Childhood Obesity: Medical Complications and Social Problems

Childhood Obesity: Medical Complications and Social Problems

 “Childhood obesity is best tackled at home through improved parental involvement, increased physical exercise, better diet and restraint from eating” ~ Bob Filner

The advent of the new century has bought many social problems along with itself; this is mainly due to the changes that came in the traditional way of living. Every social group and age cohort has been affected by the negativity of the changes. The children have also suffered from the adverse effects that have been instilled into our society. Obesity has become a common problem in children of American and European countries. Many researchers, social workers, parents, teachers, and physicians feel that it has become an epidemic that causes problems even in the later stages of life.

Until a few years ago, a “fat child” was considered to be “healthy,” since he was said to have the ability to fight off various diseases and have a strong immune system. This perception, however, has changed in the past few years as obesity was founded to be the cause of many health-related problems (Ebbeling, Pawlak, and Ludwig, p. 473, 2002).

Childhood obesity has been a problem in America for a few decades now, during the 20th-century measures were taken to prevent this epidemic. However, the beginning of this century increases the problem to a much higher rate than ever before (Krisberg, p. 1, 2004). Every “economic and ethnic” group is affected by the problem of childhood obesity, therefore a “single factor or sector” cannot be held responsible for this problem (Krisberg, p. 10, 2004).

The causes of childhood obesity are numerous and expand over a wide range of social elements. The medical cause is the mutation in the genes of a child before he is born; this mutation takes place in the “gene encoding leptin.” Another medical cause is the “tandem repeat region of the insulin gene,” however the causes of these mutations are still unknown to scientists (Ebbeling, Pawlak, and Ludwig, p. 474-475, 2002). The medical and genetic causes are not said to be the main cause of obesity, a very small number of children (throughout the world) have been known to suffer obesity because of mutations and gene make-up.

As mentioned earlier, the changes in the traditional way of living have contributed greatly to this problem. The traditional role of parenting was considered to be a home-maker, provider, caretaker, and role model. This has evolved to a new untraditional role in which parents are considered to be the provider of financial means. Today, every household has two people earning for the family; this is due to the requirement of the family to maintain their social status and do away with their money worries. However, this factor has lead to an increase in the un-traditional way of eating. Since parents, especially mothers, are working the traditional home-cooked meal is considered a luxury.

Most parents rely on ready-to-cook meals from fast-food restaurants. Americans and Europeans are always looking for the easy way out, therefore, the industries of ready-to-cook meals and fast foods are thriving. This concept is sometimes referred to as McDonaldization, where the parents or children order in food or survive on ready-to-cook meals. The usage of this type of food is said to deposit layers of fat as it contains much more calories and other unwanted ingredients.

Another factor is “eating out,” where families eat in restaurants instead of surviving on home-cooked meals. This factor affects obesity even in the households where single parents are earning. Restaurants are said to prepare “larger portions of energy-dense food,” which is why children “consume” higher percentages of fat from these meals. These factors combined with “television viewing” increase the possibility of eating an unhealthy diet. Eating and watching television at the same time has led to a stop in “family dinner” time; children now eat their meals in front of the television screen. Due to this, children become prone to consuming things that contain more fat and unwanted substances (Ebbeling, Pawlak, and Ludwig, p. 476, 2002).

The advent of computers and their presence in every household have led to a new form of entertainment, computer gaming, or simple web browsing. Television viewing is sometimes replaced by the usage of computers and the internet, thus this technological advancement also opens the door for unhealthy eating habits which ultimately leads to obesity. The presence of television and computers at home is called “pleasurable sedentary activities” that can cause health-related problems (Laing, p. 15, 2002).

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