Minority Children and Obesity

Minority Children and Obesity

Introduction

Although obesity among children is at an all time historical rates, there are actions school systems. parents, and support agencies can do in order to combat this issue. Bellows and Roach (2009) claim, that the rate of obesity is significantly higher in children then adults. The authors suggest that the obese child now represents over 14% of all children in the United States. It is argued that in order to engage a change cycle that will lower these current rates, a regiment of exercise, decreased screen time, video gaming, and a modification of current eating habits to eating habits that promote healthy living (Bellows & Roach, 2009). However, addressing obesity can only be fully effective when the resources are available to every demographic of overweight child. This paper will focus on those children that are of classified as minority. U.S. Department and Health and Human Services (2010) states that almost 25% of the children that are categorized as obese are one of the primary minority classes such as, Black or Latin. Therefore, in order to combat these phenomena, the investigator will present research that supports the current attitudes concerning the drivers that lead to childhood obesity and the behavioral shift needed to support children who need to loose weight in order to maintain a healthy and happy life.

Other factors to obesity

Another critical factor that needs to be addressed is the impact that heredity has on this disorder. Bellows and Roach (2009) state, that genetics is also a contributing factor for childhood obesity. However, claim the authors, the families activity levels (or lack thereof), poor food selections, and the level to which an overweight child is enabled are factors that can be addressed to reduce the child’s weight. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2010) supports the notion that although one cannot argue that genetics is a biological factor, people who tend to be overweight to obese often fall in a psychological condition where they simply choose to eat poorly and exercise less. In this instance, these poor habits are passed along to the children supporting the idea that there are instances where obesity is in fact a matter of nurture and not nature (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010).

The U.S. Department and Health and Human Services (2010) report that in the rate of obesity among adolescents has tripled since 1980, the agency states that 21% to 23%, of the adolescents are surveyed that were between the ages of 12-19 years of age are either Mexican or African American. One of the primary drivers for the fact that close to 25% of these children are from these two demographics is because of diet. Sharma, Cogswell, and Li (2007) affirm