A Literature Review on Obesity in Children

A Literature Review on Obesity in Children

Abstract

Obesity has been shared, especially to children under the age of 7. World Health Organisation considers obesity to be the main problem faced in the 21st century. A recent study shows that one out of every four children in developing countries is obese. This puts their health at risk of getting serious illnesses such as heart attack, heart-related diseases, and asthma. It also affects these children’s self-esteem. There need for collaboration between parents, community schools, and the general public to have the same vision of advocating for a healthier lifestyle to combat this problem.

A systematic literature review was conducted in the first two weeks of March 2020. Among the sources used were PubMed, academic Medline complete, and database from public health. The predominant question was about obesity in children, health diet at home, and school and health complications to children suffering from obesity. The literature review was a success due to data from research institutions. The research was guided by the following research questions:

1. What causes children to become obese?
2. What are effects of obesity in children?
3. How to overcome the issue of becoming overweight for children and young adults?

Facts about childhood obesity

Childhood obesity has tripled in the last three decades. In adolescents, the rate is four times higher, according to the (National center for health statistics, 2012).  Almost half of the number of children suffering from obesity was overweight when they were little. This is mostly contributed to the unhealthy lifestyle adopted at home. Youth between the age of twelve and nineteen years have an obesity rate of 20.5%. Obesity is having an excess amount of body fat in the body. A body mass index (BMI) is used to determine whether the child is obese, considering their age height and gender. A child over the age of 2 is said to be overweight if their BMI is 20% (Han, 2010)

Health complications of children with obesity

Obesity children are at a high risk of serious illness such as type 2 diabetes and prone to different types of cancer such as breast colon and kidney. Research shows 85% of kids that have type 2 diabetes are obese (Gungor, 2005). However, the number of obese adolescents is increasingly bringing fear that they will enter the next generation of adulthood with obesity and will have multiple health problems (Canadian press, 2003). It is also 60% likely for an obese kid to have an additional risk of getting a heart-related illness. It lowers children’s self-esteem and can lead to depression. A recent study shows boys are four times likely to suffer from depression due to obesity than girls (Richardson, 2003).there have also been cases of discrimination of fat kids I school (Meyer, 2005).

Healthy options to adopt

There has been a collaboration between the youths and local institutions in their efforts to lower cases of obesity in children. California neighborhoods record the highest number of children suffering from obesity. They formed the health of communities and regions HEAC to come up with ways and campaigns that sort to help reduce cases of obesity in children. They came up with methods to improve the situation, such as encouraging schools to provide healthier food options and beverages under state nutrition. The schools need to increase nutrition standards for children pragmas and limit advertisements of beverages to children. Medical facilities should emphasize on monitoring children’s BMI at the age of three onwards to detect any problems of weight in a child. However, it is the combined effort of parents’ school and health professionals to see cases of obesity have reduced (Ball, 2003).

References

Ball, G. M. (2003). childhood obesity in canada: Areview of prevelance estimates and risk factors for cordiovascular disease of type two diabetes. canadian journal of Applied of physiology, 117-140.

Gungor, N. T.-t. (2005). early signs of cardiovascular disease in youth with obesity and type 2 diabetes. diabetes care 28(5), 1219-1221.

Han, J. L. (2010). chilhood obesity. the lancet 375(9727), 1737-1748.

Meyer, J. (2005). obesity harrasment in schol: simply teasing our way to unfetteredobesity discrimination and stripping Away the right to education. law & ineq 23, 429.

Richardson, L. D. (2003). a longitudinal evaluation of adolescent depression and adylt obesity. archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine 157(8), 739-745.