Obesity is a health condition wherein body fat is increased and unused, reaching a dangerous point in a person’s health. This happens when the energy from food intake is greater than its use. This causes the body to store energy as fat.
There are a number of factors that cause obesity. Some of which include a genetic predisposition, an underlying illness, eating disorders, medications, poor mental health, lack of sleep, etc. Obesity causes quite a lot of damage considering the number of related diseases that are brought on by this health condition. To make matters worse, obesity incidences has increased that it is now considered a global threat. The rates of child obesity incidences have, in fact, tripled in the United States since 1997. As a response, we’ve tried to combat obesity with diets, exercise, behavior modification, surgery and more recently, drug therapy.
However, nothing beats prevention by a long shot. Its like building a good defense system. The goal is to prevent obesity, specifically child obesity from reaching into adulthood. If you’re your child is showing symptoms of child obesity have your child diagnosed as early as possible. Early detection of the symptoms of child obesity will yield better results because the longer bad habits are allowed, the harder it is to remove them.
Understand that the symptoms of child obesity may include asthma, type 2 diabetes, heart problems, increased blood pressure, increased cholesterol level, sleep apnea, bone and joint problems and psychological problems. Factors that contribute to the symptoms of child obesity are excessive television watching, minimum to no exercise and excessive eating especially of high-calorie and high-fat foods. Obesity cannot be diagnosed through one test. If your child is up for diagnosis, the child’s Body Mass Index shall me measured, as well as his waist circumference, forms or fat and other assessments. A child can be considered ‘medically obese’ when the child’s weight have posed health risks such as those stated before. You can determine the degree to which the child’s obesity has reached by calculating the child’s Body Mass Index (BMI). Just multiply the child’s weight in kilograms by the square of his height in meters as shown: BMI=kg/m2. The resulting number should be compared to the appropriate age percentile.
Remember that an overweight child can be at risk of becoming obese. If the symptoms of child obesity are quite obvious, take action and muster both yours and your child’s courage to fight the condition before it worsens. Life is much too important.
