Childhood Obsesity, Whose Fault Is It?

Childhood Obesity-Who is at Fault?

The percentage of overweight American children and teens has more than doubled in the past decade. North Carolina has the fifth-largest number of overweight adolescents in the country. An estimated 32 percent of U.S. children fit the government's definition of being overweight and 16 percent are considered obese, putting themselves at risk for serious health problems (Reuters, 2009). I believe children are innocent in this epidemic to a certain degree. Who is at fault are the adults taking care of our children, the media, society and economics. Children are being victimized by something they may affect them the rest of their lives.

Over the past thirty years, childhood obesity has doubled among young children and adolescents in the United States (National Institute of Health, 2002). It is becoming a great concern for parents as children are getting heavier and heavier. Fast food restaurants, among other reasons, can be to blame for this. Obesity, which should be identified before any problems can occur, has many causes which has led it to become an epidemic in the United States, however there are several preventions and treatments that parents can execute to help their children live healthy lives. Nevertheless, this requires parents to educate themselves about obesity.

Obesity is defined as the excessive accumulation of body fat. One's total body weight would be more than 25 percent fat in boys and more than 32 percent in girls if he or she were to become obese. A trained technician may obtain skin fold measures by triceps, subscapular, and

calves. Beside skin fold test, there are other ways to measure excess fat. A measurement call Percentile of Body Mass Index, or BMI, is used to identify overweight and obese children. If a child is in the 85th percentile, he or she is at risk level to becoming obese. For children from 2 to 19 years of age, the final answer (BMI) is compared to growth charts that show children's BMIs for different ages and genders. Where a child's BMI falls on the growth chart for his or her age and gender determines weight status. Using the terminology developed by the National Center for Health Statistics, if his or her BMI falls between the 85th and 95th percentiles on the appropriate age/gender chart, his or her weight status is "at risk of overweight" (equivalent in meaning to the word "overweight" in adults). If his or her BMI is at or above the 95th percentile for his or her age and gender, then the classification will be "overweight," equivalent to the word "obese" being applied to an adult. This is designed to avoid stigmatizing children, but also creates some confusion when writing about "obese" adults and "overweight" children.

Until fairly recently,