Obesity

With smoking at the top of the ranks at number one for the cause of unnecessary deaths, obesity is not far behind holding at the number two spot. Each year in the United States, obesity causes approximately three hundred thousand deaths. In a sense, obesity is similar to the AIDS virus in that the disease does not kill individuals itself, but the illnesses that come along with obesity do kill. For instance, being obese increases an individuals risk of developing high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, gallbladder disease, and cancer of the breast, prostate, and the colon. Obesity not only causes hundreds of thousands of deaths a year but it also costs the government and tax payers about $100 billion dollars. Researchers believe that obesity rates are higher than they have been in years because of environment factors. Factors such as lack of physical activity, high calorie foods, and the low costs of high calorie foods, such as the Dollar Menu at McDonald’s, are why so many individuals are obese.

During the past twenty years, obesity among adults has risen significantly in the United States. The latest data from the National Center for Health Statistics shows 30%, approximately sixty million, of U.S. adults from the age of twenty and older are considered to be obese. However, this increase is not limited to adults; the percentage of young people are overweight has more than tripled since 1980. Among children and teens ages six to nineteen years, 16% (over nine million young people) are considered overweight. Obesity is not only a problem in the U.S., but also in Japan and Western Europe. In the U.S., Japan, and Western Europe, there are approximately three hundred million people who are suffering from obesity. Researchers blame these high obesity numbers on things such as television, video games, high fatty foods, computers, and the lack of physical activity in and out of school. A child is not considered to be obese until their weight is 10% higher than what is recommended for their height and body type. Obesity, most commonly, begins in childhood between the ages of 5 and 6 and also during adolescence. Research shows that a child who is obese between the ages of 10 and 13 has an 80% of becoming obese as an adult. If one parent is obese, there is a 50% chance that the child will also become obese. However, if both parents are obese, the child has an 80% chance of becoming obese (O’Donnelly, 2006).

Since childhood obesity has become such a problem, many people are looking for ways to treat the problem and come up with a strategy to prevent this problem in the future. According to the American Obesity Association, teaching healthy behaviors at a young age is important since that is when children develop eating habits. Parents hold more power than anyone in controlling their children’s weight. By organizing family activities involving exercise (bicycling, rollerblading, walking, etc), assigning household chores, enrolling children in a structured sport (gymnastics, football, soccer, etc), encouraging children to participate in a school sport, not using food as an award, and limiting the amount of computer games and television, parents can easily prevent their children from becoming overweight. School is another important factor which contributes to a child’s weight. Schools can help control childhood obesity by requiring each child to participate in some type of physical activity. P.E., or physical education, should not be a time for the children to sit around and choose whether or not they want to participate (Strychar, 2006).

West Virginian schools are doing their part to fight childhood obesity. Since one third of West Virginia’s population is obese, the state has developed a new way to control obesity. According to an article from www.cnn.com, one out of three children who are born in West Virginia, today, will develop diabetes in their adulthood. Because of the high numbers of obese individuals, the state is taken action to fight obesity (Keller, 2006). West Virginia has developed a video game called “Dance Dance Revolution.” The video game is targeted towards students between the ages of ten to fourteen. Researchers picked this age range because it is a critical stage of development for children. It is during this time in a child’s life which they form eating habits and daily regimens. This video game is not to take the place of physical education classes; instead, it is an opportunity to promote a potential change in the quality of the child’s life. The video game is expected to be in all 753 Virginian public schools by 2009. The program will start out in the middle schools, because of the critical age of students, and will eventually go into elementary and high schools (Donnelly, 2006).

The United States is not the only country who is battling problems with obesity. The federal government