Obesity: Nutrition and Obese Takes Essay

Submitted By baselaj
Words: 1473
Pages: 6

Basel Abu-Jubara
Professor Boumarate
ENC 1101 CRN#15555
12 October 2014
Parents are responsible for childhood obesity
In the beginning they look terribly cute then grow and grow to become terribly obese. There is nothing cute about being obese. In fact, it is life-threatening. Children are called children for a reason, they still need the guidance and care of their parents or adults. Becoming obese takes time and it is incumbent upon the parents or the adults to make sure that their children grow up to be healthy individuals and not suffer the health and social consequences of obesity as adults. If children die as a result of complications brought on by obesity, somebody needs to answer for this, and that somebody are the parents. The basic responsibility of a parent is to ensure that his children have proper nutrition. Having children is a big responsibility and if the parent cannot take care of his own then maybe they should not be given the huge responsibility of raising kids. Nobody forced them to have children. It is a choice that they have embarked on and should be responsible for this choice throughout the period that the children are growing up before they reach 18 years old. In this report, there will be surveys and statistics that will be referred to but all data and details eventually fall as the responsibility or irresponsibility of the parents. Children do not just grow up obese, it starts as small increments of bad habits eventually becoming a way of life for the children. Intervention is, indeed, needed. If parents cannot take care of their children which will ultimately result in death then the state should intervene. It is the duty of the state to do so. It cannot allows its young citizens to die. Not to be overly critical of parents of these obese children but only as a wakeup call to a lot of parents that big does not mean healthy, big is big. Big is dangerous. Aside from the health repercussions of being obese, there is also a social stigma that obese children suffer. They not only suffer physically but are likewise social outcasts because of their sizes. In the report of the Dr. Cynthia Ogden and Dr. Margaret Carroll of the Division of Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys1, which is available on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, the two medical practitioners found out that there has been an increasing obesity trend between 1976 and 1980 among children which started with preschool children who are two- to five-year-old. In this age group, the rise in obesity cases was at 10.4 percent from 5 percent or double the percentage. From 2007 to 2008, there was an increase in children within the age group of six- to 11-year-old by 19.6 percent from a 6.5 percent level the previous year.
-57153810 Although not a concern in this particular report but to show the progression of the disease, obesity in adolescents (with ages between 12 and 19 years old) experienced the highest jump from five percent to 18.1 percent the following year. In the same survey conducted by Ogden and Carroll, obesity in children is more evident in a specific group and gender. Between the years 2007 and 2008, obesity in children is more widespread in boys who have Hispanic roots or those who are Mexican to be exact. The prevalence of obesity for this group was 26.8 percent. As a comparison with other ethnic groups, the non-Hispanic white boys only had a growth spurt of 11.6 percent to 16.7 percent for the given period. The same can be said for the non-Hispanic black boys which had an increase of 19.8 percent from 10.7 percent. Although these numbers for the non-Hispanic white and black boys did not experience the same sharp increase as that of the Mexican-American boys, the increases are also cause for alarm. Not to be racist about it, but the survey could indicate that more and more Hispanic parents are now getting employed, and the kids are left at home to fend for themselves. Since most