid that slows the body's metabolism way down, is one of the significant causes of obesity in adults and in children. Research is slowly revealing how hormones play a role in obesity. When full, fat cells release the hormone leptin, which curbs appetite. If leptin production is hindered, the fat cells are unable to signal that they're full, and weight gain occurs. (Hilde, 1973)
Certain medications can also be a cause of obesity. Steroid medications are common culprits increasing the amount of fluid the body holds in the body. Some migraine medications are also known to cause weight gain. Antidepressants and other mood altering medications, sometimes used for the treatment of stress, anxiety and depression can also cause increased weight gain.
As mentioned earlier obesity has intensifying effects on both physical and mental health. When we focus our attention on children we get to know the sad news about those who are victim to obesity. Overweight children, as compared to children with a healthy weight, are more likely to develop many health problems such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure, which are associated with heart disease in adults. Type 2 diabetes, previously considered an adult disease, has increased dramatically in overweight children and adolescents. Compared to adults with normal weight, adults with a BMI greater than 30 are more likely to be diagnosed with coronary heart disease (CHD), hypertension, stroke, high cholesterol, gout, osteoarthritis, sleep problems, asthma, skin conditions and some types of cancer. In June 1998 the American Heart Association announced that it was upgrading obesity to a ‘major risk factor’ for CHD. (Sandra, 2006) Obesity also is an important causal factor in type 2, diabetes, and it complicates management of the disease, making treatment less effective. Children at a healthy weight are free of these weight-related diseases and less at risk of developing these diseases in adulthood. Besides diabetes, childhood obesity can lead to more lethal and life threatening conditions which include high blood pressure, heat diseases, sleep problems, cancer and other disorders. Some of the other disorders would include liver disease, early puberty or menarche, eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, skin infections, and asthma and other respiratory problems. Studies have shown and researches have proven that the overweight children are more likely to grow up as overweight adults. The systems and conditions effected and caused by obesity are as follows. It effects Endocrine-which leads to impaired glucose tolerance, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, hyperandrogenism, unusual growth and puberty, Gastrointestinal-nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and cholelithiasis, Musculoskeletal- slipped capital femoral epiphysis and tibia vara, Cardiovascular- hypertension, hyperlipidemia and coronary heart diseases, Respiratory-obstructive sleep apnea and obesity hypoventilation syndrome, Neurological-Idiopathic intracranial hypertension and Skin-furunculosis and intertigo. (David, 2007)
When is comes to obesity, it is known that besides the physical disturbances, it also creates emotional imbalance. The most immediate consequence of being overweight as perceived by children themselves is social discrimination and low-self-esteem. In a study conducted by Schwimmer, et.al. (2003), obese children rated their quality of life with scores as low as those of young cancer patients on chemotherapy. In the study, 106 children aged 5 to 18 filled out a questionnaire used by pediatricians to evaluate quality of life issues. Children were asked to rate things like their ability to walk more than one block, play sports, sleep well, get along with others and keep up in school. The results indicated that that teasing at school, difficulties playing sports, fatigue, sleep apnea and other obesity-linked problems severely affected obese children's well-being. Interestingly, parents answered the same questionnaires, and their ratings of their children's well-being were even lower than the children's self-ratings. The world population is becoming rounder, and each year the situation is worsening. The World Health Organization (WHO) believes that we are in the grip of a global epidemic, and it is estimated by the year 2020 obesity will be the single biggest killer on the planet. Professor Philip James, Chairman of the International Obesity Task Force, said that “we now know that the biggest global health burden for the world is dietary in origin and is compounded by association with low physical activity levels. This is going to plague us for the next 30 years.”
Children who are obese are at increased risk for emotional problems that last well into adulthood, according to several studies and experts on the subject. Obesity and the mental disorders they contribute to should be considered as serious as other medical illnesses, they say. The mental health effects of obesity can be as damaging to your health as the physical effects, according to recent obesity research. Mental health struggles caused by being overweight include social discrimination, low self-esteem, and even suicide. The American Psychiatric Association joins others in the medical and public health community in calling attention to the mental health impacts of childhood obesity--a burgeoning public health crisis in the U.S. A study at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey found that obese girls ages 13 to 14 are four times more likely to experience low self-esteem than non-obese girls. The study also reported that obese boys and girls with low self-esteem had higher rates of loneliness, sadness and nervousness. These children were more likely to smoke and drink alcohol compared with obese children with normal self-esteem. Depression, often an outcome of low self-esteem, affects as many as 750,000 teens in the U.S. (Source: Pediatrics, "Childhood Obesity and Self-Esteem," January 2000.) Another research was conducted. Obesity research from the University of Texas at Austin reveals that obese girls are half as likely to attend college as slim girls. Robert Crosnoe conducted the study, which tracked nearly 11,000 American adolescents, and found that boys didn't differ from their non-obese peers in college attendance. (Greg,2004) Obese girls are more likely to consider committing suicide and using drugs and alcohol than their slimmer peers. Crosnoe states: "That girls are far more vulnerable to the non-health risks of obesity reinforces the notion that body image is more important to girls' self-concept and that social norms have greater effects on the education of girls than boys. “The mental health effects of obesity in girls are stronger than boys because girls are more tuned in to their appearance. Body image affects not only their self-esteem but their levels of achievement as well.
Society, culture, and the media send children powerful messages about body weight and shape ideals. For girls, these include the "thin ideal" and an urging to diet and exercise. Messages to boys emphasize a muscular, "buff" body and pressure to body build and perhaps make use of potentially harmful dietary supplements and steroids. While gender has not been identified as a specific risk factor for obesity in children, the pressure upon girls to be thin may put them at greater risk for developing eating disordered behaviors and or related mood symptoms. Although society presents boys with a wider-range of acceptable body images, they are still at risk for developing disordered eating and body image disturbances.
Anxiety and depression are caused by obesity. Social discrimination includes the way society views you based on your appearance. The mental health effects of obesity include social discrimination – people often judge and mistreat individuals who are overweight. Obese people are seen as lazy and lacking in willpower, or incapable of looking after themselves properly. They're socially undesirable, which increases their chances of anxiety and depression. The physical activity of people who are obese is comparatively less to those who are not. Obese women and men are less physically active because it's not only more difficult to move around, it's embarrassing to change in the locker rooms at the gym. Many obese people don't feel comfortable in fitness classes because of their size and shape. This lack of physical activity contributes to the mental health effects of obesity by increasing feelings of depression and anxiety (physical activity reduces feelings of depression and anxiety.
Professor Tony Jorm from the Centre for Mental Health Research at the Australian National University studied the mental health effects of obesity and found that obese people struggle with depression and anxiety. Surprisingly, underweight people were more likely to deal with mental health problems.
Professor Jorm states: "Underweight people also have the advantage in that they have less physical disability and physical ill-health than obese people, and that masks the underlying tendency to anxiety and depression, but when we extract out the physical ill-health component, we're left with this picture that it's the underweight that have the worst mental health." Whether you're overweight or underweight, taking care of your emotional and mental health is one of the best things you can do for your body and life.
According to Dr David Fassler, parents should be alert to certain signs and symptoms that might indicate an overweight child or teen is experiencing emotional distress. The child would have reduced energy or interests and would be reluctant to enter into social relationships or other activities. He/she would seem increasingly sad, lonely, angry or withdrawn. He/she would have few friends. He/she would have thoughts of hurting him/herself or others. Obsessive eating, prolonged sleeping, or not sleeping enough are indicators of this issue as well. When a child is reluctant to go to school, parents should also be alarmed because this too indicates the focused issue.
However it is believe that obesity can be treated depending on what stage it is and the interest of the individual that is a victim to it. As far as children are concerned parents can help fight its consequences, the non surgical options as well as surgical options. Dieting, exercise and medication have long been regarded as the conventional methods to achieve weight loss. Sometime these efforts are successful in the short term. However for people who are morbidly obese, the results rarely last. For many this can translate into what’s called the’ yo-yo syndrome,” where patients continually gain and lose weight with serious psychological and health consequences. Recent research reveals that conventional methods of weigh loss generally fail to produce permanent weight loss. The surgical options on the contrary include stomach banding, sleeve gastrectomy, billo-pancreatic diversion, gastric bypass procedure and intragastric balloon.
Parents can be of immense help in this regard. They can take children to pediatrician for medical evaluation to consider the possibility of a physical cause. In the absence of a physical disorder, the only way to lose weight is to reduce the number of calories being eaten and to increase the child's or adolescent's level of physical activity. They can emphasize on healthy eating, keeping fatty and sugary snacks to minimum and keep fruits, vegetables and low fat snacks available. They can help increase the child’s physical activity, perhaps by taking few brisk walks with the child.
It is important to let the child know that he or she is loved and appreciated irrespective of his/her weight. An overweight child probably knows better than anyone else that he/she has a weight problem. Overweight children seek for support, acceptance and encouragement from their parents. Being a good role model for ones child is extremely important. If the child sees a parent enjoying healthy food, physical activities, he/she is more likely to follow. These little things can account for a better life of children who are victimized by obesity.













Work Cited
Norman A. Krasnegor, Gilman D. Grave, Norman Kretchmer Childhood Obesity: A Biobehavioral Perspective - 1990

Susan Okie Fed Up! Winning the War against Childhood Obesity - 2005

Colleen A. Thompson, Ellen L. Shanley, Overcoming Childhood Obesity - 2006

Wieland Kiess, Claude Marcus, Martin Wabitsch, Obesity in Childhood and Adolescence: 24 Tables - 2004

J. Clinton Smith, Understanding Childhood Obesity - 1999

Richard K. Flamenbaum Childhood Obesity and Health Research: new evidence of myocardial functional - 2006

Hilde Bruch, Eating Disorders: Obesity, Anorexia Nervosa, and the Person within - 1973

Sandra Gibson Hassink, American Academy of Pediatrics, a Parent's Guide to Childhood Obesity: A Roadmap to Health - 2006

David Ludwig, Suzanne Rostler, Ending the Food Fight: Guide Your Child to a Healthy Weight in a Fast Food - 2007

Greg Critser Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World
- 2004

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