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Childhood Obesity In The United States Essay

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Over the past couple of years, the United States has seen an epidemic unlikely any another that is effecting millions of children each and every day. This epidemic brings a number of health issues and concerns that effects children throughout their entire life and in fact it can be preventable. In the United States, childhood obesity is a widespread and rapidly increasing issue due to a number of factors. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly 17% of the children aged two to nineteen are classified as obese. The CDC also estimates that nearly one in three children are classified as overweight. The forms of complications when it comes to childhood obesity and overweight are physical, social, and emotional. The physical …show more content…

One factor that leads to childhood obesity is sugar-sweetened beverages. Sugar-sweetened beverages in the American child’s diet is major health concern. According to the World Health Organization says that there is a link between consuming sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain and obesity due to these beverages impacting children’s ability to maintain appetite control. The United States Department of Agriculture recently reported that over the course of the past 50 years the United States has seen an increase in sugar-sweetened beverages by almost 500% (Jason). Soft drinks which is a sugar sweetened beverage is considered one of the leading causes of obesity in the United States (Jason). According the USDA, soft drinks are the single largest contributor of energy intake over the past decade (Jason). Sugar Sweetened Beverages have proven to have become a prevalent part of the average American child’s diet. The average consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is more than six per week per child. From these same children twenty-five percent consumed one sugar-sweetened beverage per day and ten percent consume two or more per day. Only fifteen percent of children reported had no consumption on a weekly basis. Sugar-sweetened beverages have proven to have a link to obesity with the increase in consumption running parallel with the increase in obesity in a number of studies. All of this poses

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