Keeping fit: Childhood obesity, the epidemic

Published 12:01 am Sunday, February 26, 2017

In Western societies today there has been an alarming growth in the rates of obesity. As many as one in every four American children is seriously overweight or obese, and more than one-third of all our children are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Childhood obesity has tripled in the U.S. over the last three decades. Do these statistics alarm you? I hope they raise a red flag, because childhood obesity is an epidemic that is only getting worse.

Today’s children are tomorrow’s leaders and we need these leaders to be healthy. Overweight adolescents have a 70 percent chance of becoming overweight or obese adults. That is not a promising statistic because it reveals the likelihood that overweight children will go on to become overweight, or even obese, as adults.

And, according to a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study, extremely obese adults have a shorter life expectancy compared to people of normal weight. Obesity in adults is linked to a higher susceptibility of developing cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and liver and kidney disease, all of which lead to an increased risk of dying at a younger age.

Researchers in the NIH study found that the higher the class of obesity, the more years of life the person could potentially lose. Obesity is classified according to Body Mass Index, or BMI, which is calculated using a person’s height and weight. Researchers in the NIH study found that the study participants with a BMI of 40-45 had a loss of life up to 6.5 years, and those with a BMI of 55-60 had a loss of life up to 13.7 years. The bottom line is that the higher the BMI, the more susceptible you are to developing life-threatening diseases.

By recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), children should have 60 minutes or more of physical activity daily. Currently, only one in three children meets this 60-minute minimum for physical activity. While recess and P.E. classes in elementary school are fun and exploratory ways for children to get their 60 minutes of activity in each day, it is becoming increasingly more difficult for students to get this time for physical activity as restrictions are being placed on schools due to increasingly more stringent academic standards.

Although each family’s circumstances are different, some ideas for getting not only your children but also your whole family more active could be to incorporate a post-dinner walk around the neighborhood or a game of Wii Tennis, rather than watching television before bed. Or even take a trip to the local park instead of going out for ice cream. The bottom line is that to lead a more healthy life we have to make lifestyle changes that help us become more active.

Looking at things from a different angle, according to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, “Obesity is also a growing threat to national security — a surprising 27 percent of young Americans are too overweight to serve in our military. Approximately 15,000 potential recruits fail their physicals every year because they are unfit.” That is a staggering statistic that we can hopefully change as more emphasis is placed on the importance of health and wellness.

By educating ourselves about proper nutrition and diet, in addition to making permanent, healthy life changes, we can overcome childhood obesity and the preventable diseases it causes. One step at a time, we can improve our quality of life and improve the lives of our children.

McKenzie Carlisi is a fitness consultant at the Bradley Wellness Center.