Childhood obesity on the rise 06-10-2007

Obesity Increasing in Children and Teenagers

Obesity rates have tripled in adolescents and doubled in children over the past 25 years, according to the American Obesity Association.

For the first time in history, Americans face the prospect of older parents taking care of adult children because they have so many health problems they can not take care of themselves. Today’s youth is projected to be the first American generation to ever have a shorter life expectancy than the life of their parents!

The type of foods that kids eat along with their activity level might explain why today’s youth have excess body fat.

Health Risks

The immediate health risk of children and teenagers being over weight are childhood bone and joint problems, childhood diabetes, childhood hypertension, obesity-related sleep disorders and breathing problems, explains “Signs of the Times” (June 2005.)

Early obesity has been known to cause psychological complications including depression, anxiety, and poor socializations skills. Long term risk of being obese at an early age are early onset coronary artery diseases, hypertension and stroke, gastro-esophageal reflux disease, cancer, sleep disorders, chronic arthritis and other joint problems.

Activity Level

As we all know, the activity level of kids today is different due to computer games and video games that are played in the comfort of their own air conditioned home.

“Screen time” is defined as the time a person watches television, plays video games, or sits in front of a computer. Recent studies showed that children who had over three hours of screen time each day were 50 percent more likely to be obese than kids who had under two hours a day. The studies also showed that the average screen time among 2-17 year olds was more than six hours a day!

Type of Food

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute discovered that approximately one third of the total daily calories eaten by kids came from dessert, junk foods, and pizza. These foods are packed with a lot of sugar and fat, not to mention all of the sugar in the soft drinks that are available.

A diet full of high sugar and high fat can cause the blood sugar to spike and crash which allows brief spurts of energy followed by a feeling of sluggishness and fatigue. This can lead to more desire for screen time instead of physical activity.

Read more of this news at the source: www.myplainview.com