Adult Obesity Statistics for 2010 Released

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Childhood Obesity (Black Ops Gameplay/Commentary)

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Child Obesity

Have you noticed more children with weight problems today than ten or twenty years ago? If so, it’s not your imagination, child obesity is a bigger problem now more than ever before. Some of you may know a child with a serious weight disorder, or maybe you even have a child of your own with a weight problem. Just the other day I read a couple articles focusing on this very subject, and thought to myself that it is definitely well worthy of addressing in my column.

To give you a little insight into some of the causes of child obesity, aside from major health and genetic related causes, we need to take a closer look at the changes over the past few decades that directly affect our children’s health. For starters, our age of technology is in direct correlation to our children’s activity levels. As a child, I spent as much time playing outside as I possibly could. And yes, I was very fortunate that I grew up in a neighborhood that had a lot of kids to play with, but regardless, I think my activities would have been similar in any case. Most of our play involved some type of physical activity, unlike many of the games that children today play. With the advancement of technology came the advancement of video games and DVD players. And while this may have brought with it many interactive games for kids that are not only fun, but also educational, it also brought a lot of sedentary activity.

Kids spend much more time watching television today than they once did. Just take a look outside of the home and into the car and you will see evidence of this. How many minivans and SUV’s come with DVD players in them now? I believe it is standard policy to at least have the option of adding one to your new vehicle. While this may take some stress off of the parents, I don’t know if it is the best lesson to teach your child. We are promoting sedentary activity and demoting exercise.

I recently read an article that conducted a survey on portion sizes at various restaurants across the nation and discovered that the average size of an order of food is larger now than it was 25 years ago. So if you’re still attempting to clean up your plate before you leave the table, please reconsider. Also, many families are forced to buy dinner more frequently rather than cook, due to the fact that often both parents work. While this isn’t necessarily anyone’s fault, it is something than needs to be addressed in order for us to compensate for the decrease in activity and parent supervision, coupled with the increase in dining out and portion size.

While I am certainly not casting blame on anyone, and in no way am I questioning your parenting abilities, I am simply trying to shed some awareness on this problem and encourage the parents of this generation to educate their children on good eating habits (including portion size), and a fit lifestyle. While it may be almost impossible for a lot of the parents out there to monitor the foods their child is consuming every second they are away, or decrease the number of hours that the parents works, you do have control over the foods that you stock in your pantry and refrigerator as well as the activities that you do as a family.

Try going for a family hike followed by a picnic or to the beach for a swim on the next Saturday that you have free. That’s just an example, the opportunities are endless here is San Diego. I happen to know of a neighbor of mine, who almost every weekend takes the entire family either rock climbing, backpacking, hiking, kayaking, or some other type of fun family activity. And the kids love it! As a matter of fact it will probably surprise the children when they learn that not all families are like this. And these parents look like regular people, they’re not even superheroes!

All I’m urging you to do is to instill in your kids the value of their health and what role that will play in the quality of their lives to come. And remember that it’s all right to take baby steps—major lifestyle changes don’t happen overnight. Give you children as much of an advantage in life as you can.

About the Author

Melissa Allen, CPT, BS, is a certified personal trainer & exercise therapist, as well as the owner of Optimum Condition—Mobile Personal Training & Exercise Therapy. She is a self-syndicated columnist who welcomes input from her readers, so please contact her with any questions or comments by visiting her website at http://www.OptimumCondition.com

Fox News Interviews First Lady on Child Obesity

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Fast food, obesity and urban children

It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the worldwide obesity epidemic especially in children and teenagers. Being overweight, defined by the 85th percentile of weight for height, among 5-to-24-years-old in United States was first significantly noticed in 1994 from the study of Tulane University in Louisiana showing that a number of obese children increased twofold in two decades, between 1973 and 1994.Moreover, a Japanese study confirmed approximately one-third of overweight children grew into overweight adults. [1] Therefore, governments and health organizations tried to launch many campaigns to slow down and decrease the ratio, and it seems to work.

Recently, new data presented at the International Congress on Obesity in Sweden and the research reviews are showing the stable levels of childhood obesity in many developed countries around the world. It could be good news, but, if we deeply look through the trend, the familiar problems are still going on under the stabilization.

Although US health professionals are satisfied about their nation’s stabilizing obese trends, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey published a report showing one-third of American children are still heavy. Similarly, in England, Tim Cole from University College London said the overweight British children are overall leveling off but there is a gap between rich and poor children. In some countries, such as England, the rich Child Obesity rate has stabilized, but for poorer children, the rate is still rising, possibly because of low accessibility to healthy food, successful campaign or even education. A key question to answer now is whether a similar pattern can be observed in developing countries. [2]

Obesity has been dramatically increasing in Thailand in both adults and children for the past 20 years. The results of a study by Mahidol University in 2005 applying Body Mass Index (BMI) used to classified people into underweight, normal, overweight and obese, showed grade II of obesity was found in 3% of Thais. Such obesity was predominant in urban areas. [1]

In 2004, Paravee Hiranrat’s study from Chulalongkorn University found that 27 Bangkok male secondary school students from 100 are obese. [3] Three years later, a similar study from Srinakharinwirot University gave a different outcome: not 27 per cent, but only 7 per cent in Ongkharak district, Nakhon-Pratom. [4] Clearly, there is a large difference in the findings of the two studies from urban areas and agricultural areas.

Back in 1990, there was almost no difference in the number of obese children between Bangkok and the South of Thailand. In fact, only 1% more children were obese in Bangkok than in the South. But by 2003, the difference in obesity rates between Bangkok and E-Sarn, the Northeast of Thailand, had increased dramatically. Rather than a 1% difference, the difference was 10%. [5] Clearly, children in agricultural areas are not as fat as children in the capital.

Many factors could make Thai children obese. Thanh from Mahidol University has categorized the possible factors into four groups: first, sociodemographic factors, such as the parent’s education and income, birth order and gender; second, physical activities, for example, walking, doing sport or exercise, especially when compared with the amount of time watching television; third, eating habits, such as the proportion of five nutrients, preferred drinks and meal times; finally, parents’ and children’s knowledge of obesity. The third of these factors – eating habits – is perhaps the most interesting and can be investigated further by looking at the density of fast food outlets in each province.

KFC, the fried chicken fast-food provider, has 93.78 branches in Bangkok and 14 branches in Chiang Mai. [6] In other words, there are almost seven times as many branches in Chiang Mai as in Bangkok. Obviously, however, we have to account for the greater population of Bangkok, but even taking this into account, there are twice as many KFCs per head in Bangkok as in Chiang Mai. Similar figures can be found for other fast food outlets such as The Pizza. Therefore, it seems that the number of fast food outlets is related to the level of obesity.

Another factor that make remote area children healthy is the environment, in particularly, fresh air, nature and free space, the space to grow healthy vegetables. Besides the city, there are plentiful areas in Thailand to use as the vegetable beds. Simply, the natives use their backyard to cultivate the easy-grow plants for the daily food. Then, the children in that area almost have fresh and various vegetables everyday. Moreover, the vegetable that grows naturally is always clean and non-toxic. So, the rural children always gain the pure nutrients and substances that benefit themselves. Unquestionably, they are healthier than the urban children.

This is the point; the general capital children are overweight, or unhealthy, more than the countryside children. In fact, in the city, there are abundant of healthy food and many exercising facilities. The children, particularly rich children, at least should be healthy as equal as the remote children. Fast food outlets appear as the main factor of this topic. The governments must consider controlling fast food; limit a number of the outlet for each area in Bangkok and lunch a persuasive campaign to promote healthy food; in order to protect the future of the nation instead of the companies’ benefit. Before the number of obese children goes up to the point that we can’t reduce or return it to the safe, anymore.

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Reference List

1. Thanh, N. (2008). Obesity and related factors among students grade 7-12 in Phuttha Monthon district, Nakorn pathom province, Thailand (Master’s thesis). Available from Mahidol University Libary and Knowledge Center. (UMI No. 5038005) Retrieved August 7, 2010 from http://mulinet10.li.mahidol.ac.th/e-thesis/5038005.pdf

2. Coghlan, A. (2010). Rise in childhood obesity is slowing worldwide. NewScientist, 2772, 8.

3. Hiranrat, P. , Katavetin, P. & Chotevitayatharakorn, P. (2004). Ponderal index is better than body mass index in diagnosis of obesity in Thai male adolescents. Chula Med J, 48(5), 289-298. Retrieved August 30, 2010 from http://thailis-db.car.chula.ac.th/CU_DC/Journal/JournalNov2005/may042.pdf

4. Kongsomboon, K. , Chansakulporn, C., Wongjitrat, N. & Hutspardol S. (2007). Health problems among students in Ongkharak district, Nakhon Nayok province according to gender and class: Cross sectional study. Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, 14(1), 11-17. Retrieved August 9, 2010 from http://ejournals.swu.ac.th/index.php/JMHS/article/viewFile/328/327

5. Kantachuvessiri A. (2005). Obesity in Thailand. J Med Assoc Thai, 88(4), 554-562. Retrieved August 7, 2010 from http://www.mat.or.th/journal/files/Vol88_No4_554.pdf

6. Yum! Thailand. (2010). Yum! Thailand History. Retrieved September 10, 2010 from http://www.yum.co.th/about.php

About the Author

A Communication Design student studying in SoA+D, KMUTT, Bangkok,Thailand.

Childhood Obesity: A Growing Problem Worldwide

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