Rodriguez 1

Alexandra Rodriguez

Mrs. Monica Rodriguez

English 1302

24 March 2022

Health Issues Involving Childhood Obesity

Throughout the past two decades, there has been a major increase in childhood obesity

due to unhealthy eating habits. Many doctors have tried to come up with reasons as to why there

has been a sudden great increase in the number of children who are overweight. Many concluded

that the cause of obesity in childhood is because of the amount of junk food that is being

produced and announced on television ads, social media, and other forms of media, parents being

the cause of it, or simply because of genetics. Countless articles have been published to prove

which are the leading causes of childhood obesity and what can be done in order to prevent any

health issues to arise now or in early adulthood which are multiple reasons, maternal

responsibility, and mental health.

Unhealthy Eating Habits

Upon extensive research, it was articles such as “Childhood Obesity: Trends and

Potential Causes.”, written by Patricia M. Anderson and Kristian F. Butcher, and “Childhood

Obesity: A Life-Long Health Risk.” written by Matthias Barton, that both agreed that childhood

obesity is something that is developed for a multitude of reasons, however, enforced one specific

reason which is unhealthy eating habits. All three authors address this situation by stating in their

articles that environmental factors such as the mass amounts of unhealthy cheap food, larger

portions of unhealthy foods being advertised, and easy access to unhealthy meals are what cause

the rapid weight gain in children. They continue by stating that doctors have been working
Rodriguez 2

towards the problem for many years already to help combat these unhealthy eating habits along

with ways to help children lose excess weight. Additional to the causes of why rapid weight gain

can probably happen, the authors also include a variety of diseases that can arise due to having

extra weight for too long such as Premature Vascular Aging (P.V.A.) and roughly more than ten

diseases that can affect the cardiovascular system. The lack of physical inactivity is something

that is also mentioned by the authors of the articles. Because technology has been advancing at a

rapid speed nowadays, it is much easier to pick up an electronic device and play online games

simultaneously while overeating snacks with friends rather than having to travel to one’s house

to play outdoors, still having fun while getting the daily exercise a child needs. If parents were

able to stop children from getting as much screen time, the child would at least be able to keep

the weight down while being able to eat the snacks they wanted, in moderation.

Maternal Responsibility

In the following articles, “Household, parent, and child contributions to childhood

obesity” written by Sara Gable and Susan Lutz, and “Parents as the exclusive agents of change in

the treatment of childhood obesity.” written by M Golan et al. both agree that maternal

responsibility is the main motive/cause for childhood obesity. Gable and Lutz conducted a study

and brought over 65 pairs of parents with their children and asked them to write on a piece of

paper most of the meals they allow for their child to eat, along with another paper that asks what

are the activities that the child is allowed to participate in. Once all the papers were turned in, it

was concluded that the parents that would allow their children to eat unhealthy meals along with

the child not engaging in very much physical exercise were shown to be the ones with the

heavier children. Unlike the parents who would give their children healthier food with the

occasional unhealthy snack and daily physical exercise would have leaner children. This was
Rodriguez 3

especially true for the article that was written by Golan. In that experiment, similar to Gable and

Lutz’s study, Golan asked for multiple parents to come with their children to write on a paper to

see what kinds of foods the parents give their child along with how much daily exercise the child

is receiving each day. Like the previous article, these parents would allow their children to eat

mostly unhealthy food and not enforce daily physical activity. Golan reviewed the responses and

asked for the parents to be much stricter when it comes to dietary needs and physical exercise.

The experiment lasted one year and had to come back with the results once the year was over. As

Golan predicted, the children came back after one year looking much thinner and much healthier.

The parents were asked to state what foods and exercise were provided to the child which turned

out to be much healthier alternatives than when they answered the questions a year prior. Much

like many individuals assuming that excess weight gain is solely based on parental supervision, it

can also be caused by mental health issues.

Mental Health

In the articles “Depressive symptoms during childhood and adult obesity: The Zurich

Cohort Study.” written by G. Hasler, and “Mental Health, Wellness, and childhood

overweight/obesity.” written by Shelly Russell-Mayhew et al., both authors agree that mental

health can take a great toll and disrupt a child’s physical appearance because of the lack of self-

love towards themselves. Many individuals struggle with mental health and cope with it in many

different ways; in these cases, children will often times over-eat because of the sense of comfort

food will oftentimes give a child. Hasler researched the study of “The Zurich Cohort Study” and

wrote about how Cohort took a group of over four thousand subjects (2201 male and 2346

female) and were questioned as to what was causing all the depressive episodes. The results

came back to it all referring back to the excess weight gain and continuing to eat because of the
Rodriguez 4

comfort food gives. As for the author Russell-Mayhew, it was written that multiple different

articles were found in order to create all the different mental health reasons for the rapid weight

gain in children. A few that were listed were the lack of self-esteem, body dissatisfaction,

unhealthy weight control practices, eating disorder symptoms, and emotional problems, along

with many more. Because of this, doctors, as well as parents, have tried to come up with ways to

treat the mental health that is taking over the child in order to help with weight loss next to help

them lead a healthier lifestyle. Doctors and therapists have concluded that practicing a healthy

body image and having an adult role model are perfect starts in going back to maintaining a

healthy life. Many causes of the lack of body satisfaction come from viewing things on social

media at a very young age. Being exposed to models who have had plastic surgery done to their

bodies gives an unrealistic beauty standard to many around the world, especially if children are

starting to view the media at a very young age.

Conclusion

To sum up, there are many reasons why many individuals would believe that certain

things are the main cause of rapid weight gain in children. It is a prevalence that has been going

on for many years and continues to get worse due to the amount of unhealthy food that is being

offered in fast-food restaurants, promoted in television ads, and larger portions of food being

sold to try and compete with other fast-food chains. Things will not come to a change unless

healthier alternatives of meals are being offered or more gyms are being opened to help

individuals who are seeking a change in their lives.

Rodriguez 5

Work Cited

Anderson, Patricia M., & Butcher, Kristian F. “Childhood Obesity: Trends and Potential
Causes”. The Future of Children, vol. 16, no. 1, 2006, pp. 1-27. JSTOR. Assessed 7 Mar.
2022.
Barton, Matthias. “Childhood Obesity: A Life-Long Health Risk.” Acta Pharmacologica Sinica,
vol. 33, no. 2, 3 Feb. 2012, pp. 189–193., doi:10.1038/aps.2011.204. Accessed 5 Mar.
2022.
Gable, Sara., & Lutz, Susan., “Household, parent, and child contributions to childhood obesity”.

Family Relations, vol. 49, no. 3, 27 Feb. 2004, pp. 293-300.,

doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2000.00293.x. Accessed 2 Mar. 2022.

Golan, M., et al. “Parents as the exclusive agents of change in the treatment of childhood

Obesity.” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 67, no. 6, 01 Jun. 1998, pp.

1130-1135. Oxford Academic, doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/67.6.1130. Accessed 2 Mar. 2022.

Hasler, G. et al. “Depressive symptoms during childhood and adult obesity: The Zurich

Cohort Study.” Molecular Psychiatry, vol. 10, 19 Apr. 2005, pp. 842-850.,

doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4001671. Accessed 2 Mar. 2022.

Russell-Mayhew, Shelly., et al. “Mental Health, Wellness, and childhood overweight/obesity.”

Journal of Obesity, vol. 2012, 24 Jun. 2012, pp. 1-9. Hindawi,

doi.org/10.1155/2012/281801. Accessed 2 Mar. 2022.