Childhood obesity is a growing problem in the United States, larger than most people imagine. It is increasingly becoming an issue for a variety of reasons. It is certainly not hard to find proof that the numbers of obese children are rising, even by just looking around at one’s own environment. According to an article called Obesity and Poverty,
“Twenty years ago, 5 percent of American children were overweight. Today, 15 percent are, and another 15 percent are headed that way. Even very young children weigh more than they should with about 8 percent of all preschoolers considered overweight. Nearly double the number of children between ages 6 to 11 are overweight (Seninger and Herling 9).
From here, the statistics do not get any brighter. Another study from the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion states that
“A dramatic rise in overweight children has occurred over the last 30 years.: 11% of all children aged 6 to 18 years were overweight in the latest National Health and nutrition Examination Survey (NHAWES) conducted from 1988 through 1994, compared to 4.3% from the first survey conducted from 1963 to 1970 (Trojano and Flegal 1998).
A researcher named Montague goes so far as to say that the number of overweight children has increased by 50% in only the last two decades (Montague). Obviously childhood obesity must be stopped or at least slowed down because of the disastrous effects it produces. For example, childhood obesity can lead to diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, hypertension, sleep apnea, low self esteem and discrimination only to name a few.
There are many reasons for childhood obesity; one of which is poverty. Income level significantly impacts childhood obesity in a variety of ways. First of all, poverty produces food insecurity. Food insecurity basically happens when children do not have access or have limited access to nutritionally sound foods.
According to national figures from the USDA in 1999, 36.2
million Americans live in food insecure households. 14 million children live in food insecure homes where food may be scarce or diets altered due to limited incomes. Food insecurity and hunger are more widespread among households below the poverty line: 35.4% of these households experience food insecurity compared to 10.2% of households nationwide (USDA).
There are so many ways that food insecurity influences childhood obesity. Households with food insecurities typically have low intakes of fruit and vegetables (Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology). Fruits and vegetables are expensive, and families in poverty cannot afford them. They also consume fewer dairy products. This means that they are more likely to develop some chronic diseases because of low calcium (Munoz 1997). “Children in low-income families usually consume insufficient calories, and families often cope with limited food dollars by purchasing less expensive but higher fat foods (Kennedy and Goldberg 1995). They are more likely to be deficient in numerous other nutrients. they eat foods high in fat and calories. Foods that are cheap are simply not healthy in bulk. According to Ginnie Graham of Tulsa World, “Instead of buying whole-grain bread and lean pork loin, poor people will go for the less expensive white bread and fatty meats” (Graham). This makes perfect sense if the reader thinks of drive through windows or restaurants and looks at the kinds of food listed on the value menus. they are not the salads or yogurt parfaits; they are more like the fries and burgers. Eating these cheap foods on a regular basis can really pack on the pounds. “More than 80% of U.S. children exceed the recommended daily allowance of total saturated fat but consume less than adequate amounts of fiber, fruits, and vegetables (Devaney, Ziegler, Pac, Karwe, and Barr 2004). Therefore, poverty creates food insecurity, which causes students to be obese.
Another characteristic of poverty is hunger, which also creates food insecurity. If kids are not sure where their next meal is coming from, they tend to overeat for the meals they are sure of. Their food insecurity forces them to try to create the security for themselves by overeating. Overeaters are more likely to be obese, even if they do not overeat on a regular basis.
the other thing about those who live in poverty is that their daily lives are struggles simply to exist and survive. They do not have the time or money to plan healthy menus or spend hours grocery shopping or any of the other things that eating healthy requires. As Dr. Martina Jelley, an associate professor of internal medicine for the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa campus, tells Ginnie Graham,
“It takes a lot of work and even money to eat in a healthy fashion. that is a major problem for people in poverty. Many don’t have the time, energy, and certainly not the resources” (Graham).
They are simply not able to plan like other families, and in some cases, they may not even have the knowledge to plan effectively.
“Though the rise in overweight children has occurred in all pediatric groups, some have claimed that poor children are heavier than the non-poor (Rector 1998). To further this evidence, a recent USDA analysis of children aged 7 to 16 years (Anand) found no correlation between weight and income when the 95th percentile was used as a cut point for overweight (personal communication). This same study found a significant correlation between weight and income when the more conservative 85th percentile was used to indicate children at risk for obesity. This suggests that while the prevalence of overweight poor children is not different than that of non-poor children, those in low-income families may disproportionately face socioeconomic conditions that limit their control over factors which influence weight (Anand). This study proves that poor children are generally more obese than wealthier ones. While all of the reasons for this may not be fully understood, poverty plays a huge role.
Another reason for childhood obesity is genetic propensity. In other words, when one’s parent or parents are overweight, there is a greater risk for the child. A child with one overweight parent has a 40% chance of being overweight; if both parents are overweight, the children have an 80 percent chance of being overweight (Seninger 10). Genetics does play a large role in childhood obesity. Again, the reasons for this may not be fully understood, but genetics plays a large role. By age 6, children are 15 times more likely to be obese if their mothers are overweight” (Davis). A doctor named Berkowitz did a study of 70 children who were followed from birth to age 6. 33 of these children had mothers who were overweight, and 27 of the kids had thin mothers. In this study, body mass was measure. What Berkowitz found was that at age 2, both weight and BMI index for both groups were similar. At age 4, the high-risk kids had slightly higher weight, BMI, and waste measurement. However, by age 6, the high-risk children had much more fat than the low risk children. In fact, 30% of the high risk kids and 3% of the low-risk kids had high BMI. Six of the high-risk kids were in the highest BMI range for children their age as opposed to none of the low-risk kids. What Berkowitz concludes to Webbed is that “We know that once a kid is overweight-and if the family has weight problems-that’s a significant risk factor for later weight problems (Davis 2). Berkowitz also sums up the entire argument with “Your genetics puts you on the cliff, but environment pushes you off (Davis). This makes sense. There are other factors at play, but genetics predisposes people to obesity.
Researchers at MCG’s Georgia Prevention Institute also did a study focusing on genetics. Their study of nearly 500 African-American and European-American children tells the world that “children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to show the negative effects of genes known to be involved in obesity” (Gladden). In this same article, Dr. Harold Snieder, genetic epidemiologist at MCG, says,
“Some gene effects were dependent on socioeconomic status. If you are a carrier of the ‘bad gene,’ so to say, and you are also in a lower socioeconomic class, then you will show the effect of the gene, and are obese. If you are in a middle or higher socioeconomic class, you don’t show any effects of the gene. So that means only in a (poorer) environment do the effects of these genes come out” (Gladden).
In another study, a team of researchers led by David B. Allison at Columbia University estimated that genes account for 75-80 percent of the percent body fat (PBF) in children” (Allison). This is obviously a huge percentage. People cannot argue that genetic disposition does not play a very large role in childhood obesity.
In addition to what is normally thought of as genetic, there is evidence suggesting that the genes that play a role in regulating our body cycles also play a role in obesity. Researchers looked into this and found.
“The genetically altered mice fed a normal diet increased in weight by 29 percent over the 10-week period, compared with a 24 percent increase for the normal mice (which was expected as a part of their typical development). For the mice fed a high-fat diet, the differences were even larger. Over the 10 weeks, the weight of genetically altered mice increased by 49 percent, versus a 38 percent increase for the normal mice. Plus, by the end of the study, all of the genetically altered mice had some symptoms of metabolic syndrome, the set of symptoms often linked to obesity and diabetes. The researchers say that they are not sure how the clock gene affects metabolism, although one theory is that the mutation makes the mice less likely to eat at the same time each day, which could have caused their bodies to metabolize food less effectively (Turek).
This article also summed up what that study means to the average person.
“This research could lay the groundwork for further studies that might show a link between mutations in the clock gene and obesity in humans. Previous studies on humans have shown a link between getting off on your sleeping schedule-such as when working a night shift-and weight gain” (Turek).
What this means to most people is that genetics may even play a larger role than previously suspected. Genetics may play a variety of roles in childhood obesity.
Obviously some will argue that the move toward sedentary lifestyle plays a large role in childhood obesity. Certainly this is true. Television and video games, ipods and dvd’s now rule our lives. Kids are not getting the activity that they have in decades past. Obesity in children increases the more hours they watch television. These results were reported in a study by researchers at the University at Buffalo, Johns Hopkins University, The National Cancer Institute, and the Centers for Disease Control (Crespo, 2001). Going right along with television is lack of activity. Television limits the time that children are expending energy doing other things.
“Lack of physical activity is a large contributor to this problem. Physical education, once an important part of every child’s school day, has been cut back at many schools. Less than half of U.S. schoolchildren have access to daily physical education classes” (Squires, 1998).
In addition, Studies conducted in the last 20 to 30 years show a strong correlation between obesity and lack of physical activity. Nearly half of youths aged 12 to 21 years old are not vigorously active on a regular basis (20 minutes, three times a week) (U.S. Dept). Children do not work on their parents‘ farms anymore. In fact, many children are not required to do chores of any kind, and the things that are called entertainment more and more are technology based and require little activity. Many television commercials center around high fat, sugar-loaded food. This food, as attractive and quick as it might be, is simply not good for the average body. Watching television typically means snacking and not sitting down to regular, well-balanced meals. Americans tend to snack rather than eat, and snacking usually involved quick, pre-processed foods that are not healthy. In addition, children need to be taught wise eating choices. If they are not, chances are much more likely that these children will be obese. Foods that are easy tend to be high in calories too. Obese people just tend to consume more calories in general than non-obese people. All of the interplay with food and what kind of food is not fully understood, but what is understood is that when calories consumed exceed calories expended, children or adults will gain weight. Much of our eating is done to accommodate busy lifestyles or done in front of the television or computer, which only compounds the problem.
Lifestyles have changed certainly. All of these factors contribute greatly to childhood obesity, but poverty and genetics continue to play a huge role in childhood obesity. Poverty just doesn’t allow the choices that wealth does. There is just no other way to state this. And each year, doctors understand more and more the importance of genetics in any range of problems or diseases.
The effects that the increase of childhood obesity will have are disastrous. This means more diabetes, more heart disease, and more health problems of all kinds. The lifestyle that most people lead only compound the problems. The problem must be studied by everyone.
There are so many things that can be done even to combat obesity due to poverty. For example, strategies need to be developed to cope with food insecurity and reliance on high-fat foods. Healthy foods need to become more readily available even to those in poverty. In urban areas, more safe playgrounds and the like need to be built so kids are able to get outside and get exercise. People need access to health care, adequate housing, and healthy food in order to combat childhood obesity. Childhood obesity creates so many other health problems and risks that stick with a person for life, harming lives irreparably.
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