English 122 - Childhood Obesity

Childhood obesity

Ladesha Bryant

English 122

Shelley Lawyer

June 27, 2011

Childhood obesity has become an epidemic in the United States; according to the CDC childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. The prevalence of obesity among children aged 6 to 11 years increased from 6.5% in 1980 to 19.6% in 2008. The prevalence of obesity among adolescents aged 12 to 19 years increased from 5.0% to 18.1%.1, 2 they also say that obese children most likely become obese adults. Childhood obesity can lead to health problems at an early age such as diabetes, heart disease and so many other life destroying illnesses according to the health and human service department. I not only chose this topic because it a popular well known or talked about subject. I chose to also make people aware of the issues that childhood obesity is causing in America.

In my research on childhood obesity I have found that the problem starts at home the parents, most children are left unsupervised and are forced to make choices on what they eat on their own. Most children will pick something quick and unhealthy just to get back to playing video games or watching television with no physical activity in their agenda at all. Also parents are not cooking any more they choose to go to fast food places instead.

Fast food is one of the leading causes in obesity in America period, they use a lot of saturated fat they fry most of everything they serve.

I feel it’s very important to show parents and children how fast food and other unhealthy eating habits will