Incresing Obesity rate

Today’s children are becoming more obese, due to the simple fact that they obtain less exercise and are lazier. Instead of exercising daily, they are spending more time in front of the television. The rapid growth of technology has led to a major impact on the obesity of today’s children, as it has substituted physical childhood exercises with the mental simulation of computer games. All this contributes to the intensifying of child obesity.

First, what is child obesity? The term child obesity refers to a person between birth and puberty who is extremely fat or corpulent (The American Heritage Dictionary).

In scientific terms, obesity occurs when a person's calorie intake exceeds the amount of energy he or she burns. Genetic, environmental, psychological, and other factors may all play a part in this. As obesity tends to run in families, it suggests a genetic cause. Scientific evidence points to heredity as a strong determining factor of obesity. Although genetic predisposition is an important factor in many cases of obesity; a person's environment also plays a significant part. Environment refers to behaviors such as what a person eats and how active he or she is. A typical comparison is physical activity levels in contrast to body weights. Last but not least, metabolic problems and binge eating also poses a problem. These physiological problems make dieting virtually impossible as they cannot be solved by simply cutting calories. For example compulsive "binge" eating in the obese is caused by looking for a sense of security or coping with depression and low self-esteem through eating.

Child obesity can cause many medical problems for a child. Their growing bodies need exercise to lose baby fat before it gets to be a serious problem. As more than 70 percent of all cases persist into adulthood, it is advisable to curb this problem swiftly. Obesity during adult years is associated with increased rates of diseases such as coronary heart disease, angina, atherosclerosis, various cancers, orthopedic problems, and gout along with many other short-term and psychosocial consequences of obesity in children.

As such the management of obesity and overweight in children is an important issue.
The easiest methods would be parental guidance. A child's parents should teach their child proper eating habits. Excessive consumption of high-calorie soft drinks and fast-food, which tend to be high in fat and calories, should not be consumed often. Obese children are statistically not active, and increased television viewing is to be blamed. It is therefore recommended for parents find alternatives to watching television for their children. In conclusion, exercise and a healthy diet is the key to lowering obesity rates.