Childhood obesity in the USA a problem not to be overlooked

Posted on April 25, 2008
Filed Under Health |

The statistics on childhood obesity in the USA are staggering with close to 15% of all children considered obese. Things are also bad for teenagers. Worse even, the future for the young generations looks even worse with these percentage numbers expected to continue increasing every year. It has been a terrible 3 decades for young Americans. At the current state, childhood obesity is becoming a problem out of control.

With over 25 million children in the USA are overweight or in danger of being so. These numbers have created one of the pediatric problems in the country with up to 30% of adolescent children suffering from it. The resulting poor health for such a large and young portion of the population is not only a problem for each child individually but also increases the demands on the country’s already overstretched health care system.

For years, I have heard many arguments as to who is responsible for this growing problem. Many say that the parents are to blame and statistics show that obese children often have obese parents. Others put the blame on large corporations who in the name of profits market junk food to young children who cannot resist the flashy advertising and sweet taste of snacks and pop. Finally, maybe governments are to blame because they have done little to educate people on good nutritional habits. Moreover, allowing junk food to be sold on school premises had done little to ease the childhood obesity problems. School can also help by providing healthy school meals that nearly half of the children consume on a daily basis.

The sooner people realize what the long term benefits of eliminating obesity are, the sooner they will take action to combat it. The money that will be wasted caring for an obese population are far greater than the money needed to educate everyone on proper eating habits. Unfortunately, there are many industries, i.e., the weight loss, diet, private health care, etc., which stand to benefit much from an obese population. And these are the people with money who help politicians with huge campaign contributions. I haven’t heard any of the Presidential candidates (both Democrat and Republic) say anything about combating the obesity problem in children and adults. People are more interested in what Obama’s priest said during his sermon than helping American citizens live healthy and long lives.

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