Mackenzie Ross

ENG 112- Issue Report

February 24, 2019

A Look at Childhood Obesity

“We don’t understand what a normal child looks like anymore,” shared a pediatrician

who specializes in weight management for children. Today in America overweight and obese has

become the norm. Parents today do not know if their child is obese mainly because they have a

mindset where their kid fits in with others around them, but they may just be fitting in with the

wrong ones. Obesity is a growing factor in American children today and negatively affects their

quality of life. This report will shed light on the physical, mental, and emotional health issues of

obese children.

A lack of physical activity results in obese children. When a child starts off young and is

active in any type of physical activity, this can benefit them greatly and will most likely push

them, as they grow up, to continue and work out as they did when they were younger. When a

child has a sedentary lifestyle, medical professionals believe this can result in the brain not

getting enough blood flow leading to excess weight gain. This affects “energy balance,” which is

the number of calories individuals takes in versus the number of calories they burn from physical

activity. “Once obesity is established, energy balance changes.” (Pietilainen). People who are

physically inactive and continue to eat unhealthy food aren't doing enough to burn all of the

calories they take in, resulting in weight gain. However, weight gain is just one physical effect

resulting from this behavior.

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Cardiovascular health conditions are also a leading effect on obese individuals. Studies

reveal “the greater the severity of obesity, the higher the risks of a low HDL cholesterol level,

high systolic and diastolic blood pressures, and high triglyceride and hemoglobin A1C levels- all

markers for heart disease and diabetes” (Heart Disease Article). The lead investigator of this

study, Doctor Asheley Skinner, shares that these findings of children with severe obesity have

higher risk factors that can lead to future heart disease and diabetes. “Typically, with severe

obesity investigators have found that heart weight increases, owing to left and right hypertrophy.

Left ventricular mass can increase by 80%” (Wardlaw). The job of the left ventricle in the human

body is to pump blood throughout the whole body and not just a portion of it. The cause of heart

disease is where an individual's heart is not getting enough oxygen, and this is where blood

vessels are blocked in the heart which can result in a heart attack, stroke, or maybe something

even worse. As continuing to do research on heart disease it was soon proven that heart disease is

just as bad in kids as it is in adults, “It was discouraging to read that obesity in children as early

as age 6 years produces dilation of the left ventricle and a subsequent increase in mass in a

manner similar to that in adults” (Wardlaw). Obesity in a child destroys the heart and when a

heart is going through so many problems at a young age it is more than likely it will be worse

when the child ages and becomes an adult. All these problems with the heart relate to another

physical issue in obese children.

There are a lot of physical conditions throughout the human body, but one that many

people are affected with are diabetes. There are 4 types of diabetes that people are diagnosed

with and they are: pre-diabetes, type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and type 3 diabetes. The most

common type of diabetes that are related with obesity would be type two diabetes. “The

progression in obese children of insulin resistance to type 2 diabetes has been shown to be faster
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than in adults; in addition, type 2 diabetes is already associated with several metabolic and

cardiovascular complications in this age group” (D’adamo). All of the complications with type 2

diabetes lead back to heart diseases. When a child has excess weight, this makes their resistance

for insulin strong which is not the news a child should be getting. When an individual has

diabetes, they are prone to take shots of insulin, and when a child's resistance is strong it is hard

to try and help this type of disease. As there are many health problems with obese children there

are also problems dealing with mental health of the child.

Throughout the world, there are a lot of things that go back to relate to obese children.

While knowing that a child is dealing with obesity in school it is said that due to the mental

health of the child may affect his or her school performance. “Concerning potential mediating

factors, psychological and psychosocial problems among overweight children such as being

depressed or bullied may reduce school performance” (Veldwijk). Many children in schools

these days focus on how other kids are different than themselves rather they are better or worst.

This all results in bullying and the others comparing themselves thinking they aren’t good

enough to be down on themselves. When a child in school gets picked on about his or her weight

this may cause the kid to not want to go back to school mainly because he or she is getting

bullied. All of this messes with the mental health of a child and there isn’t much they can do at

such a young age. When a child's mental health is messed up it soon all leads up to the emotional

health of a child.

The emotional health of an individual relates very similar to the mental health of

someone. While dealing with something mentally it is going to affect you emotionally. “The

presumed relationship is that overweight contributed to psychological distress, although the

converse cannot be excluded. Outcomes have included depression, self-esteem, social

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adjustment, body size dissatisfaction, and weight-related teasing by parents and peers” (Young-

hyman). When a child is picked on this can really lower their self-esteem and make them feel

like their worth is nothing. Self-esteem is a big factor dealing with the weight of a child, even

though the child may not be able to help their weight it is still affecting them emotionally.

Another important emotional factor is depression. When a child is suffering from depression it

will make them not want to be active in any type of way which is not good for the ones that need

to be more active. At this point individuals will argue that if a child is going to have depression,

they will have it regardless, but it’s the fact that with an obese child it is even harder on them.

This causes the weight just to build up more causing more and more problems. Although these

are not all the emotional factors these are the top two that affects a child greatly.

While child obesity in the world is increasing so are the problems that come with it such

as physical, mental, and emotional health issues. In today’s society, there should be a way to

change this increasing problem. Some may argue that this problem cannot be fixed because it is

hereditary, but some may try and make a change. There are too many advanced electronic for

someone to make a change. So, the question is, will there ever be someone to come along and try

and put a stop to this, or will people in America continue to let their child grow up not knowing

what a normal body is supposed to look or feel like.

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Works Cited

D'Adamo, Ebe, MD, and Sonia Caprio M.D. "Type 2 Diabetes in Youth: Epidemiology and

Pathophysiology." Diabetes Care, vol. 34, 2011, pp. S161-5. ProQuest,

https://login.proxy039.nclive.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/872357136

?accountid=10163.

Donvan, John, and Melia Patria. "The Fight Childhood Obesity: Two Kids' Stories ." ABC News,

John Donvan/ Melia Patria, 17 May 2010, abcnews.go.com/Nightline/childhood-obesity-

pediatric-weight-management-clinic/story?id=10650793.

"Heart Disease; Severely Obese Children may be at Higher Risk of Heart Disease and Diabetes."

Heart Disease Weekly, Oct 18, 2015, pp. 69. ProQuest,

https://login.proxy039.nclive.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/172005049

5?accountid=10163.

Pietilainen, Kirsi H. "Physical Inactivity and obesity: A vicious circle." PMC, Kirsi Pietilainen,

21 Feb. 2008, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2249563/.

Su, Miao-shang, et al. "Obesity in Children with Different Risk Factors for Obstructive Sleep

Apnea: A Community-Based Study." European Journal of Pediatrics, vol. 175, no. 2, 2016,

pp. 211-220. ProQuest,

https://login.proxy039.nclive.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/175921901

9?accountid=10163, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00431-015-2613-6.

Veldwijk, J., Fries, M. C., Bemelmans, W. J., Haveman-nies, A., Smit, H. A., Koppelman, G. H.,

& Wijga, A. H. (2012). Overweight and school performance among primary school
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children: The PIAMA birth cohort study. Obesity, 20(3), 590-596.

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/oby.2011.327

Wardlaw, Gordon. "The Heart and Lung in Obesity." American Dietetic Association.Journal of

the American Dietetic Association, vol. 99, no. 3, 1999, pp. 378. ProQuest,

https://login.proxy039.nclive.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/218395643

?accountid=10163.

Winter, Suzanne M. "Childhood Obesity in the Testing Era: What Teachers and Schools can do!"

Childhood Education, vol. 85, no. 5, 2009, pp. 283-288. ProQuest,

https://login.proxy039.nclive.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/210394807

?accountid=10163.

Young-hyman, D., Tanofsky-kraff, M., Yanovski, S. Z., Keil, M., Cohen, M. L., Peyrot, M., &

Yanovski, J. A. (2006). Psychological status and weight-related distress in overweight or at-

risk-for-overweight children*. Obesity, 14(12), 2249-58.

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/oby.2006.264