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Childhood
Obesity
The rate of obesity
is increasing at a rapid pace in the western world, however the
increase of this condition is being noticed amongst children as well as
adults. In this article we'll be looking at Childhood Obesity.
What
causes childhood obesity?
Years
of research has revealed that there are numerous factors that cause
childhood obesity, rather than one single cause. In fact these factors
that cause childhood obesity usually combine together to create this
condition.
In
many cases a child who has parents that are obese or overweight will
also turn out to be overweight or obese.This may mean that obesity is a
genetic condition however this is not a fact that is written in stone
because this area is still in the process of being understood by
researchers.
Another
reason that children with obese parents tend to be obese may be due to
the diet and eating habits within the family, since the child will be
eating the same types of unhealthy foods as his or her parents.
Obese
children tend to eat alot of junk food, because it's cheap, widely
available, it's easier for their parents to order junk food than it is
to cook a healthy home cooked meal, and it tastes good. In fact junk
food is more popular than ever, unfortunately it is not very nutritious
and it's in high in sugar and fat.
Over
the last few decades the activity levels of children particularly in
the west have declined massively. A few of the main culprits that have
aided this drop include computers, video games and mobile phones. As a
result of this drop in activity levels children are not burning off the
calories they gained from eating, and they are being stored as fat
instead.
The
media has also played it's part in the increase of child obesity. The
Internet, television, magazines etc. are all used by children as well
as adults. The TV and Internet are particularly dangerous because
children can spend hours in front of them, plus confectionery and junk
food manufacturers use these types of media as a medium to promote
their unhealthy products to children.
Obese
and overweight children tend to seek comfort in food when they are
upset, angry, bored, depressed etc. These psychological factors play a
big part in certain cases of childhood obesity.
Currently
health experts are undertaking research in order to solve the problem
of childhood obesity. Recent studies suggest the answer to eliminating
this condition is a health diet and exercise, however this condition
will never be eliminated permanently until the route causes of
childhood obesity have been discovered.
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