Childhood Obesity Research Paper

Childhood obesity has been a major public health crisis in the United States in recent years as the prevalence of childhood obesity has increased tremendously in modern times. Many factors played a role in the rise of childhood obesity in the United States in modern times, and there are many factors which cause childhood obesity including genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors (Karnik & Kanekar, 1). Many health care professionals, policy experts, children's advocates, and parents have "grave concern" about the "increase in childhood obesity over the past several decades, together with the associated health problems and costs" which has been labeled as an "obesity epidemic" (Anderson & Butcher, 19). With the obvious increase in childhood …show more content…
Many researchers and health care professionals discussed the possible causes of childhood obesity and debate what factors significantly affected the increase in childhood obesity in modern society. According to Sameera Karnik and Amar Kanekar, many factors have been associated with childhood obesity that include possible genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors; and, many other physical, psychological, and social health problems have been caused by childhood obesity which makes the epidemic more serious (Karnik & Amar, 1). Research has shown that many factors affect whether a child becomes obese or overweight. In the study Parenthood-- A Contributing Factor to Childhood Obesity, Huffman, Kanikireddy, and Patel used the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for the years 1988 to 1994 in order to examine the possible environmental factors which contribute to childhood obesity. Based on this study, children of single- parent households were more likely to be overweight which supported the idea that environmental factors such as divorce can be highly associated with childhood obesity (Huffman et. al.). According to Anderson and Butcher in the article Childhood Obesity: Trends and Potential Causes, a child's "energy intake, …show more content…
In order to reduce childhood obesity, intervention programs have been established in a variety of places in the United States and these interventions were sometimes "family based, school based community based, play based, and hospital based" (Karnik and Kanekar, 4). These intervention programs have been found to be successful in many cases; thus, the childhood obesity epidemic can possibly be eliminated with the use of "education, prevention and sustainable interventions related to healthy nutrition practices and physical activity promotion" (Karnik and Kanekar, 4). In the study by Huffman et al., the researchers found that parental involvement in the development of school and community based obesity prevention programs would also be beneficial to improve the issues related to childhood obesity (Huffman et al.). Understanding the severity of the childhood obesity epidemic and the many factors associated as potential causes of the increase in childhood obesity has been considered vital in the ability to improve the childhood obesity epidemic and maintain a healthy environment for children of all demographics. Although parents play a vital role in a child's

Show More

Related Documents: Childhood Obesity Research Paper