Childhood Obesity (5) - Causes of obesity

While some rare genetic conditions may cause obesity, obesity is generally caused by not making the correct choices in lifestyle. Obesity can occur when calories intake is greater than calories consumption, resulting a positive balance of calories retained in the body. Thus, the equation of obesity:
Retention of calories = Intake of calories – Consumption of calories

From the above equation, obesity is directly proportional to the amount of retention of calories in the body. Hence, it is easy to see that to reduce the chance of becoming obese is either to reduce the intake of calories, or to increase the consumption of calories, or both. To reduce the number of obese children, we need to start tweaking the above equation with children at schools.

We have to teach children at a young age to know the importance of reducing calories intake on the one hand, and the importance of physical exercises regularly on the other. However, Starky (2005) found that the availability of nutritional food choices in schools is of poor choices. A regular school day is usually of “low levels of physical activity, high participation in sedentary activities” (Hanning et al., 2007).

Reference
Starky, S. (2005). The Obesity Epidemic in Canada. Ottawa: Parliamentary Information and Research Services, Economics Division.
Hanning, R. M., et al. (2007). Nutrient Intakes and Food Consumption Pattern Among Ontario Students in Grades Six, Seven, and Eight. Canadian Journal of Public Health. 98(1):12-16. 2007.

Childhood Obesity (3) - Overweight and obese

Although it is not the main purpose of this paper to present how overweight and obesity is
determined in the health sciences, yet it will help to lay a better foundation for understanding the issue.

A commonly used metric to classify human body weight is body mass index, or BMI, which is calculated by using the following formula:


where W is the weight in kilograms and H in metres.

The cut-off points are 25 and 30. Adults with a BMI of between 25 and 29.9 are classified as overweight, and 30 and above as obese (CDC, 2008a). However, BMI is calculated differently for children and teens because the amount of body fat differs between boys and girls and changes with age. Hence, BMI for children and teens is often referred to as BMI-for-age. When the BMI-for-age falls within the 85th to less than the 95th percentile, the child is considered to be overweight. When the BMI-for-age is equal to or greater than the 95th percentile, the child is considered to be obese (CDC, 2008b).

Reference
CDC (2008a). Defining Overweight and Obesity. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/defining.htm.
CDC (2008b). About BMI for Children and Teens. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/childrens_BMI/about_childrens_BMI.htm