First Author: KatieB

Second Author: Nikki Crocco

NikkiC

HOW TO KEEP YOUR CHILDREN HEALTHY!

 Childhood Obesity is a condition where excess body fat negatively affects a child's health or wellbeing. As methods to determine body fat directly are difficult, the diagnosis of obesity is often based on BMI. Due to the rising prevalence of obesity in children and its many adverse health effects it is being recognized as a serious public health concern.^[1]

Obesity describes body weight that is much heavier than what is considered healthy. Being obese means you have more body fat than muscle. Adults with BMI greater than 30 are considered obese. Anyone over 100 pounds with a BMI over 40 is morbidly obese. Obesity can happen because of lack of exercise, eating too much food the body can handle, and drinking too much alcohol. ^[2]

BMI: body mass index, measure of relative body weight correlating highly with more direct measures of body fat, calculated by dividing total body weight (in kg) by the square of body height (in meters).

For example: this person is 5 feet, 3 inches all (63 inches) and weights 130.

1.) 130/2.2 (to get weight in kg)= 59.1

2.) 63*0.0254 (multiply height in inches by 0.0254 to convert to meters)=1.6

3.) Multiply the result of step 2 by itself to get the square of the height measurement 1.6*1.6=2.56

4. 59.1/2.56=23, divide the result of step 1 by the result of step 3 to get BMI!

 ^[3]

Causes:

• Family: the risk of becoming obese is more likely to happen with parents that are obese
• Low energy expenditure: The average American child spends several hours each day watching television, when in previous years, children spent most time playing. Obesity is more common in children and adults who spend more time watching televesion. Not only are they not exercising, but could be consuming high calorie snacks. About 1/3 of children have PE in elementary school and less than 1/5 have PE activities in their after school programs.
• Heredity: it has been shown that heredity influences obesity.  Babies that are born to overweight mothers, have been found to be less active and gain more weight than babies with normal weight mothers.

 Treatment:

• Physcial Activity:  having an exercise program, or just being more active will help burn fat, increase energy, and maintain weight loss. By doing something active for 39 minutes every day can help! Even if body weight does not change right away, blood pressure is improving!
• Diet Management: A healthy balanced diet, with moderate caloric intake is sucessful when treating obesity. Do not advise kids to fast, becuase it is too stressful and could affect the growth of the child.
• Behavior Modification:  By changing your behavior, like writing down what you eat and physical activity, could be used as incentives for desirable behaviors.

Prevention:

• easier to prevent than to treat
• In infancy, parents should breastfeed instead of using formula and wait a while to introduce solid foods.
• In early childhood, schools should teach proper nutrition, selection of low-fat snacks, and P.E. programs should teach good exercise/activity habits. At home, parents should monitor the use of TV each day.television viewing. ^[4]

Intresting you tube video on kids getting involved with cooking diffrent food:

 Dangers of Childhood Obesity: