Childhood obesity has been around for as long as people can remember.  There have always been overweight children in the world, and it seemed like it was never a problem.  Today, childhood obesity is so prevalent because the public doesn’t understand the dangers of the disease and the treatments for it aren’t effective.  As history progressed, obesity has been talked about much more.  Decades ago, fat children were just ridiculed, which regular people thought was the only harm of being overweight.  After years of studies, it is known that obesity is dangerous to the child in numerous ways and is a serious problem.  Despite the dangers of obesity, obesity is rising rapidly with no signs of slowing down.  Part of the problem is the treatment methods involved.  The methods that are currently in place are expensive and sometimes don’t help children over time.  To fix the obesity problem among children, new methods need to be found to help the children cure themselves.  The cure must help all factors of obesity in order to succeed in stopping the increasing rates of childhood obesity.

In America, childhood obesity isn’t a new concept, but it is becoming more pertinent in society.  At one time, being an obese child was very rare and was looked as a positive.  Many people wanted their child to be fat because the thought was that ‘a fat child is a happy child’.  In 1896, a 9-year-old child named Charley Bilcher weighed 174 pounds.  He became a celebrity because he was in all of the newspapers.  He and his parents were proud of his size and many didn’t think much about the negative effects of it.  In fact, doctors thought that that it “protected children from infectious disease” (Dawes 2).  Around the 1920’s, doctors started to suspect that overweight children are actually less healthy because of the stress placed on their hearts and lungs, but still believed that the major problem with obese children was the teasing and other social problems that they faced from other children.  By the 1960s, they realized the dangers involved with obesity and decided that it should be treated.

Childhood obesity is growing at a large rate, which is concerning for the entire public.  A study was completed where “14 years of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of 26,690 children aged 2 to 19” was used to determine the state of childhood obesity (Firger par. 2).  This study found that along with normal obesity rising among children, severe obesity is rising greatly.  Obesity is grouped by three classes, where class 3 is the most severe. There is a greater increase of obesity among specific ethnic groups.  Obesity has highest increase rates with Hispanic females and black males.  With obesity rising, it is time to help cure children of it.

Childhood obesity is defined by Jessica Firger on CBS News as someone under 19 having a Body Mass Index (BMI) “greater than or equal to the 95th percentile” (Firger par. 7).  A body mass index is the best way to measure obesity among people.  By using just weight, the measurements could miss the true reflection of the patient because it doesn’t account for muscle or bones.  A Body Mass Index helps identify the amount of body fat on the person.  Many also think that overweight is the same thing as obesity.  Obesity is an extreme form of being overweight.  Being overweight isn’t as dangerous as being obese.

The cause of childhood obesity includes many different factors.  Most people believe that it is only made up of a poor diet and a lack of exercise for the child, which is partly true, but there are many different factors that cause this, including psychological and socioeconomic factors.  Parents used to want their children to be overweight.  Other than the health benefits that doctors and parents thought it had back then, an obese child was a sign that the family was wealthy.  Many families couldn’t afford to feed their children an excess to the point that they would become overweight.  In today’s society, there has been a change.  Poverty stricken environments have been prone to more obesity.  The societal factors that often cause obesity are “an environment of fast food… poverty and poor education, parental failure… and rampant marketing targeted at children” (Dawes 3).  This environment is a city, where poverty is present.  Inner-city children are prone to obesity because of the availability of fast food that is cheaper than healthy food.  There is a greater increase of obesity among minority groups, especially black males and Hispanic females. These groups are more likely to be under the poverty line.  According to the State of Working America, “45.8 percent of young black children… live in poverty.”  For struggling families, it is easier to feed their children with Burger King, which has offers chicken nuggets for $1.49, then to buy fresh food for more money and cook.  Also, in cities, children see advertisements everywhere for fast food.  Advertisements are used to take advantage of children and help drive them towards an unhealthy lifestyle.

It isn’t a coincidence that the rising rate of obesity among children is correlated with the greater amount of time spent in front of media, which includes computers, televisions, and video games.  Children are in front of a screen for about an average of 44.5 hours per week, and in this time they are exposed to numerous advertisements, especially for unhealthy foods and fast food chains.  These companies are purposely focusing on children for a reason, which is because they are vulnerable to the advertisements.  Many adults understand the persuasive nature of these advertisements, but “most children under age 6 cannot distinguish between programming and advertising and children under age 8 do not understand the persuasive intent of advertising” (APA par. 2).  This is a problem because not only do they not understand the purpose of the advertisements, but they “have a remarkable ability to recall content from the ads” (APA par. 2).  The companies rely heavily on the children to make their parents buy their products, so they buy 50 percent of the commercials on children’s shows.  This is causing a large amount of childhood obesity, so something needs to be changed.

Even though most people would want to cure childhood obesity, a group called “Healthy at Every Size” believes that the problem should be left alone altogether. The group believes that the focus of trying to cure obesity is actually hurting the youth more than helping it.  They believe that the targeting of fat children as ‘unhealthy’ has left a stigma toward overweight people that creates a negative psychological effect that is worse than the physical damages that occur.  They claim that “fighting fat hasn’t made the fat go away. And being thinner… will not necessarily make us healthier or happier. The war on obesity has taken its toll” (HAES par. 1).  The ‘war’ on obesity that they mentioned caused “collateral damage,” such as “food and body preoccupation, self-hatred, eating disorders, discrimination, poor health, etc.” (HAES par. 2).  They believe that the emphasis on losing weight and weight standards contribute to other societal problems, such as gender identification.  The downfall with their logic is that the physical damages of overweight children leaves damages that last a lifetime.  Also, the psychological effects of childhood obesity isn’t caused by trying to cure them, but by the weight itself.

Healthy at Every Size might be extreme, but a large portion of the population also has ignorant beliefs about childhood obesity.  Many people don’t believe that overweight children are being hurt.  Often, people will say things like “a chubby child is a happy child”, or “its fine, they’re still young.”  Being overweight as a child could create bad habits for the rest of their lives.  These statements are often from parents who don’t want to believe that they’re child might be obese.  Many believe that puberty will help with the weight and that the children will thin out as they get older.  Parents need to learn that this isn’t always true and they need to help their child.

Childhood obesity is dangerous for the child’s health in both the long term as well as the present.  Being obese as a child leads to future health problems such as Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol, metabolic syndrome, stroke, cancer, heart disease, and many others.  A study completed by the American Academy of Pediatrics shows that the “lifetime cost of medical care for an obese child is $19,000 more than the cost of care for a child of healthy weight” (Firger par. 12).  The damages left on childhood obesity could be fatal and can deteriorate quality of life even decades later.  Other than physical dangers down the road, there are a lot of psychological effects of childhood obesity.  Obesity hurts the patients’ quality of life, contributing to “depression, disability, sexual problems, shame and guilt, social isolation, and lower work achievement” (Mayo Clinic Staff 5).  In obese children, it is found that they have high body image concerns and to counter it, they “engage in unhealthy weight control behaviors” which include fasting, skipping meals, vomiting, using diet pills, and laxatives.  These behaviors could hurt the child.  Also, obese children are prone to teasing and bullying, which leads to low self-esteem and suicidal thoughts.  

Many believe that the solution to childhood obesity is easy.  As discussed before, a poor diet and the lack of exercise are the cause of obesity, but there are many factors that create problems for the child, especially with the environment surrounding them.  The original methods of treating the children were to let the children deal with it themselves.  They would give the children an exercise and eating regiment and expect them to follow it, losing the weight.  This proved to be ineffective to most because there was little support in place.  Many tried to come up with a pharmaceutical answer to obesity, but most of the pills created were dangerous and didn’t help the patient become healthy again.  In the 1960’s people created weight lose camps, also known as fat camps, to send children to in the summer.  These were set up by pediatricians and nutritionists who helped the children lose weight. These camps were successful often in helping children lose weight over the summer, but contained several downsides.  The first problem was the cost of the camps.  The first camps opening in “the late 1960s charged $830, which is about $5,370 in today’s dollars.  The average eight-week camp… today is… $8,000” (Dawes 168).  Most families cannot afford to pay this much to help their child lose weight.  The other downfall of weight loss camp is that it doesn’t help the child keep the weight off once they’ve lost it.  Once the child leaves the strict structure of the camp, they don’t have the ability to control themselves since it was all provided for them and would gain the weight back. There is new research on methods that help the children not only lose the weight, but also keep it off.  The name of the treatment is called hunger training.  The method monitors the children’s blood glucose levels.  When the blood glucose levels fall under a certain point, the children will eat a meal. This cuts out unnecessary eating from the children’s habits.  The problem with this is that most children don’t have access to this kind of medical attention.

Fighting childhood obesity is tough because the solution must address all of the factors that cause it, especially the psychological and environmental issues.  The current methods struggle to target these factors.  Programs like the NFL’s Play 60 doesn’t help with fast food becoming a staple in children’s lives.  The instillation of exercise in children is important, but is almost meaningless when a child’s diet consists of fast food that is often over 1,000 calories.  An hour of exercise usually doesn’t burn more than 200 calories, so it isn’t enough.

The regulation of fast food advertisement would help fight childhood obesity.  As discussed before, advertisements for unhealthy food target children through media intended for children.  Also, unhealthy food advertisements are often placed in poverty stricken areas, which go to fast food companies because of the many deals that they have.  The removal of advertisements in these areas will reduce the number of children going to fast food restaurants.  The tobacco industry has faced regulations similar to this and it has worked greatly.  The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act were signed in 2009 “to regulate the manufacture, distribution, and marketing of tobacco products.” (FDA par. 1)  The most powerful part of the legislation is the restriction on marketing.  Tobacco companies became unable to advertise in sports, entertainment, or cultural events.  Also, the companies were forced to put warnings on all of the products.  The main purpose of this legislation was to prevent children from using tobacco products.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of teenage smokers in 2009, when the legislation was first passed, was 20.6%.  Now, only 12% of teenagers smoke.  This 8.6% drop in teenage smokers is only the beginning as they expect the number to drop further.  Before the legislation was passed, the number of teenage smokers was on the rise, similar to childhood obesity.  If legislation like this worked so well limiting the number of teenagers smoking, it would work for unhealthy food companies.  By limiting the marketing for the companies, the number of children eating this food would drop, therefore preventing childhood obesity.

The removal of fast food advertisements in sports and entertainment would leave large gaps of potential advertisement and sponsorship space.  To fill this gap, the sports and entertainment industry could continue to push their own organizations and foundations.  The NFL has been promoting Play 60 for years now and other leagues have been trying to do the same.  This opportunity would allow the industry to use cheap, newly available advertisement space to continue their work.  These organizations help increase public opinion which sports leagues have been seeking, especially due to recent medical findings.  Programs similar to Play 60 help increase public relations, helping everyone involved.

Despite beliefs that a chubby child is a happy child, obesity hurts children physically and mentally.  Obese children are prone to numerous medical problems later in life, such as heart disease, as well as psychological problems.  A poor diet and minimal exercise causes obesity, but the factors that influence it are psychological and environmental.  In order to cure obesity, these factors must be addressed.  To do this, treatment plans must help the children change their lifestyle.  By introducing new regulations modeled after tobacco industry regulations for fast food companies, children will be less prone to bad eating habits.  More marketing restrictions will lead to the rate of childhood obesity decreasing, similar to the decreasing rates of teenage smokers.  Once the restrictions are created, advertisement space would be created and could provide leagues and organizations to advertise their own community programs, like Play 60.
