Childhood Obesity Essay

Obesity occurs when a person consumes more calories than what they expend, thus causing them to have more body fat than what is healthy for their bodies. Obesity is a major problem in the United States; even more prevalent is childhood obesity. Between 2003 and 2006, about 32% of children in the United States were considered overweight or obese (Silventoinen 2009). Obesity can be caused by a lack of exercise, eating more calories than your body spends and overdrinking alcoholic beverages. Being obese is not as simple as being overweight. Once someone is obese, their chances for developing hypertension, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, heart failure and respiratory problems increases greatly (Ehrlich 2015). These are not health conditions

Genetic factors affect the risk for obesity because they determine a person’s chances for becoming obese because of their genes. A person who has an obese parent has a 40% chance of themselves becoming obese compared to a 10% chance if they do not have an obese parent (Smith 258). Many studies have been performed on twins that are raised in separate households to demonstrate how genes affect a person’s metabolism and body-weight proportions regardless of their environments. Studies have shown that genes have a strong correlation with twin’s body mass index from childhood throughout adulthood (Silventoinen 2009). Because our genes affect the way we metabolize our food and how or when we use our calories, it also affects our body weight. For example, a person who is naturally tall and lean is more likely to burn more calories, even when just relaxing than a person who is not as tall. Due to the increased surface area caused by their height, they are constantly using more calories than those who are shorter in height. The set point theory also suggest that the hypothalamus controls and monitors a persons body weight and fat and attempts to maintain it at a certain point. For example, when some mass is lost, an activity that may have burned about 100 kcal now only burns 80 kcals (Smith 259). This is the body’s struggle to preserve weight at its set