Obesity In Children
Important Facts:
 National Health
Examination Survey:
between 10 and 15%
of children are obese
 Can cause diseases:
cardiovascular disease
(CVD), and type II
diabetes
Obesity
The majority of children are
becoming overweight or obese in the
united states, it is not their fault;
schools, fast-food restaurants, and
parents are the leading causes and are
responsible for children becoming
overweight or obese.
2 Points That Contribute to
Obesity in Children:
Schools
&
Fast-Food Restaurants
#1: Schools
• The school’s curriculum, policies,
services, and the community
influence obese or overweight
children
Curriculum
• School-based classes that focus on
improving diet and physical activity levels
• These classes normally cover classroom
components by motivating and teaching
kids to choose healthier habits
Policies
• Every student should be required to
participate in a physical education
• Senate Bill 1231 would make every public
school student in K-8th grade participate in
physical education for the entire school year
Services
• The food services that
schools provide need to
prepare the fruits and
vegetables to where they
look edible
• The fat content in school
lunches needs to be
reduced
• Vending machines need to
contain a smaller amount
of junk food and instead
promote fruits and
vegetables
Community
• Children should be enrolled in an afterschool program in which they will be able
to go outside and play in a safe environment
since the community that they live in is not
always safe.
#2: Fast-Food Restaurants
• From 1972 to 1995, the total number of fast
food restaurants had more than doubled, and
there are currently more than 247,115
nationwide.
Study:
• Children’s Hospital Boston, the Agricultural
Research Service of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, and Harvard School of Public Health
• Collected data from 6,212 children and found out
that children who ate fast food consumed more
total and saturated fat, more total carbohydrates
and added sugars, less dietary fiber, and more
calories than children who did not eat fast food
Fast food restaurants do not include
nutrition information, they super-size
unhealthy meals, and provide children with
false advertisements.
Nutrition Information
• Do not provide nutritional information on
their menus, and the few that do, either
place it very small in a hard-to-see place or
on inconvenient web sites
• Nutrition labels need to be put onto all
menus at fast food restaurants
“Whopper value meal”
• For $4.19, you get
1,340 calories!
• Two-thirds of the
calories that adults
need in a single day
Super-size Me!
• Very low additional cost
• Encouraging children to buy larger portions
• Marion Nestle, head of nutrition and food
studies at New York University – ““It’s very
interesting that the larger-portion business
started at exactly the same time that obesity
rates started to go up”
Counter Argument:
• McDonald’s claims that they are not promoting
products that the community says are unhealthful
• But, this is not true, the super-sized Big Mac value
meal contains double the amount of calories the
body can take in at one sitting
• By creating the Big Mac value meal and then
calculating the nutritional facts on their website, it
produced 1400 calories, 55 (g) of fat, 80 (mg) of
cholesterol, 1360 (mg) of sodium, and 202
carbohydrates
• McDonald’s website proves them wrong!
Fast-Food Advertisements
• Children are more likely to eat foods that
are advertised
• Fast food consumption has grown due to a
multi-billion dollar advertising campaign
• Influences children with the goal of planting
a fast food habit