Children and Obesity: Literature Search Assignment Paper

Topic: Children and Obesity
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Children obesity has become an epidemic in both developed and developing countries; according to (Mahshid, Noori, & Anwar, 2005), obesity prevalence rates are high in developed countries but it is also rising at a shocking pace in developing countries. For instance, in the United States, about twenty five percent of children are overweight and approximately eleven percent is obese. In the same studies, it is recorded that gender also contribute in obesity since in both developed and developing countries, the proportion of overweight/ obese girls is higher than that of boys (Krushnapriya & Raman, 2015). The body fat content of an individual can be used to classify whether he or she is obese or overweight according to the European researchers and the center for Disease control and prevention, a child whose BMI is above the 85th percentile is overweight while that above 95th percentile is termed obese. Techniques used to measure the body fat content includes; body mass index (BMI), under water weighing, attractive resonance imaging, and circumference of the waist, thickness of the skin fold in clinical settings (U.S Department of Health and Human services, 2011).
Obesity and overweight among children predisposes them to challenges in their physical and physiological health, this condition is highly associated with hypertension, glucose intolerance, infertility and hyperlipidemia among other physiological disorders such depression, low self-esteem and most digestive problems and certain type of cancer (U.S Department of Health and Human services, 2011). The mechanism in the development of obesity is generally based on energy utilization being lower than expenditure, thus r...