Literature Review: Childhood Obesity in the United States Page 1

Childhood Obesity in the United States: Literature Review - v2

Sabra Hopkins

ENG 2010 021- Sp17

April 30, 2017

Literature Review: Childhood Obesity in the United States Page 2

Obesity is not a new issue among children in the United States; it has been an

issue as long as I can remember. However, now it is an issue that has shown itself to be

multigenerational, multicultural and world wide. Childhood obesity is an issue that is

impacting the health of a greater portion of our country and these obese children are

growing up to be obese adults. Childhood obesity reaches around the globe. For this

literature review I will be focusing on the research preformed in the United States.

Researchers in the U.S. have been compiling data since the 1980s which shows obese

children have become greater in number and wider in geographical reach.

In the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, Sahoo, et al. (2015)

discusses the fact obese children are more likely to stay obese in adulthood. In addition to

the research found by Sahoo, et al. and Deckelbaum and Williams (2001) also find that

because obesity in childhood frequently tracks into adulthood, increases in childhood

overweight and obesity clearly are major contributors to the adult obesity epidemic (p.

239). Both of these research groups have found that children with a greater BMI grow to

become adults with a greater BMI. The number of our population of overweight and

obese children has grown from 6% to 25% in the last 20 years and that number could

double again in the next 20 years. This increase continues to impact the health and

economics of more than just one generation.

Both groups Sahoo, et al. and Deckelbaum and Williams agree that the

comorbidities that are brought on by being overweight as a child increase in duration and

severity and impact a number of adult diseases. Therefore the economic impact that

follows, if childhood obesity if not changed, grows into larger issues at adulthood. As

pointed out by Hammond and Levine (2010) the incident of disease is increased by the
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history of childhood obesity. The diseases most generally linked to childhood obesity are

hypertension, hypercholerolemia, type 2 diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease,

asthma, arthritis and stroke. The costs associated with treatment of these diseases being

substantial. Hammon and Levine (2010) data shows that in 2010 the medical costs

associated with diseases linked to childhood obesity were up to $14.3 billion. By the time

the children today become middle-aged adults those medical costs will reach $45 billion.

These projections are for just the American population and the economic impact of the

United States, these numbers do not include the obese epidemic impacting the population

world wide.

A few things that make research difficult are the dishonesty in data compiled and

the differences in the standard definition of obesity. The differences in childrens sizes

and duration of growth impact the standard of BMI (body mass index) testing. In the

research found by Cole, Bellizzi, Felag and Dietz (2000) which since children grow at

different speed, at different ages, and have different genetic makeup it is difficult to

compare one child from the next. In addition to the differences in standards it was also

found that parent were not honest when reporting the height and weight of the child being

surveyed. In the Evaluation of Bias in Estimates of Early Childhood Obesity From

Parent-Reported Heights and Weights by Randall, et al. (2014) they have found that the

parent-reported data on children can be an estimation of childhood obesity by one half to

two thirds.

While the causes of childhood obesity can be broad ranging, the groups of Sahoo,

et al. (2015) and Deckelbaum and Williams (2001) agree that factors are environmental,

psychological, cultural and genetic. Deckelbaum and Williams (2001) believe that there
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is racial/ethnic factors, where as Sahoo, et al. (2015) believe that the causes of childhood

obesity range from lifestyle preferences, activity level, family and genetic factors, and

psychological factors like depression and low self-esteem. Lifestyle and dietary factors

like fast food consumption, increased consumption of sugary beverages, snack foods and

larger portion size have become a problem in the United States. Families who have two

working parents may frequent fast food establishments for the convenience and

inexpensive costs. These choices are neither convenient nor inexpensive in the long run.

The foods served at fast food establishments tend to have a high number of calories and

little nutrient value, impacting the future health of the individuals frequenting these

establishments. Activity levels have declined over the past decades and portion sizes have

grown. Thus creating a cycle of disease and poor health and higher economic impact on

the population. This cycle sparking another cycle of psychological factors depression and

low self-esteem. The spiral of cause and affect bouncing back and forth between the food

we choose to eat and why we eat. Compacting factors are making the task of controlling

this problem even more intimidating.

One thing that all the researchers can agree on is that the epidemic of childhood

obesity needs to be slowed if not stopped. The causes may differentiate and the

consequences may be down the road, but a solution should be found. Researchers have

found other solutions, like in research done by Hong, et al., (2016), who suggest that 60

minutes of daily physical activity will help slow the projected increase of childhood

obesity. Prevention should be the ultimate goal but until we can get to that level we need

to slow the growth and impact of childhood obesity. Teaching our children to balance

intake of food and expenditure of energy will help in slowing the growing epidemic but
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more education is needed. Parents, teacher and school districts need to become engaged

in educating our children to live a healthy lifestyle.

Whether it is in nutrition education like Deckelbaum and Williams (2001) suggest

or discussions in activity levels by Hong, et al. (2016) there needs to be a proactive

solution to the future health and economic crisis that follows childhood obesity. The

dangers of childhood obesity reach much further than just in the child, the dangers impact

the world economy as a whole. Researchers have found that obesity is multigenerational,

those obese children become obese adults and have obese children. We can take be

proactive stance against this epidemic and slow its projected growth for this generation

and the next and possibly stop it someday.

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Reference:

1 Cole, T. J., Bellizzi, M. C., Flegal, K. M., & Dietz, W. H. (2000). Establishing a

Standard Definition For Child Overweight and Obesity Worldwide: International

Survey. British Medical Journal, 320(7244), 1240.

2 - Deckelbaum, R. J. and Williams, C. L. (2001), Childhood Obesity: The Health Issue.

Obesity A Research Journal, 9: 239S243S.

3 - Hammond, R. A., & Levine, R. (2010). The economic impact of obesity in the

United States. Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity: Targets and Therapy, 3,

285295.

4 - Hong, I., Coker-Bolt, P., Anderson, K. R., Lee, D., & Velozo, C. A. (2016).

Relationship Between Physical Activity and Overweight and Obesity in Children:

Findings From the 2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey National

Youth Fitness Survey. American Journal Of Occupational Therapy, 70(5), 1-8.

5 - Rendall, M. S., Weden, M. M., Lau, C., Brownell, P., Nazarov, Z., & Fernandes, M.

(2014). Evaluation of Bias in Estimates of Early Childhood Obesity From Parent-

Reported Heights and Weights. American Journal Of Public Health, 104(7), 1255-1262.
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6 - Sahoo, K., Sahoo, B., Choudhury, A. K., Sufi, N. Y., Kumar, R., & Bhadoria, A. S.

(2015). Childhood obesity: causes and consequences. Journal Of Family Medicine &

Primary Care, 4(2), 187-192.