The problem of childhood obesity in the United States has increased considerably in recent years. Approximately 12.7 million, or 17 percent, of children and adolescents are obese. The Center of Disease Control and Prevention states that 35.9% of Americans over the age of 20 are classed as obese. Thou the percent adults age 20 years and above who are overweight, including obesity is 69.2% ("FASTSTATS - Overweight Prevalence." xx-xx). The fact that is more disturbing is that from a survey from the Nation Health and Nutrition Examination in 2006 shows that 31.9% of children and teenagers were overweight and that 16.3% were obese. That means that at least 12 million American children are overweight or obese (Langwith, 16). It comes to no surprise …show more content…
Being overweight in childhood increases the risk of various health problems such as: high cholesterol, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, respiratory problems, orthopedic problems and sleep problems. These risks not only affect them as a child but carry over into their adult life. Cardiovascular disease is usually associated with adults, however as child obesity rates raise so does the incidence of high blood pressure and high cholesterol in children. Type 2 diabetes is also on the rise among children who are obese. Obesity contributes to the growing prevalence of diabetes (~9-13% of Americans), pre-diabetes (16% of adolescents and 30% of US adults) and metabolic syndrome (25-50% of overweight adolescents). Type 2 diabetes is also a common adult health problem that only recently has started to show up as a health problem in obese children. Being either an overweight or an obese kid, can affect you emotionally. A lot of the kids will grow up from being obese and staying that way for the rest of their life. Obese children tend to have lower self-esteem and lower self-confidence compared to other children their age. They are prime targets for ridicule and