Childhood Obesity Research Paper

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Close to 162 million Americans are obese which exceeds the number of people who smoke, use illegal drugs (Murray 1). This is a shocking number; obesity is such a major health concern because it can eventually lead to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, stroke, dementia, and various others. Along with health issues, children also develop negative psychological effects, such as low self-esteem, negative body image and depression. Numerous citizens blame obesity on physical cause, like bad genetics and poor physiological health. However, in the modern U.S. obesity is driven by societal causes. The 300% increase of Childhood Obesity in the United States is due to the societal influences, such as the relentless food marketing, the availability …show more content…
The increase in modern technology and TV advertising has enable food marketing to reach children at extremely young ages. “The statistics for food and beverage advertising in 2004 bear this out, with advertising expenditures for “measured media” in the food, beverage and candy industries in 2004 totaling $6.84 billion”(Consumer Reports 6). Another outstanding statistic is that “most advertising promotes unhealthy regular menu items and often takes unfair advantage of young people’s vulnerability to marketing, making it even tougher for parents to raise healthy children”(Orciari 1). These facts show that marketers have figured out the key to successfully advertising their food products to kids, which is persistence. Fast food companies are willing to pay billions of dollars on commercials. This relatively new type of advertising reaches all ages of kids and has played a great part in the increase of childhood obesity. Young children begin observing ads for desserts, fattening foods, sugary drinks, and candy at very young ages, which gets ingrained in their brains and is seen as “normal” food. Also the use of junk food in popular movies and TV shows have a great influence on young children who obsess over their favorite character or …show more content…
As stated in one source on child obesity, “Television literally is an obesity machine--both because of what it shows and the way it affects children's lives...the average American child watches about 20 hours of TV per week which means an annual exposure to thousands of commercials for junk food...and about 20 hours of lost playtime”(Ruskin 1). Children in today's American society prefer to play on Ipads or watch TV, rather than play tag or hide n’ seek outside. This may not seem like exercise to most, but for young children, playing outside and being a kid is enough to burn their daily calorie intake. Which is very important because it gets their heart rate up and burns excess
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