Causes and Effects of Childhood Obesity

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses the shocking incidence of obesity in children that is growing at a rapid rate. The paper asserts that something must be happening to cause this epidemic besides the abundance of food. The paper relates a personal account of a family with five children whose diet affected their weight, their eventual height and their health. The paper believes that the high rate of obesity is caused by the kinds of sugar-loaded, fatty foods the nation's children tend to eat and also, perhaps, by the hormones that is put in their beef and meat.

From the Paper:

"Obesity in childhood is a recent problem. Not so long ago, in the '60s and '70s, less than 5% of children were overweight. By the '80s and '90s the percentage had doubled and today it is up to 15%, so three times as many children are seriously overweight as there were in the '60's. "Morbid Obesity" does not describe a sad, fat kid, but a child who is in danger of dying because of too much body weight (Belsky, p. 145).
"One of the reasons for overweight children today is lack of exercise. Since there are fewer gym programs in schools these days because of the emphasis on academics. Children watch TV instead of playing outside because parents are afraid for them to play where there is danger; instead, children sit for hours and play computer games, rather than running and playing with other children (Belsky 146)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Belsky, J. (2007). Experiencing the Lifespan. New York: Worth Publishers.
• Gavin, M.L. (2005). Kids Health. Nemours Foundation. Retrieved March 7, 2008 from http://kidshealth.org/teen/food_fitness/dieting/obesity.html.
• Raloff, Janet. (2002). Hormones: Here's the Beef: environmental concerns reemerge over steroids given to livestock. Science News 161, no. 1, January 5, 2002.

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