Assignment 3-2

Childhood Obesity (Literature Review Draft)

Courtney Pluciennik

Grand Canyon University: HLT -317V

November 8th, 2017

Introduction

“The percentage of children with obesity in the United States has more than tripled since the 1970s. Today, about one in five school-aged children (ages 6–19) have obesity” (Division of Population Health January 25h, 2017). Obesity can be defined as having any excess body weight for a certain height, water, bone, muscle, or a complete combination of all of these factors together. Body mass index, also known as BMI, is a worldwide screening tool for measuring being overweight and obesity. BMI is preferred for measuring children and young adults ranging from ages 2-20 because it takes into account that they aren’t done growing. It also considers that every child is growing at different rates based off of their ages and sex. That is why health professionals began using growth charts to determine whether the children’s weights fall into a healthy range or not for their height, age, and sex. Children with a BMI at the 85th percentile or less than the 95th percentile are considered to be overweight. Children that are above the 95th percentile have obesity. Childhood obesity is considered an epidemic that is worldwide and needs to be taken very seriously if we are going to find different solutions to prevent it.

Literature Review

Literature review is used in research by finding any books, scholarly articles, and other resources to support your topic and evaluate how this work in relation to the problem being investigated. According to Shin-Hye Kim and Mi-Jung Park child hood obesity increasing the risk of morbidity and mortality in their adulthood. It states that childhood obesity has become an important public health issue within the country of Korea. Currently, overall the prevalence of obesity amongst the Korean children and adolescent is 10%, which is 5 times higher than it was in the late 1970’s. They believe that in most cases, a positive energy balance from excessive calorie consumption and having limited physical activity as well as genetic predisposing is considered to be the major cause of childhood obesity. When evaluating obese children they should focus on possible cause of weight gain, which can also included lifestyle factors and genetic abnormalities. They also assess obesity related comorbidities such as: dyslipidemia, hypertension, hyperglycemia, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. These is assessments need to be done in obese children especially those who have a family history of comorbidities because they have to analyze their risk of becoming obese in the future. According to Kim and Park, having family based lifestyle meeting that involve a plan to help set goals; guidelines for eating habits and physical activity as well as self-discipline are fundamental to the management of childhood obesity. “Childhood is a serious global health challenge. Families and consumption are at the nexus of the problem, as childhood weight issues depend significantly on family-related influences (genetic predispositions, physical activities, and household food consumption practices)” states, Moore, Elizabeth (February, 2017). She focuses on how a family can socialize their children toward or away from obesity. This advances a family consumer socialization framework to help in characterizing key elements and processes. “Biological predispositions, parent/family inputs, elements of child development, parent-child interactions, and intergenerational transfer are all major contributors to weight status and life course potentials,” Moore explains. Time is crucial as well five foundational properties are distilled in the article that represent fundamentals underpinning the role of the families and how important it is in getting this under control.

Ethical Considerations

While reviewing these articles I learned that there are a lot of ethical considerations that are contributing factors to this epidemic. Genetics are something that we can not control but they also lead to the life that we can have if we don’t continue to care for ourselves. If you have these abnormalities in your blood it is very possible that you could also develop these problems later on in life. If we continue to education ourselves on the affects and ways to prevent it this can help us out in the future. Family and friends are also huge contributing factors. We need to make sure that our children socialize to stay away from bad habits. I think important to let the children be friends with everyone but also instilling how important our health is and helping to guide them to make the right decisions is important. Self-control and staying active is a significant factor to living a healthy lifestyle. Not only does it teach kids to be active but it also signifies responsibility and making the correct choices in life. Parents need to practice what they preach as well. If they are telling the children to do something its important that they practice the same things within the households. If it take the entire family changing there eating habits and going for evening walks, it’s a great way to start a new beginning and it will also help to keep motivation within the family to do it together.

Statistical Analysis

Due to the world we live in and the way food is made, I forsee the problem getting even bigger than it is now. The CDC notes that childhood obesity “has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years,” This is extremely alarming. They measured these numbers with children as young as 6-years old to 11, and adolescents around the ages of 12 to 19. It is steadily increasing each year too. Time magazine also notes that a study looking at childhood obesity from 1999 to 2014 showed there have been gains year after year. While the least obese group grew from 14.6-percent to 17.4 percent during this time, the most at-risk group were those who were the most obese with BMI readings of 40 or higher increased from 0.9-percent to 2.4-percent. Risk factors can also differ for girls and boys. Boys who are active have a much less risk of being obese but not for girls. While drinking more milk lowered the risk for girls but not boys. Ethnicities might be more at risk as well. For example, the Latino community in the U. S showed that 22.4 percent of Latino children age 2-19 are obese, compared to the 14.3 percent of white children. Levels of education can also affect children’s obesity risk. A recent study investigating whether education had an effect on young adolescents who have suffered from obesity in the past compared to the general population. It concluded that obesity in childhood can be associated with low educational level in early adulthood. Children and adolescents with obesity may require special support at school I addition to health care treatments to lose the weight. This is not just a U.S epidemic it is something that is worldwide due to the things we consume on a daily basis and what is most convenient for us to eat.

Evaluation

The information provided is enough to see that the effectiveness of all of these contributing factors can become worse. It shows that everyone needs to be involved in the lives of these children and make a difference in their lives so that they can go down the proper path to make the right decisions. It’s not only the family that can make a difference but also friends, school professional, and the examples that see in their lives. If we don’t take our responsibilities seriously in the role of these children their lives can spiral out of control and the rate of obesity can increase. Coming together to make a difference with help to resolve some of these issues and find further solutions. Bad foods will never go away because we are all about convenience and the fastest possible solution in a hurry. Meal prepping takes time and effort that people with busy lifestyles don’t think they have time for. The fact of the matter is we all have time to make the changes if we put forth the effort to do so. Being active is also a choice, involving everyday exercise into your daily life routine you can add years onto your life and reduce the risk for heart disease.

Conclusion

In conclusion, even with this epidemic being on the rise it is something that has the potential of changing if we take the time to put forth the effort in doing so. Children don’t always have the education to understand the things that they put into their bodies and how harmful they can be. They also may not have the knowledge of why physical activity is something that is extremely important for the essential function of the body. If we express these things to them and help them gain the knowledge through learning they will begin to see why taking care of their bodies is so important. Risks aren’t always discussed to young children either but the fact of the matter is that serious health issues can stem from not caring for your health. If we take all of these matters into consideration we can make significance in reducing childhood obesity and helping to find solutions to it. Like anything other issue in the world, the more we come together and try to make a difference as a unit the more we would be successful.

Resources

Division of Population Healthy Schools (2017, January 25). Retrieved November 10th, 2017, from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/obesity/facts.htm

Hagman, E., Danielsson, P., Brandt, L., Svensson, V., Ekbom, A., & Marcus, C. (2017). Childhood Obesity, Obesity Treatment Outcome, and Achieved Education: A Prospective Cohort Study. Journal Of Adolescent Health, 61(4), 508-513. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.04.009

Hayward, Jeff (September 15th 2017). 7 Stats on Childhood Obesity in North America. Retrieved November 10th, 2017, from http://www.activebeat.co/your-health/children/7-stats-on-childhood-obesity-in-north-america/7/

MOORE, E. S., WILKIE, W. L., & DESROCHERS, D. M. (2017). All in the Family? Parental Roles in the Epidemic of Childhood Obesity. Journal Of Consumer Research, 43(5), 824-859. doi:10.1093/jcr/ucw059.

Shin-Hye, K., & Mi-Jung, P. (2017). Management of childhood obesity. Journal Of The Korean Medical Association / Taehan Uisa Hyophoe Chi, 60(3), 233-241. doi:10.5124/jkma.2017.60.3.233