One of important diseases is childhood obesity. The shocking rise of childhood obesity and overweight during the last several decades became an issue of great concern due to its rapid spread. Obesity as a medical condition results from imbalance between calories consumed and calories used by a child through physical activity needed for normal development. It is an issue of a great concern due to its close relationship with numerous health-related risks and social consequences that often continue during adulthood. The recent statistical data show that the number of obese children has doubled and nearly one child in five is overweight. Over 22 million of children all over the world are severely overweight.
Beginning in early childhood obesity might easily be transformed through the life span into even greater health-related risks, namely, high blood pressure, a great likelihood of heart disease, asthma and even Type II diabetes that was previously known as particularly adult disease. Moreover, aside from serious consequences considering health condition, there might appear a risk of total social isolation due to social discrimination, depression and low self-esteem. Consequently, it should be mentioned that not a single cause, but a set of interrelated factors, specifically environmental, genetic, socioeconomic, psychological and behavioral all contribute to further excessive accumulation of fat in the body, known as obesity or overweight.
Even though the problem of overweight among children is traced back as far as 1980, just the time of cable-television channels, video games and computer boom, which became integral part of modern lifestyle of children and adolescents, only throughout the last two or three decades it reached almost the epidemic level. The outdoor sports activities were changed for computers and sport video games. Stimulation among children is no longer provoked by outdoor physical activities, but only through the means of visual aids. Based on Stephanie Strom in The Times, “What we have is a generation that has to make an effort to be physically active. Unless they think about it, they can go an entire day without being physically active,” – states Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey in the article “$ 500 Million Pledged to Fight Childhood Obesity” by Stephanie Strom.
Obesity is easier to prevent than to treat. However, it is obvious that any successful effort to fight the issue must mobilize the whole society. As a rule, parents become role models for their kids in their attempts to form their habits. Thus, on their way to obesity prevention parents should take a more proactive role in the attempts to change the lifestyle of their children starting at the earliest possible age. On the other, hand, the wide access to high-caloric food is a barrier on the way of changing the eating habits. In order to prevent the overweight or at least lessen its possible negative consequences, children must consume products with reduced fat, eat more fruits, vegetables, drink less soft beverages and especially try to consume smaller portion sizes for food and beverages.
