Obesity

6 Pages 1414 Words

Abstract

In today’s society the number of obese children is rising. There are said to be many factors involved in causing obesity. However scientist still don’t know the real cause. Obesity is becoming a huge health threat to children and only with the proper research can it be solved.



Adolescent Obesity
In today’s society huge corporations pray on the pockets of overweight people and make millions of dollars. It is estimated that Americans alone spend 80-100 billion dollars on weight-loss tactics annually. However, about one-third of the America’s population is extremely over-weight and out of that one out of seven children ages 6-17 is considered obese.
Obesity in teens has also sky rocketed over the last century. According to the health department’s Healthy People 2000 standards, one out of five teenagers is overweight and the rates are much higher among ethnic and racial minorities and lowest income group.
(Berg 18)
America is now facing a huge epidemic of adolescent obesity. The National Commission on the Role of School and Community in Improving Adolescent Health is concerned about this. In 1990, the Commission warned: “ For the first time in history of the country, young people are less healthy and less prepared to take their places in society than were their parents”(Berg 17). The government needs to take charge of this rapidly growing epidemic. With sufficient funding and research scientist will be able to reduce adolescent obesity before the problem gets out of control. This epidemic has many people questioning, what causes adolescent obesity?
Before answering this question it is important to know what the difference is between being over weight and being obese. It is also important to know the health risk involved in being obese. Overweight and obesity are two different things. A person who is overweight has excess amount of body weight that includes muscle, fat, bone, an...