Obesity in Children and Teens Is a Growing Epidemic
There has been a steady increase in childhood obesity in the United States and it continues to baffle and confound professionals of every stripe. Obviously it doesn’t help matters that most foods sold in the US are packed full of high fructose corn syrup. But that is another issue we will not discuss today. What makes childhood obesity sad is that the kids who suffer from it seem like they haven’t been given a fair shot at life and that’s terrible. Kids with childhood obesity are forced to deal with emotional abuse in the form of taunts and harsh words from their peers and physical problems like constant joint and back pain, arthritis and sometimes even Type II diabetes. This is a sad state of affairs and we’ll explore it further in this article.
The child who is obese is on a crushing path heading right for awful health problems. One, for example, is fatty liver disease which is perhaps the number one type of disease that affects the liver. A long time ago people typically associated liver problems with liver sclerosis and alcoholism. Now, though, we understand that chronic obesity is a major factor in fatty liver disease. What will usually make the primary liver issues worse is that the metabolism of an obese person is terribly dysfunctional. The liver further helps people by sorting out toxins and anything else that is not good for your body. This, then, adds extra pressure to the other systems of children and teenagers who suffer from obesity. Research has been conducted everywhere that confirms that obstructive sleep apnea is a lot more widespread in children and teens who are obese. This is a condition that is quite serious because it actually blocks the child’s airway while he or she is sleeping. Overweight and obese kids will tend to snore, as well, however that can even be deceiving according to researchers. The reason for this snoring is sometimes OSA, obstructive sleep apnea. One possible approach to the problem is a procedure called an adenotonsillectomy which is meant to treat the condition specifically in young people.
When this is paired with the bullying and general social ostracizing they deal with at school and kids and teens who suffer from obesity are almost guaranteed to develop some sort of social dysfunction. It is also called “social disability” and goes hand in hand with depression, extreme feelings of unhappiness, etc. One natural result of all of this is super high stress levels which are known to be detrimental to both the brain and the body. This can cause some kids who suffer from obesity to start bullying other kids. Obviously this is the result of the kids letting their anger and frustration at being bullied themselves build up to dangerous levels. Early onset obesity is a real problem that affects even those who do not suffer from it. You should also look at it from the point of view of how much it costs society. Obese children are more likely to grow up to be obese adults and the costs associated with medical treatments, etc is astronomical. So this really is a social problem even though that is not at the forefront of awareness.
About the Author: Amy Chang is a kitchenware consultant who shows buyers how to select the perfect best rice cooker and gives sensible tips on meals preparation and choosing the most appropriate food preparation equipment to comply with your kitchenware needs.