Summary
Statistics show that childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years according to Center for Disease Control childhood obesity facts. (Reilly & Kelly, 2010) I would like to tackle contributing factors of obesity such as school lunch programs and lack of physical activities.
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"Childhood Obesity Topic".
What is my Topic?
There is no doubt that there is an obesity epidemic across the United States. The Killeen School District superintendent has understood this problem and acts as the primary audience for this topic. He has requested that I write a report about childhood obesity and the different ways that the problem can be tackled. The secondary audience is the committee of the school district and various school principles that fall into the district.
What is the Problem Being Investigated?
Students are being offered much too many sugary drinks and less healthy foods for purchase in elementary schools and other learning institutions. My investigation in this problem will be why these products are readily available to students that are at a higher risk for obesity throughout an entire day. The other problem that would be investigated is the lack of quality physical activity in schools.
Why do you need to Investigate this Problem?
Living a healthier life is important, and being a school age child who is obese is more likely to be an obese adult (Reilly & Kelly, 2010). The local school district understand that they play a role in promoting healthy eating and exercise and requires the report to better understand childhood obesity. This problem needs to be investigated to become more proactive in the schools to prevent early obesity and more serious life threatening diseases as a result of obesity.
What are your Preliminary Ideas for Improvement?
To improve this problem at hand, strategies need to be identified to promote healthier dieting and physical activities. Research the best qualified physical trainer’s in a certain to instruct physical education classes who will make exercise fun for children. Also, the same goes for sugary drinks and snacks inside the building of these learning facilities should either be removed completely or conduct a thorough search for the healthier snack choice as a replacement.
Who Is the Audience for your Project Documents?
My primary audience would be the local school district, who understand that obesity is one of the most important modern epidemics (Ogden et al, 2014) and understand the need to prevent it in early life. Their goal is to fully understand and analyze the problem of childhood obesity. Others interested in this or possible stake holders would be the advisory committee, individuals that will empower others to launch these new ideas into the school systems and run tests.
What Do I Know about this Topic?
About 55 million school- aged children are enrolled in schools across the United States, and many eat and drink meals and snacks there, yet more than half of the U.S schools still offers sugary drinks and less healthy foods for purchase (Franks et al, 2010). Han, Lawlor & Kimm (2010) suggest that removing the option to have unhealthy (but appealing) snacks helps children make better choices both in school and in later life.
Conclusion
To reduce the incidence of diabetes in schools, there are several measures that can be taken. One of these is replacing vending machines that serve unhealthy snacks with easily accessible fruit and vegetables. Additionally, increasing the availability and appeal of exercise to children also has an effect on rates of obesity and will help to promote a healthier nation.
- Franks, P. W., Hanson, R. L., Knowler, W. C., Sievers, M. L., Bennett, P. H., & Looker, H. C. (2010). Childhood obesity, other cardiovascular risk factors, and premature death. New England Journal of Medicine, 362(6), 485–493.
- Han, J. C., Lawlor, D. A., & Kimm, S. (2010). Childhood obesity. The Lancet, 375(9727), 1737–1748.
- Ogden, C. L., Carroll, M. D., Kit, B. K., & Flegal, K. M. (2014). Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. JAMA, 311(8), 806–814.
- Reilly, J. J., & Kelly, J. (2010). Long-term impact of overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence on morbidity and premature mortality in adulthood: systematic review. International Journal of Obesity, 35(7), 891–898.
