Childhood Obesity in the United States

2021-05-18
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History of Childhood Obesity

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The overall rates of childhood obesity remain high in the United States. The youth generation aged between 2 and 19years have not seen any falls in the cases of obesity between 2011 -2015 despite the number of laws that have been passed on the same (Overweight and Obesity Statistics, 2016). Specifically, 17% of the youth are obese which is an alarming figure reflecting the childhood obesity cases. According to Obesity (2009), Looking at the obese and overweight, 31.7% of the adolescents as well as children are obese. In this regard, more than 12 million of those are obese while more than 23 million are overweight. The figures have not been any better between 2003 and 2004 than in 2011 to 2012. As such, obesity remains a threat to the future generation, as the condition is responsible for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and high blood pressure.

General Accounting of Obesity

Childhood obesity account for a large percentage of complications that arise in adults such as heart diseases, diabetes and hypertension (Overweight and Obesity Statistics, 2016). Childhood obesity is mostly caused by the lifestyles of the children. In this regard, some of the children are born overweight, which makes them victims of circumstances, others become obese due to the eating habits of their families, which include intake of foods with many calories. Additionally, some parents do not provide physical exercise opportunities for the children. As a result, cases of obesity have been on the increase.

Options Available For Addressing Childhood Obesity

Various options are currently available for addressing childhood obesity. In this regard, changes in eating habits are one of the options. In this option, families are encourages to take foods which are healthy and which do not contain many calories. The other option is the restriction of the foods that are cooked in school cafeterias. In this regard, cafeterias are required to cook only those foods that are healthy so that children do not get under the risk of obesity. Finally, there is encouragement of the children to do physical exercises, which will be a boost to their physical fitness (Childhood Obesity Legislation, 2013).

Current Applicable Policies That Need To Be Expanded and Adjusted

Several policies have devised with the aim of curbing obesity in the United States. The most notable is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or simple the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or rather Obamacare is one of the policies that needs to be adjusted. In this regard, there is need to ensure that the members of the public are given enough information on the best ways that they can lead healthy lives (Rak & Janis Coffin DO, 2013). Additionally, the policies on diets in the schools needs to be reviewed with the aim of ensuring that the schools are well informed on the types of foods that are healthy. More importantly, the proposed polices on manufacturers being disallowed to produce foods rich in calories need to be eliminated. On the contrary, it is critical that public awareness is given to all so that the rights of the manufacturers to make the products are not infriged. Additionally, the rights of individual choices of foods should not be trampled upon by the state.

Actors Currently Involved With Obesity

There are various stakeholders involved with the issue of childhood obesity. One of the most concerned is the US government. In this regard, due to the threats that the issue of obesity poses to the future generation, the government is concerned in making policies that will help curb this epidemic (Denhardt & Denhardt, 2007). The other actors are the parents of the children who are obese. In this regard, they are involved in proposing solutions that will lead to the eradication of obesity. Specifically, the food vendors and manufacturers are involved, as the stand to lose if policies are made that will affect their businesses. Support currently exists with the government where several polices have been enacted with the aim of curbing the intake of calorie-rich foods and hence reduction in the cases of obesity (Childhood Obesity Legislation, 2013). Indeed, any polices concerning the issue of foods should involve consultations among the government, the parents and the players in the food industry.

Recommendations and Ways of Moving the Policy Forward

The existing polices have been inefficient in their quest to address the issue of childhood obesity. In this regard, questions have been raised on the legality of restricting what people can eat and what they cannot eat. As a result, it is a viable recommendation that public awareness is made on all families on the importance of healthy eating. This way, people will make informed decisions on the foods that they take. Secondly, the government should ensure that it builds support in learning institutions and community centers where children could do physical exercises during and after school for the sake of physical fitness. More importantly, the government should provide support to the manufacturers so that they can manufacture foods that are healthy. In this case, they should also support the farmers so that they produce foods that will not have adverse effects in the health of the consumers. Of those options, the most viable is the collaboration of the government with the farmers and the manufacturers so that they can have foods that have less calories.

References

Childhood Obesity Legislation - 2013 Update of Policy Options. (2014). Ncsl.org. Retrieved 28 June 2016, from http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/childhood-obesity-legislation-2013.aspxDenhardt, J. V., & Denhardt, R. B. (2007). The new public service: Serving, not steering. ME Sharpe.Obesity. (2009). U.S. Health Policy Gateway. Retrieved 28 June 2016, from http://ushealthpolicygateway.com/payer-trade-groups/health-promotion-disease-prevention/obesity/Overweight and Obesity Statistics. (2016). Niddk.nih.gov. Retrieved 28 June 2016, from http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/Pages/overweight-obesity-statistics.aspxRak, S., & Janis Coffin DO, F. A. A. F. P. (2013). Affordable care act. The Journal of medical practice management: MPM, 28(5), 317.

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