The Main Causes of Child Obesity

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Sunday, January 18th, 2009 by admin Subscribe To Our Feed

There are two common causes for child obesity, namely an improper diet and lack of exercise. Children who sit most of the time during the day and consume more calories than they burn will gain weight, which can cause child obesity if it is allowed to continue. Since there are so many more opportunities for children to play games inside, which are normally stationary like video games or computer games, children are not getting as much exercise as there were able to get in earlier years. Today, children have to have more scheduled exercise activities in their lives, such as organized sports, so that they burn enough calories during the day compared to what they eat. In earlier times, there were not the draws of technology to keep children indoors, so outdoor activities were more common giving children the exercise they needed as well as keeping them out of the house where food is readily available.

Problems and Solutions

There are other causes of child obesity other than lack of exercise and over eating. Some children have hormonal imbalances which cause their metabolism to decrease which makes it easy to gain weight. In other cases, there are genetic causes that predispose children to become overweight. There are also some diseases and syndromes that can cause child obesity such as Prader-Willi syndrome or Cushing’s syndrome. However, these cause child obesity in a very small percentage of obese children. Over eating and lack of exercise are the main causes of childhood obesity.

Child obesity prevention includes the entire family’s participation. First of all, if a child is gaining weight quickly, the child should be taken to the doctor to make sure the cause is not a hormonal imbalance or other more serious issue. If it is not, then a proper diet and exercise plan can be decided upon. Every child should be taken for a well child visit each year to make sure that they are growing and gaining weight appropriately. In addition, parents should set a good example in their eating habits for their children so that children are exposed to nutritious snacks and meals which will not as easily cause child obesity. In addition, family activities should be planned that are physical so that the child becomes accustomed to physical activity as a way of life. As the child gets older, they can also start to participate in the parent’s exercise plan which is fun for the entire family.

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