Summary: The Problem Of Childhood Obesity

For many years the problem of obesity among children and teenagers have been an important issue to deal with. Obesity is now an epidemic. Every year, many more children and teenagers are getting overweight. It is time that the problem of obesity is resolved. To end this epidemic completely, we need to understand a little more about this issue. For it, we have to learn what obesity is, what are the ages more affected by it, what the government is doing to prevent it, what parents and the society in general can do to stop it. Also, how we can create a healthier lifestyle and environment for our children. In addition to it, we need to know what other nations around the globe are presented with the same problem, and what are they doing to solve …show more content…
There are many ways where you can calculate whether you are super obese, obese, or just overweight. If your BMI is between 25.0 and 29.9 then you are overweight, but if is above 30 below 40 you are obese, and more than 40 you are super obese (Barnes 3). Children and teenagers are the most affected with obesity in the United States of America. Those between the ages from 2 to 19 years old are either overweight or obese. A study issued by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that “In 2011-2012, 8.4% of 2- to 5-year-olds had obesity compared with 17.7% of 6- to 11-year-olds and 20.5% of 12- to 19-year-olds.Childhood obesity is also more common among certain racial and ethnic groups. In 2011-2012, the prevalence among children and adolescents was higher among Hispanics (22.4%) and non-Hispanic blacks (20.2%) than among non-Hispanic whites (14.1%). The prevalence of obesity was lower in non-Hispanic Asian youth (8.6%) than in youth who were non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black or Hispanic.” In a graph taken from the article “Solving the Problem of childhood obesity within a generation” by Melody Barnes, you can see how much childhood obesity has increase from 1971 to 2008