Childhood Obesity Persuasive Essay

Statistics have shown for years that obesity is the leading health problem among adults and even children. As the years continue to progress, the percentages of obesity among children and adults continue to also. In Diane Schanzenbach’s article, she states that, “Recent statistics indicate that 30 percent of adults are obese, and another 35 percent are overweight. Obesity is also common among children: Sixteen percent of children aged 6-19 years old are obese.” (Schanzenbach, 2009, p. 684) It is up to adults to monitor their own weight and decide whether or not they want to eat healthy, but children, on the other hand, do not make those decisions for themselves. The essential question proposed by this article was “Do School Lunches Contribute to Childhood Obesity?” That is a hard question to debate, considering the fact that school lunches provided by the schools are supposed to be the healthiest and even if they are “not so healthy”, children are mandated by law to receive thirty minutes of physical activity each day. After mass research, the author discovered that school lunches may in fact contribute to obesity among children, but there too are still other factors, …show more content…
Since then, a new initiative has been put into place that recommends daily meals that give off protein, calcium, iron, and Vitamins A and C. There have been other restrictions placed on school diets also, such as no sodas and no student access to vending machines. To answer the million dollar question about school lunches contributing to childhood obesity, yes, it does. Even with these initiatives that have been set into place, obesity among children still has not been completely eliminated, but fewer calories are intake daily within the school diet. As for the other calories in take, it is up to the parents or guardians to monitor this and make decisions that are best for the children, as well as